Ten years ago some of the worst atrocities in the history of mankind took place in the country of Rwanda--and in an era of high-speed communication and round the clock news, the events went almost unnoticed by the rest of the world. In only three months, one million people were brutally murdered. In the face of these unspeakable actions, inspired by his love for his family, an ordinary man summons extraordinary courage to save the lives of over a thousand helpless refugees, by granting them shelter in the hotel he manages.
When 'Mahatma Gandhi' (qv) first set foot in British India, he had already been to Britain and South Africa, and had created quite a stir for the betterment of the people. But in India, he realized that he had first to live the life of a peasant to understand what it is to be an Indian. This resolve will lead him to shed his westerners clothing, and don a simple loincloth, be subjected to racial slurs from none other than Winston Churchill (Half naked Indian Fakir); Mobilize awareness of local industry and less dependence on imported clothing and material; the historic dandee march for withdrawal of the salt tax; a fast unto death to stop the virtual slaughter of British troops by irate Indian mobs; and be imprisoned several times. His resolve was to work with stalwarts such as Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Sardar Valabhbhai Patel, Professor Gokhale, J.B. Kripalani, Maulana Azad, and Pandit Jawarharlal Nehru to ensure first of all to get the British to quit India, and then run an Indian Government under the Congress party. Gandhi will soon realize that it is not enough to be just an Indian, for India has many facets - Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, Jewish, and Christian. The British relied on these many facets as an excuse for their continuance as they wanted to ensure that the minorities are not oppressed by the Hindu majority. Concerned over the inroads made by Gandhi to unite the Hindus, Muslims, and all others under a common umbrella, the British invited Jinnah for talks, and it is here that a seed was laid for a separate country called Pakistan. When Gandhi came to know about this, he pleaded with Jinnah to unite the Muslims, even take over as the first Prime Minister with his choice of Muslim candidates for Parliament, but separatist Jinnah had already made his mind. The World Wars of 1914 and 1944 having taken it's toll on Europe and Britain in particular, the weary British finally decided to leave India in 1947 - not the India they had conquered - but an India that was ready to be divided in East Pakistan and West Pakistan. Now after the much awaited independence was the real test for Gandhi - a test that will make him or break him - as he started a fast unto death to try and stop the violence that was threatening to break out into a civil war, not realizing that he had indirectly fanned Hindu extremism, which would later be called the Shiv Sena, into taking the matter directly in their hands to ensure that Muslims are kept out of their Hindustan forever.
This historical war drama represents a serious attempt to reflect the bravery of a group of Civil War soldiers - the 54th Regiment of Massachusetts - often disregarded by history. They were a troop of free black men who fought foolhardily to help win liberty for their people. The historical novels ONE GALLANT RUSH by Peter Burchand and LAY THIS LAUREL by Lincoln Kirstein, as well as the letters of Robert Gould Shaw, served as basis for the film featuring Colonel Shaw (Matthew Broderick) the officer in the Federal Army who volunteered to lead the 54th. Shaw had to face the prejudices of both the enemy side (the order was to kill all black commanding officers) and of his own fellow officers.
The island of Iwo Jima stands between the American military force and the home islands of Japan. Therefore the Imperial Japanese Army is desperate to prevent it from falling into American hands and providing a launching point for an invasion of Japan. General Tadamichi Kuribayashi is given command of the forces on the island and sets out to prepare for the imminent attack. General Kuribayashi, however, does not favor the rigid traditional approach recommended by his subordinates, and resentment and resistance fester among his staff. In the lower echelons, a young soldier, Saigo, a poor baker in civilian life, strives with his friends to survive the harsh regime of the Japanese army itself, all the while knowing that a fierce battle looms. When the American invasion begins, both Kuribayashi and Saigo find strength, honor, courage, and horrors beyond imagination.
In 480 BC, the Persian king Xerxes sends his massive army to conquer Greece. The Greek city of Sparta houses its finest warriors, and 300 of these soldiers are chosen to meet the Persians at Thermopylae, engaging the soldiers in a narrow canyon where they cannot take full advantage of their numbers. The battle is a suicide mission, meant to buy time for the rest of the Greek forces to prepare for the invasion. However, that doesn't stop the Spartans from throwing their hearts into the fray, determined to take as many Persians as possible with them.
The documentary movie follows the exciting history of the creation of the first superhero, Superman, and his evolution from comic books to television, and finally to the silver screen. The amazing story is told through archival footage and various interviews with actors and directors involved in the Superman films and television shows.
Young Treasury Agent Elliot Ness arrives in Chicago and is deternimed to take down Al Capone but he learns that it's not going to be easy, because Capone has the police in his pocket. But Ness meets Jimmy Malone a veteran patrolman and probably the most honorable one in the force. He asks Malone to help him get Capone but Malone warns him that if he goes after Capone, he is going to war. They recruit academy cadet, George Stone and Treasury agent Oscar Wallace, who is also an accountant, who wants to prosecute Capone for tax evasion. When they make headway, Capone tries to get them but they are untouchable.
September 11, 2001. The nation was under attack by suicide hijackers, who hit Three famous buildings. The fourth plane United 93 was a story of 40 passengers who were strangers. Who sat through terrifying event. But found courage, rebelled and become hero's. And stood united.
