— by BEV QUESTAD — Turn off the lights and settle in for stereo sound and a cinematic rush. Who would have thought that a movie on a scientist’s project studying hawk moths would be such a symphony for the senses? You are led up into the eastern side of the densely forested mountains o[...]
Author Archive
Review: The American Question
— by BEV QUESTAD — The rest of the world has a question about America. Why the gravitation to someone like Donald Trump? Guy Seemann, an Israeli-born entrepreneur and political operative, sought out the answer to America’s great divide and extremist lean. For eight years, he interviewe[...]
Review: 500 Years
— by BEV QUESTAD — Though America is financing a genocide in Gaza and Lebanon right now, there have been other, quieter genocides with which America has been complicit in the past. By quieter, I mean less media coverage, not less tragic. “500 Years” documents one of those stories. Co[...]
Review: Borderland: The Line Within
— by BEV QUESTAD — I don’t understand the American immigration policy. I am so confused I can’t find my way to a position. Almost every other country has a border policy, so why the cry-out? Why is it even an election year trigger point? And why on earth is the projected budget for t[...]
Review: Cruise Boom
— by BEV QUESTAD — Know anyone who has gone on an Alaskan cruise this past year? The new Klondike Gold Rush (1896-189) is The Alaskan Tourist Rush. With the recent opening of a private dock in Sitka, the inhabitants say, “Welcome!” But quietly they wonder, “At what point do we lose[...]
Review: Lost Nation
— by BEV QUESTAD — Prepare to be enlightened. New York State wanted to be bigger, African-Americans were amongst the earliest settlers in Vermont, and the proponent for recognizing Vermont as America’s 14th colony was given a tempting counter offer from the British. The story begins in[...]
Review: War Game
— by BEV QUESTAD — What if the 2024 election results end with a coup attempt, but better organized than the last? My greatest shock about the Jan. 6, 2020, attack on the US Capitol Building was not that it happened, but that it was met with such a limited response. I was thinking, “Gee[...]
Review: Green Border
— by BEV QUESTAD — Excruciatingly frustrating and heartbreaking, famed Polish director Agnieszka Holland has created a courageously accurate drama based on true events that I am calling The Film of the Decade. In 2021 Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko, president of Belarus since 1994, le[...]
Review: Chronicles of a Wandering Saint
— by BEV QUESTAD — Perhaps Rita is the cleaning lady for the church, or perhaps she is a lady who voluntarily brings cleaning supplies to the church to clean. She badly tries to be helpful and wants a miracle. The film appears to end after 30 minutes. Credits roll and we seem to have [&h[...]
Review: About Dry Grasses
— by BEV QUESTAD — Nuri Bilge Ceylan uses light, a distinctive feature of his Rembrandt-like cinematography, to expose the interior mood of his characters. The shadows of darkness in secret meetings and the stark, cold snow landscape in “About Dry Grasses” reflect a brooding, cold, d[...]
Review: The Grab
— by BEV QUESTAD — If I had enough money, could I buy parts of countries? For example, could I buy agricultural property in Canada? Norway? Russia? China? This question took me down a rabbit hole of exceeding complexity, but I can report one thing with clarity. Any nationality may buy an[...]
Review: Rowdy Girl
— by BEV QUESTAD — Rowdy Girl is an amber-brown, willful cow who does what she pleases. She is not confined to a milking stall but roams the land with freedom. She may come when she’s called – or not. She’s free, obstinate, and has a mind of her own. But there is also another [&hel[...]
Review: Food Inc. 2
— by BEV QUESTAD — Change is going to come! Rich with exposure and documentation, “Food Inc. 2” continues its attacks and solutions to our food problems after the 2009 film “Food Inc.” This time, directors Robert Kenner and Melissa Robledo have Cory Booker and Jon Tester aboard t[...]
Review: The Ballad of Davy Crockett
— by BEV QUESTAD — “Be sure you’re right and then go ahead! It’s up to you, to do, as Davy Crockett said.” This was the theme song from Disney’s 1955-56 Davy Crockett TV series at a time when Dwight Eisenhower was president, the Supreme Court ruled segregated buses were illegal[...]