HISTORY 396 MOVIE REVIEW ASSIGNMENT

Each student in History 396 is required to write a comparison of two films chosen from the list below. You must choose two movies within the same category. In order to write this paper, you must find some point or points of comparison between the two films you choose. Clearly, the films will address the same country within the same general time period, but you should look beyond these obvious similarities when analyzing the motion pictures you choose.

Connect to Guidelines, Assessment, List of Films.

The components of the paper are as follows:
 

Introduction - Your opening paragraph should indicate the titles of the films you chose, and why you think these two films are worthy of comparison.

Body - The main part of the paper should address how the films depict the political and social issues of the times they are portraying.
 

• •Are these films historically accurate? To answer this, you may have to do some historical research into the period under investigation.

 
• •What do these films have in common? Look beyond the plot and characters and analyze underlying themes and issues addressed by each movie. What political bias does the film have? Is it more sympathetic to one side than to the other? Does the film offer a political balance?

 
• •Do not recapitulate every aspect of the plots of each film.

 
• •DO NOT discuss the films sequentially-first one, then the other! Establish your general point or points of comparison, and make some overall assessment of the two films and express this assessment in a thesis statement. Then discuss characters and plot in terms of your thesis.

 

Length - No more than six and no less than four double-spaced typewritten pages, with 1" margins on left and right. I will be looking for quality rather than quantity.
 

Due Date - July 3, 2003
 

No excuses will be accepted for papers submitted late. If you know you will be absent on the due date, submit your paper prior to that date. If you are sick, contact a class member and have her/him deliver the paper on the due date. One full letter grade will be deducted for each day late.
 
 

GUIDE TO HOW YOUR PAPERS WILL BE GRADED
 

Your film papers will represent 10% of your final grade and will therefore be graded on a 10-point basis. A maximum of six points will be allotted for content, two points for structure and organization, and two points for spelling, grammar and composition. If you have had difficulty writing papers in the past, I strongly urge you get assistance from the Writer's Resource lab in order to bring your paper up to acceptable standards.
 

9-10 points: exceptional originality of insight, well-written and well-organized; exceptionally well-articulated thesis statement; general points are supported by illustrative examples or other supporting evidence.

7-8 points: clear indication of thoughtful analysis, acceptable grammar and sentence structure; clear thesis statement. Fluid writing.

5-6 points: Competent understanding of the films and the times they portray; some analysis although not necessarily insightful or compelling; comparisons are somewhat off the mark. Some errors in spelling, sentence structure, sentence fragments and dangling participles.

3-4 points: Superficial understanding of the themes and issues portrayed in the films. Vague thesis statement in which the reader is unclear at the outset of what the central point of analysis will be. General points are made without clear examples or references to the movies. Information from the films are summarized without any clear relationship to overarching themes. Numerous grammatical and spelling errors. Little evidence of rigorous editing-reads like a first draft.

1-2 points: Off-track for all or most of the essay. The writer ignores the requirements of the paper, for example discussing historical context apart from the films chosen for review. Very weak thesis statement, or no statement at all. The reader struggles to find coherence in the paper. Transitions between major points are difficult to follow. Does not meet the minimum competency for a college-level essay, displaying consistent ignorance of, or lack of attention to, basic rules of grammar.
 

Some Hints
 

• the paper should have an original title. This gives the reader an immediate sense of what your paper is about.

 
• use the subjective "I" with great caution, and never to describe the mere process of completing the assignment (e.g. "I chose to watch these films . . .") Write yourself into the essay only when it is necessary for the reader to take your personal beliefs or experiences into account (e.g. "I strongly believe that . . ." or "my own experiences in Peru confirm that . . .")

Below are films chosen for their strong historic/political/social content. Almost all are foreign films and are on VHS, however, many titles may be difficult to locate. Therefore it is imperative that you begin at once to find these movies. Some are in the media section of the CSULB library. Others may be found in the foreign film section of Blockbuster or The Wherehouse, or other video outlets. You might even find some broadcast on cable stations such as Bravo and IFC.
 

