Lincoln by Steven Spielberg, 2012 (PG-13)

From the director of War Horse
with Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, David Strathairn (The Bourne Legacy, The Whistleblower), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (The Dark Knight Rises, Looper, 50/50, Inception), James Spader, Hal Holbrook, Tommy Lee Jones (Hope Springs, MIB 1, MIB 2, MIB 3), Jackie Earle Haley (Dark Shadows), John Hawkes (American Gangster, Winter's Bone, The Sessions), Jared Harris (Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows), Joseph Cross (Milk), Tim Blake Nelson, David Oyelowo (Rise of the Planet of the Apes), Bruce McGill (Fair Game)

Director Steven Spielberg takes on the towering legacy of Abraham Lincoln, focusing on his stewardship of the Union during the Civil War years. The biographical saga also reveals the conflicts within Lincoln's cabinet regarding the war and abolition.

Introduced by an ex-president at the Golden Globes (Bill Clinton), winning Best Actor in the same ceremony.
Oscar nominated for best Picture, Best Actor in a Leading Role (WON), best Actor in a supporting role, best Actress in a supporting role, best Cinematography, best Costume Design, best Directing, best Film Editing, best Original Score, best Production Design (WON), best Sound Mixing and best Adapted Screenplay.

Of course, all this is overwhelming, so I had to watch it. It is a strangely slow paste, with a deep work in the performances, a strong will to impersonate the people that created the fundamentals of our society, with no attempt to make it a fancy contemporary discourse. On the contrary, Lincoln is portrayed not only as the father of the United States was a father figure for his surrounding, a human being with the conflicts of his determination and righteousness, shaping words by word the portrayal of a man, a father, a lawyer, a politician and a leader. The movie is at times funny, emotional, educational, strategic, and not only centered on Lincoln but on determining roles that participated in reshaping the history, such as Stevens and Mary Todd Lincoln. It is still a very serious movie, very dark in its cinematography. While watching it, you could almost feel the texture, the smells, the humidity, there is time for all these sensations to be explored. An interesting piece, definitely, not as mainstream as the director is. Except perhaps for the ending in a sort of commemorative homage style.
The movie ends with the death of Lincoln, which interestingly is the beginning of "The Conspirator" by Robert Redford. Somehow I wouldn't have connected the two movies, but there is something similar in the greyness and lack of color in The Conspirator which reminds me of "Lincoln".

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Circumstance (Sharayet) by Maryam Keshavarz, 2011 (R)

with Nikohl Boosheri, Sarah Kazemy, Reza Sixo Safai, Soheil Parsa, Nasrin Pakkho

Atafeh and her brother, Mehran, have grown up in a home filled with music, art, and intellectual curiosity. Atafeh dreams of fame and adventure, and she and her best friend, Shireen, explore Tehran’s underground scene with youthful exuberance and determination to be themselves. Meanwhile, Mehran returns home from drug rehab, and renounces his former decadent life with a vengeance. His once obsessi...ve practice of classical music soon finds more destructive outlets. Having lost his parents’ trust, Mehran is jealous of Atafeh’s loving relationship with their father and tries to find new meaning in his life. He relentlessly watches his family and slowly becomes estranged from them. As Mehran disapprovingly observes a budding relationship between Atafeh and Shireen, he becomes obsessed with saving Shireen from his sister’s influence. The once close siblings find themselves at dangerous odds with each other. As violence and desire collide, the once safe haven of the family home becomes increasingly claustrophobic and threatening.

Circumstance is so poetic, full of beauty, amazing souls, perfect moments, happiness, love, respect, awareness. I didn't cry, it is just stuck there and doesn't want to get out. I am so angry. And sad. Desperate. Thank you Maryam Keshavarz for making this movie. May it travel all over the world and specially to Iran...
I think that even if the movie story passes and gets forgotten, there is no way not to remember the situation in Iran. It is shocking, backward, disrespectful, painful and I don't see how the situation will change. The movie compares the situation of the two girls to "Milk", but it is bigger than Milk: it is the whole woman condition, linked to the empowerment of religion, with a vicious circle of the impossibility of the system, thanks to fear and mistreatment, and the law that has been implemented to protect it. Yes, extremism is the main tragedy. And then there is homosexuality, that can be punished by death. So after all this, who can be a Milk when people are not only homophobic, but there is a law out there to punish homosexuality.
About the movie itself, beautifully shot, perfect rhythm, perfect actors. Excellent.
Freedom is a human right. Take Part: http://www.takepart.com/circumstance

The Whistleblower by Larysa Kondracki, 2010 (R)

With Rachel Weisz (The Deep Blue Sea, The Bourne Legacy, 360, Dream House, Constantine, Agora), Vanessa Redgrave (Lee Daniels's The Butler), Monica Bellucci (The Matrix Revolutions, Remember Me, My Love - Ricordati di me, Asterix and Obelix Meet Cleopatra), David Strathairn (The Bourne Legacy, Lincoln), Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Roxana Condurache, Paula Schramm, Alexandru Potocean, Benedict Cumberbatch (12 Years a Slave, Star Trek Into Darkness, August: Osage County, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, War Horse), Liam Cunningham, David Hewlett (Rise of the Planet of the Apes), Luke Treadaway, William Hope

A drama based on the experiences of Kathryn Bolkovac, a Nebraska cop who served as a peacekeeper in post-war Bosnia and outed the U.N. for covering up a sex scandal.

This movie made me sick. As a woman and a human being. All the references to good, powerful, rights, references are smashed. Everything. The United Nations as a powerful source of (in)justice, the police in Bosnia taking advantage of the lack of system, the women who do not believe anymore in any salvation, and this woman trying to attack a system that protect itself. Rachel Weisz is amazing of truth, in a world of corruption, her righteousness is almost suicidal, and somehow makes her a hero. Even tho nothing after all changed. Sick...

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