Spielberg returns to another examination of humanity and history with his 1997 film Amistad. Based on an actual event in 1839, the film explores a revolt of Mende captives aboard the Spanish ship La Amistad. When the captives take over the ship they demand that the surviving crew take them back to Africa, but instead,…
Tag: racism
Hill Street Blues (1981) – Your Kind, My Kind, Humankind, and Gatorbait
Anthony Yerkovich alongside series creators Steven Bochco and Michael Kozoll pen the teleplay for Your Kind, My Kind, Humankind from a story by Bill Taub. It was first broadcast on 28 February, 1981. Renko (Charles Haid) and Hill (Michael Warren) deal with problems in different ways when the suspect in their shooting is released. Hill…
Hill Street Blues (1981) – Choice Cut, and Up in Arms
Seven episodes in writer Lee David Zlotoff brings us full circle with Choice Cut. First airing on 14 February, 1981, the episode sees Frank Furillo (Daniel J. Travanti) dealing with a hostage situation in a supermarket, not entirely dissimilar from what happened in the first episode. In fact, it’s the same hostage takers! They went…
Hill Street Blues (1981) – Politics as Usual, and Can World War III Be an Attitude?
Series creators Steven Bochco and Micheal Kozoll pen Politics as Usual which first aired on 22 January, 191. The presidential visit is on the horizon, and Howard (James Sikking) is less than thrilled with how Captain Furillo (Daniel J. Travanti) is handling the situation and negotiating peace treaties with the local gangs for the walking…
Mission: Impossible (1971) – The Catafalque, and Kitara
Paul Playdon wrote Catafalque, which first aired on 6 February, 1971, and features John Vernon as Ramone Fuego, who gets manipulated by the IMF in an attempt to get sensitive information into the hands of the American government. And while most of the story is really engaging, as Phelps (Peter Graves) and his team set…
Tank (1984) – Marvin J. Chomsky
1984. A few short months before my family would be posted to a new home in the middle of the ocean, I was of an age that I was allowed to go see movies in the theatre with my friends (despite the fact that the theatres were in the city proper and not on the…
In the Heat of the Night (1967) – Norman Jewison
In the Heat of the Night shouldn’t be as timely and relevant as it still is. You’d think we could have moved beyond such levels of racism and prejudice, and yet, sections of society seem worse than ever before, and it seems to be both hidden and overt. Featuring powerhouse performances by Sidney Poitier and…
TIFF 2021: Hold Your Fire dir. Stefan Forbes
New York. 1973. While it looks like a different time on film, not everything has changed, and consequently, Forbes documentary, which looks at a hostage situation that featured around the clock coverage at the time is just as relevant today as it was then. There’s errors on both sides, accusations, instituionalised racism, redemption for some,…
Parable of the Sower (1993) – Octavia E. Butler
Octavia E. Butler’s science fiction tale, that follows a young woman of colour on her quest to understand herself, the ideas of god, and the destiny of humanity. Within pages of this novel, I was completely swept up in Butler’s storytelling style, her characters, and the world she created. And here’s the thing, the world…
The Ballad of Black Tom (2016) – Victor LaValle
H.P. Lovecraft gets a fantastic spin in this novella by Victor LaValle. Lovecraft is hard to admit you like, because his stories of cosmic horror and old ones are so good, and have become such a cornerstone of horror fiction, but he was just so racist and that permeated all of his writing. The Ballad…
The Mind Reels 