— by BEV QUESTAD — Vegetarianism, Transcendental Meditation, the Dalai Lama, Mozart, Thrivent Mutual Accounts – there is always something out there that promises to bring harmony, happiness and love. In “Yogawoman,” there are all these promises and more. Annette Bening, a yoga prac[...]
Author Archive
Review: Raising Resistance
— by BEV QUESTAD — In the last 20 years, soy production has become the Green Gold of South America, especially for Brazil and Paraguay. But with this agri-business boost comes wretched consequences. That’s what “Raising Resistance” is all about. It is a galvanizing movie meant to n[...]
Review: 5 Broken Cameras
— by BEV QUESTAD — This surprising collaboration between a Palestinian and an Israeli, Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi, shows unblinking footage as the cameraman’s brothers are arrested, friends are shot and doors are pounded on in the dead of night. When he’s asked to turn off his camera[...]
Review: Simon and the Oaks
— by BEV QUESTAD — There is war, forbidden love, danger, fire, beauty and insanity in this highly acclaimed Swedish epic film. Its complex environment includes the controversial story of Sweden’s compromising role in World War II and the subterfuge of its citizens who supported efforts[...]
Review: Bill W
— by BEV QUESTAD — This well-made doc is the cinematic biography of Bill Wilson, the man who co-founded Alcoholics Anonymous with Dr. Bob Smith in 1935 during the pit of The Great Depression. At that time alcoholism was treated as a mental disease and patients were electrocuted, lobotomi[...]
Trailer: Half the Sky
— by BEV QUESTAD — I am back from a summer working in a hot, vermin-infested, impoverished Bangladesh slum. Almost unnecessary was the ground-breaking book I carried with me, “Half the Sky” by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, both Pulitzer Prize winners. I was seeing their message[...]
Review: Moving Mountains
— by BEV QUESTAD — As the U.S. pares down its war in Afghanistan, how friendly will the replacement leaders be towards the interpreters and auxiliary staff of U.S. Forces? How will the girls and women fare who were supported in pursuing education and professional careers? What happens to[...]
Review: Marina Abramović: The Artist is Present
— by BEV QUESTAD — Marina Abramović is known for seducing everyone she meets — her collaborators, her curators and her audience. At once both repellant and fascinating, Abramović’s work is as ludicrous and shocking as it is a startling reflection of life’s universal tensi[...]
Review: True Wolf
— by BEV QUESTAD — When Koani’s partner Indy died, she, like many of us, lost interest in life. Indy was a friendly dog, but Koani was a wolf. Their Montana owners were Wild Sentries, members of a non-profit dedicated to public education about the wildlife in the northern Rockies. “T[...]
Review: It Is No Dream
— by BEV QUESTAD — With an original score of haunting premonition, this film is a careful, meticulous account of the visionary who founded the Zionist movement and inspired the creation of the state of Israel. Using photographs and some archival footage, the story of Theodor Herzl genera[...]
Review: Silenced Voices
— by BEV QUESTAD — “Sri Lanka seems to be cursed. For 30 years it has endured a brutal and seemingly endless ethnic civil war.” These are the words of a beautiful Norwegian journalist, Beate Arnestad, as she rides undercover through checkpoints skirting a fenced-in area of Tamils [...]
Review: Special Flight (aka Vol spécial)
— by BEV QUESTAD — Throughout the third world, there is the class of people who work incredible hours at incredibly demanding jobs who don’t get paid a living wage. They live like squatters with make-shift flimsy walls to cover a bed or mat. There is no education for their children and[...]
Review: Bitter Seeds
— by BEV QUESTAD — He leverages his land to buy seeds, fertilizer and pesticides. Bugs infest his crops. His harvest is meager. He can’t pay enough dowry for his daughter’s marriage. Suicide peeks out as a pretty popular response. Every 30 minutes, a farmer in India kills himself. Mo[...]
Review: Colour of the Ocean
— by IAN McDANIEL — In a brilliant clash between morality and legality, German director Maggie Peren has created a film about two Senegalese refugees, a father and son, who arrive in the Canary Islands attempting to escape the crushing poverty of Senegal. At 95 minutes long, this heart-w[...]