You may want to review films not listed below. Please check with me for approval before you embark on a search for titles which are not listed below. Once you have obtained your films, let me know which ones you chose and I will note your choices. No student may choose a film already chosen by another student.
 

The films below are listed according to continent, country, and time period within that country.
 
 
 

AFRICA/MIDDLE EAST

National liberation Battle of Algiers, Camp de Thiaroye

Middle East-Colonialism Battle of Algiers, Ramparts of Clay, The Silences of the Palace, Sambizanga, Lawrence of Arabia

Tunesia The Silences of the Palace, Ramparts of Clay

Senegal Borom Sarret, Emitai, Mandabi , Guelwaar, Xala

Arab-Israeli Dispute Deadly Currents

South Africa A Dry White Season
 

ASIA

China

1920s Ju Dou, Red Sorghum, Raise the Red Lantern

WW II The Last Emperor, Farewell My Concubine

1953-67 The Blue Kite, To Live

1980s-90s Ermo, The Story of Qiu Ju, Women From the Lake of Scented Snows

India

1920s Aparajito, Jalsaghar, Gandhi

WW II Distant Thunder

1950s The Big City

1970s-90s The Middleman, Days and Night in the Forest, Salaam Bombay!, City of Joy

Japan

WW II Fires on the Plain, The Burmese Harp, A Soldier's Prayer

Postwar Japan Black Rain, The Burmese Harp, The Funeral, Rhapsody in August, I Live in Fear, A Taxing Woman, Paradise Road, Empire of the Sun

Tibet Kundun, Seven Years in Tibet

Vietnam Indochine, Scent of Green Papaya
 

AUSTRALIA/NEW ZEALAND

Australia My Brilliant Career, Sweetie, High Tide, Walkabout

Australia WW I Gallipoli

Aborigines The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith, Walkabout

New Zealand An Angel at my Table, Broken English
 

EUROPE

Communism

Children in Communist society Hey Babu Riba, Time Stands Still, LittleVera, Tito and Me, When Father was Away on Business

Post-War Communism Angi Vera, Ashes and Diamonds, The Confession

End of Communism Kolya, Tito and Me

Czechoslovakia

Czechslovakia WW II The Fireman's Ball, Closely Watched Trains, The Shop on Main Street

Czechoslovakia 1951 The Confession

Czech 1968 The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Czechoslovakia late 1980s Kolya, My Sweet Little Village

England

England WW I A Month in the Country

England 1920s-1930s The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Chariots of Fire

England WW II The Land Girls

England 1940s-50s Distant Voices Still Lives, If . . ., I'm All Right Jack, Raining Stones, Look Back in Anger

England 1960s Blow-Up, This Sporting Life

England and France1980s High Hopes, Mon Oncle d'Amerique

Immigrants in England Bhaji on the Beach, My Beautiful Laundrette

France

France WW I Captain Conan, Paths of Glory, Devil in the Flesh, Grand Illusion, Life and Nothing But

France 1930s Rules of the Game, The Green Room, Kameradschaft

France WW II The Last Metro, Mr. Klein, Au Revoir les Infants, Lacomb Lucien, A Man Escaped, A Self-Made Hero, The Sorrow and the Pity, Hotel Terminus, The Story of Women, The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie, The Green House

France 1960s-70s Le Joli Mai, Masculine Feminine, Weekend, May Fools, Mon Oncle, One Sings the Other One Doesn't

French Colonialism Sugar Cane Alley, Battle of Algiers, Ramparts of Clay, Wild Reeds, Indochine, Prospero, Caliban

Germany

Germany pre-1919 Colonel Redl, Hanussen

Weimar Germany Berlin Alexanderplatz, Cabaret, The Blue Angel, Metropolis, Dr. Mabuse, The Joyless Street, I am a Camera, M, The Station-Master's Wife, The Three-Penny Opera

