Posts tagged country
“Religulous” Lecturing to the Nonreligious
Oct 9th
Lecturing to the Nonreligious
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
RELIGULOUS (rhymes with “ridiculous is a very funny and thought-provoking documentary about the major religions of the world (with a passing nod to Scientology, even) and how fundamentalists and religious extremists can be seen as, well, ridiculous.
Comedian and satirist Bill Maher narrates the film and conducts interviews all over the planet, talking to leaders and followers of religions in a humorous and thought-provoking attempt to convince the audience that the religions and their followers are, well, ridiculous to believe in such claptrap.
As Maher says right at the beginning, “If there’s one thing I hate more than prophecy, it’s self-fulfilling prophecy.”
Maher himself knows more than a little bit about religion, as he tells us, because his mother was Jewish, his father was Catholic, and his family went to Catholic church every Sunday until Maher was 13, and then they just stopped.
We see Maher talking with his mother and his sister, too, and when he asks his mother about this, he asks her why his father just suddenly quit the church, and she answers, “I don’t know. We never discussed it.”
Maher also questions why believing in something without any evidence is “good” and then answers his own question with “It’s like the lotto. You can’t be saved if you don’t believe.”
And, of course, many people actually believe that. However, Maher also tells us that 16% of Americans say that they belong to no church and are therefore nonreligious.
The graphics are quite good, and many of the interviews are accompanied by film clips from old biblical movies as commentary to what is being said or claimed to be “true.”
We learn that in Italy, which is a very religious country, in a time of crisis, Jesus ranks only sixth as being called upon for comfort by the people. Maher then gets thrown out of the Vatican there.
He also gets thrown off the property in Salt Lake City when his film crew draws attention to what he is doing. If the religious believers don’t watch out, they could be accused of not having a sense of humor.
Although quite humorous, the film ends on a rather serious note as Maher covers religious predictions for the end of the world.
RELIGULOUS (rhymes with “ridiculous is not preaching to the choir so much as lecturing to the nonreligious.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
Body of War – Movie Trailer
Aug 21st
On September 13, 2001 — a mere two days after the 9/11 attacks — Tomas Young, a Kansan with an overwhelming sense of patriotism and loyalty to his country, felt moved to enlist in the United States Armed Forces. Equipped with the courage to fight and rid the world of the threat of terror, Young anticipated an appointment in Afghanistan that would enable him to join his fellow soldiers in rooting out and bringing to justice Al-Qaeda operatives. This did not occur, however, and President Bush’s order to invade Iraq stunned everyone, including Tomas. He soon found himself shuttled off to a land that posed no obvious threat to the United States, where he was instantly struck by a bullet from behind — and rendered both paraplegic for life and unconscious. Airlifted home, Tomas slowly regained awareness of himself and his surroundings, settling in for a long, grueling recovery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in the nation’s capital, with the assistance and loving support of his mother. But the young man’s journey did not end there. As he lay in his hospital bed, unable to move, Tomas learned of the countless injuries and deaths afflicting hundreds of thousands in Iraq. In the process, he became one of the nation’s most ardent opponents of the Iraq invasion. With their nonfiction work Body of War, longtime television pundit Phil Donahue and documentarian Ellen Spiro join forces to relay Tomas’ heart-wrenching and yet deeply affirming story — both a testament to one man’s enduring inner strength and a towering condemnation of a localized conflict that owes much, if not everything, to the miscalculation and intrusion of the United States.
“Body of War” And for What?
Aug 21st
And for What?
BODY OF WAR is a movie everyone should see about something that should never have happened. It is a documentary about what life is like today for a young man who joined the Army after 9/11 and served in Iraq for only five days. Tomas Young’s unit had never been in Iraq before, and on their very first mission Tomas was in a truck and took a shot from above that hit him in the left shoulder and paralyzed him from the chest down. He never fired a bullet, and his war was over.
So, we follow Tomas around now that he is back in the United States, giving talks to various groups, meeting with different people, and just struggling to get around.
In an early scene, Tomas is at Ground Zero in New York City, and he says, “If it weren’t for this, I wouldn’t have joined the Army.” And if he hadn’t have joined the Army, wanting to go fight the terrorists in Afghanistan, he wouldn’t have been shot in Iraq, he wouldn’t have become paralyzed, and he wouldn’t have become dependent on the help from his mother and the wife he married after coming home.
Throughout the movie, we see and hear the roll call in the U.S. Senate as the Senators vote overwhelmingly to give President Bush the powers to go to war, as well as the testimony of various Senators and Congressmen in support of the bill.
One notable exception, however, is that of Senator Robert Byrd, who cautions against rushing into judgment and doing something they will regret.
There are also scenes from the White House Correspondents Dinner at which President Bush makes fun of looking for weapons of mass destruction in the Oval Office and everyone laughing inappropriately at the so-called “joke.”
You cannot watch this movie without crying for what we have done and for what we have allowed to be done.
The final vote in the Senate was 77 to 23, and the movie ends with a meeting between Tomas and Senator Byrd in which Senator Byrd refers to the 23 no-voters as the Immortal 23 and reads their names to Tomas as their votes are shown to the audience. Then Senator Byrd and Tomas congratulate each other for serving their country.
BODY OF WAR leaves everyone with the question, “And for What?”
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”