Sydney Schanberg is a New York Times journalist convering the civil war in Cambodia. Together with local representative Dith Pran, they cover some of the tragedy and madness of the war. When the Americans forces leave, Dith Pran sends his family with them, but stays behind himself to help Schanberg cover the event. As an American, Schanberg won't have any trouble leaving the country, but the situation is different for Pran; he's a local, and the Khmer Rouge are moving in.
A powerful and thoughtful chronicle drama by Steven Spielberg rises up the questions of the human costs of international terrorism. The 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany, were supposed to be a peaceful gathering of outstanding athletes from around the world, but on September 5, the games took a sinister turn when eight masked Palestinian terrorists invaded the Olympic village, killing two Israeli athletes and abducting nine others. The story follows a secret Israeli squad assigned to track down and kill the 11 Palestinians suspected to have planned the Munich attack. Eric Bana stars as a Mossad agent tracking the Palestinian terrorist group called "Black September" which were ultimately responsible for the deaths of Israelis during the tragedy.
He was the Lord of Ten Thousand Years, the absolute monarch of China. He was born to rule a world of ancient tradition. Nothing prepared him for our world of change.
A biography of Aisin-Gioro "Henry" Pu Yi, who at the age of three was named the Emperor of China, and dies as a gardener at the Botanical Gardens of Peking. Told in an interesting flashback/flashforward style, we learn of Pu Yi's childhood, the time he spent imprisoned in the Forbidden City, his term as the emperor of Japans Manchuguo, and his eventual release back to public life in 1959.
Based on true events, the political drama portrays the confrontation between journalist Edward R. Murrow (David Strathairn) and U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin that shook the American society in 1954. America's freedom, values and ideals were threatened when Joseph McCarthy launched a massive campaign against communists. Murrow, a well-known host of the CBS television program, was the first person who drew the attention of the general public to ideological and political problems. Despite corporate pressure and the potential ramifications, the courageous journalist ventured to investigate and expose McCarthy and his dirty methods during his "witch-hunts."
Documentary-style drama showing the events that lead up to the tragic incident on January 30, 1972 in the Northern Ireland town of Derry when a protest march led by civil rights activist Ivan Cooper was fired upon by British troops, killing 13 protesters and wounding 14 more.
In the early 1990s the Civil War raged in Somali. The resulting humanitarian crisis carried away more than 300 thousand innocent civilians. The nation starved to death as the troops of Mohamed Farrah Aidid, the leader of the major belligerent faction, were taking the food sent by the United Nations Organization. The U.S. made a decision to send peacekeeping force to the capital city of Mogadishu in order to break down Aidid's resistance and kill him. On October 3, 1993, they planned to capture two top lieutenants of the mutinous warlord. Army Rangers and Delta Force entered the city on a mission that was supposed to take about an hour. However, things got out of kilter from the very beginning of the operation...
Set in Washington, D.C., in the 1960s, the inspiring drama tells the true life story of Ralph Waldo 'Petey' Greene (Don Cheadle). When a radio program director, Dewey Hughes (Chiwetel Ejiofor), visits his brother Milo (Mike Epps) in prison, he hears his fellow inmate, Petey, who works as a disc jockey to express himself. Dewey decides to support an open-minded and open-hearted man and gets him on the air. Petey's charismatic voice, his bold honesty and his biting sense of humor make him an instant hit with audiences.
The movie brings us back in 1806. During the Napoleonic Wars, British Captain Jack Aubrey (Russell Crowe) receives a battle-order to sink or capture a French frigate known as the Acheron in the cold waters off the South American coast. However, the Acheron is the first to attack the Surprise, Aubrey’s Man of War. Despite serious crippling and losses in dead, the tenacious and courageous Aubrey decides to pursue the enemy’s ship that is larger and better-equipped and sets sail across two oceans. Lucky Jack’s reputation, lives of his crew and his own are at stake.
In an era when Americans were in great need of heroic figures to help them forget their troubles, SEABISCUIT comes to the rescue. The picture relates a moving story of friendship and devotion in rehabilitating the main characters'fractured lives, as it interweaves the interactions between horse, jockey, trainer and owner and their adoring fans. The film accurately portrays the real people and events of those troubled times and how Seabiscuit "fixed us, every one of us."
Bill "The Butcher" Cutting's (Daniel Day-Lewis) band is fighting the Irish immigrants in 1860's NY to gain control over the underprivileged areas of the city. Bill has killed the father (Liam Nison) of DiCaprio's character called Amsterdam Vallon, several years later the young man returns to NYC and becomes an ally of The Butcher who has no idea about the past of his new crony. Vallon slowly falls under his spell which causes an inner conflict in his life because his primal aim was the ruthless revenge. Concurrently, Leo's character meets the charming pickpocket named Jenny (Cameron Diaz) who turns out to have a close relationship with The Butcher. At the same time, the Civil War rages on...
The historical drama tells a breathtaking story about real heroes of the Cold War. In October, 1962 the world poised on the brink of the war for thirteen tense days. People in the East and the West lapped up every report about the course of alarming events that threatened to result in a nuclear exchange between the United States and the Soviet Union. Due to those fateful days the world learnt the names of such politicians, diplomats and soldiers as Adlai Stevenson, Theodore Sorenson, Andrei Gromyko, Anatoly Dobrynin, General Curtis LeMay, Dean Rusk, McGeorge Bundy and many others.