Nazi Germany The Blue Light, Triumph of the Will, Madchen in Uniform, Mephisto, the Wannsee Conference, The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie, the Memory of Justice

Germany after WW II Kings of the Road, The Marriage of Maria Braun, The Tin Drum, Far Away So Close, The Nasty Girl

Germany 1970s-80s Marianne and Juliane, The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum, Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven

Holocaust

Jewish children WW II Au Revoir Les Infants, Lacombe Lucien, Forbidden Games

Holocaust Collaboration Dr. Petiot

Holocaust Survival Europa Europa, The Boat is Full, Escape from Sobibor

Ireland The Crying Game, In the Name of The Father, Angela's Ashes

Italy

Italy WW II Generale Della Rovere, Life is Beautiful, Paisan, Open City, The Night of the Shooting Stars, Tea With Mussolini

Postwar Italy The Bicycle Thief, Bandits of Orgosolo, Shoeshine,

Big Deal on Madonna Street, Cinema Paradiso, Miracle in Milan, Umberto D.

Italy 1970s Fellini's Roma, Stolen Children

Italian fascism Christ Stopped at Eboli, Garden of the Finzi-Continis , The Conformist, Love and Anarchy, 1900

Italy 1990s Lamerica

Poland

Poland 1930s The Dybbuk

Poland WW II A Generation, Open City, Kanal

Poland 1970s Man of Marble, Man of Iron, Contract, Moonlighting

Russia/USSR

Russia WW I Dr. Zhivago, a Slave to Love

Russian Revolutions The Battleship Potemkin, Strike, Ten Days that Shook the

World, End of St. Petersburg

Russian Civil War Chapayev, Commissar

USSR 1920s-30s The Man With a Movie Camera

USSR Kulaks Earth

Stalinism Burnt by the Sun, The Inner Circle, Freeze-Die-Come to Life, Repentance, Commissar, Love, Stalin

USSR in WW II Ballad of a Soldier, The Mirror

Postwar USSR The Thief, Prisoners of the Mountains, Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears,

Collapse of USSR Anna

USSR-Germany in WW II The Ascent

Chechnya Prisoner of the Mountains,
 

Scotland Comfort and Joy
 

Spain

Spanish fascism Cria, Lovers: A True Story

Spain - Civil War Land and Freedom, The Good Fight, La Guerre Est Finee, Tristana, Ay Carmela

Sweden Cries and Whispers, Fanny and Alexander, Scenes from a Marriage

Sweden 1909-18 The Best Intentions, The Emigrants, Jerusalem

Turkey Yol

Yugoslavia Tito and Me, When Father Was Away on Business,

Underground, Welcome to Sarajevo

Breakup of Yugoslavia Before the Rain, Shot Through the Heart, Underground
 

NORTH/SOUTH AMERICA

Argentina I Don't Want to Talk about It, The Official Story

Brazil Antonio Das Mortes, Black God White Devil, Bye Bye Brazil, Pixote, Central Station

Canada The Boys of St. Vincent, Margaret's Museum, Mon Oncle Antoine

Chile Missing, The Battle of Chile

Cuba Death of a Bureaucrat, Memories of Underdvelopment, Guantanamera, Strawberry and Chocolate, I Am Cuba, Bitter Sugar

Mexico Los Olvidados, Nazarim, Que Viva Mexico

Guatemala El Norte

El Salvador Salvador!
 
 
 

SPECIAL TOPICS

Legacies of Colonialism The Memory of Justice, Xala, Zan Boko, Mapantsula

Fascism 1920s Diary of a Chambermaid

Racism Black Girl, Olympia

1960s Marxism Before the Revolution

Terrorism 1960s-1970s State of Siege, Z, Salvador, Four Days in September

War All Quiet on the Western Front, Johnny Got His Gun, Grand Illusion, Paths of Glory, Gallipoli

Atomic war Dr. Strangelove, I Live in Fear, The War Game, Black Rain

Human Rights Abuse The Official Story, A Dry White Season, Missing