Tuesday, August 28, 2018

Film screening of "The Spook Who Sat by the Door" Weds Aug 29th, 6:30pm - 9:15pm @ Parts & Crafts, 577 Somerville Ave in Somerville

H<paper_waves@riseup.net>
Film screening of "The Spook Who Sat by the Door"
Weds Aug 29th, 6:30pm - 9:15pm
@ Parts & Crafts, 577 Somerville Ave in Somerville
$5 Suggested Donation (no one turned away for lack of funds)
REGISTER: SpookByTheDoor.eventbrite.com
Vegan snacks provided.
Wheelchair accessible

Uhuru Solidarity Movement Boston presents a film screening of the
classic 1973 film "The Spook Who Sat by the Door". Based on the
fictional action crime–drama novel by Sam Greenlee. A Black freedom
fighter receives military training in the CIA, and uses his new skills
to lead an underground resistance in Chicago for his love of black
people to be free.

Benefit for the Boston Day of Reparations to African People campaign &
national speaking tour, to bring Chairman Omali Yeshitela of the African
People's Socialist Party to speak in Boston on November 8th, 2018. Mark
your calendars!

USM is an organization of white people created by and accountable to the
African People's Socialist Party. We organize in the white community for
reparations to African people.

Register at: SpookByTheDoor.eventbrite.com
Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1676007339193781/
fb.com/usmboston
uhurusolidarity.org


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As The 100th Anniversary Of Armistice Day Approaches A Look At The Ottoman Empire (Which Did Not Survive The War)-“The Ottoman Lieutenant” (2017)-A Film Review-Of Sorts

As The 100th Anniversary Of Armistice Day Approaches A Look At The Ottoman Empire (Which Did Not Survive The War)-“The Ottoman Lieutenant” (2017)-A Film Review-Of Sorts




DVD Review
By Laura Perkins
The Ottoman Lieutenant, starring Hera Hilmar, Micheil Huisman, Josh Garnett, 2017  
I asked to be assigned this review of The Ottoman Lieutenant from Greg Green the site manager who these days hands out the assignments according to his lights. I was somewhat surprised when Greg e-mailed that he had granted my request  and that he would sent the DVD ASAP (as soon as possible, which is used a lot around the office coming not from “Internet speak” but a term they learned in the military which really meant you would want you ass off for an eternity) since I had expected fellow reviewer Leslie Dumont to grab the brass ring. She has known Greg for a long time through her film review work at Women Today when he was at American Film Gazette. I had assumed like my reason for wanting to do the assignment that she wanted to comment on the increase in strong women roles among the younger set of female Hollywood actors.
I will get to that in a minute but please be aware that I did not create the title for the piece but it was written by Greg who wanted to use the opportunity of a film about World War I to push the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day that he has had Seth Garth, Sam Lowell, and Si Lannon, all veterans, writing articles on about the significance of that designation. Frankly, when Greg e-mailed me his idea for a title I did not know what he was talking about, did not know that what the guys are trying to do beside commemorate what they, and history, snidely call “the war to end all wars” is return to the originate intent of the day, November 11, 1918 which was to observe the Armistice negotiated for that day. Somewhere along the line, Sam, who in the seemingly current need to mention in the interest of transparency has been my long-time partner, gave me the date of the switchover in America to Veterans Day when who knows who hijacked the significance of the day but I have forgotten it. While the armistice plays no part in this film since it concentrate on the first year or so of the war I am proud to add my two cents worth to return it to its original commemoration as a day of peace and thanksgiving that the war was over.        
As I noted above I took this assignment when I heard from Greta Smythe at The Film Digest that the lead female role, the role of Lillie an American nurse played by Hera Hilmar, was to highlight a strong, independent, thoughtful woman, which fed into my recent feelings that there has been a shift in the roles younger woman actors are asked to play. Sadly, that does not apply in general to older woman roles. Sam, remember long-time companion Sam, and I discussed this issue after we had seen the film together. Sam, a well-known expert in the film review profession for writing the definitive tome on classic film noir, noted that strong roles for women in those times usually meant they were femme fatales, ready to trap any man who crossed their paths, or shrews, butts of male jokes or some other way to reduce the impact of their performances.  I had to laugh at a few of the observations Sam made about particular female actors in the past, but his point was well-taken as we both agreed unfortunately.
The current review is a good example of what a young woman can portray these days and not be tagged with the above pigeonholes. To the contrary Lillie is a well-brought up, well-mannered fashionable member of the Philadelphia Main Line who has a plan, a mission in life after hearing a lecture about a hospital in nowhere Anatolia, then part of the crumbling Ottoman Empire which was servicing those most desperately in need of medical care out in the rugged mountains. Serving Turks, the mainstay of the empire, and locals, meaning Armenians, their generally hated enemies alike. She came on board bringing with her a very useful car and a load of medical supplies as she left the comforts of the Main Line and headed out to do her share in the wide world. Had, additionally, previously trained as a nurse, which made her valuable if in some danger as the war clouds hovers over the world. She gets there after a few off-hand adventures escorted in-country by the young Ottoman lieutenant of the title, Lt. Veli, a Moslem which matters in the film, played by Micheil Huisman. During the length of the movie Lille more than hold her own assisting a resident doctor, Jude, played by Josh Harnett, tending to the wounded, getting the doctor-founder of the hospital, a laudanum junkie well, and a thousand other things as the Turks, now allied with the Germans ready to face the dreaded Russians. Lillie is somebody who has your back and you don’t have to worry about it a trait much appreciated among men-and women these days. 
         Now for the other part, the love interest part, which drives much of the movie once we agree that Lillie is a strong independent woman. There is no contradiction between Lillie being a strongwoman and having an affair, having as many as she would want if it came to that. The problem is that the love interest parts are rather pedestrian and predictable. For starters that doctor whose work she so admired, Jude, figured to have Lillie as his wife once he entered the picture again when she showed up at his door and they do go on in that direction for a while. But what had Lillie all aflutter was that Ottoman lieutenant who swept her away during their journey to the hospital since he acted as military escort to insure her safety. Jude was bitterly jealous but is left by the wayside as she picks a soldier over a doctor, a Muslim over a Christian, and the knowledge that whatever happens she made her choice despite the odds of anything working out in the mix of those stumbling blocks and the impeding war. And they don’t. The dashing heroic lieutenant got wounded trying to save what were not identified but were a small group of Armenians heading to their deaths by hateful Turkish soldiers during what is not officially acknowledged in the film as the Armenian genocide during 1915. Despite that death she continues on at the hospital. Yes, a strong woman indeed.       
   [Postscript: Sam, dear Sam, who watched the film with me and mentioned at the time during the scene of the Turkish soldiers executing what would if left undisturbed every Armenian in the area that represented the unacknowledged Armenian genocide of 1915, was furious at me for not castigating the film-makers for not making a clear stand on what was happening in that scene since to this day the Turkish governments, avidly and persistently deny the events occurred-and attack those who do believe that the events occurred inside and outside Turkey. I, again frankly as with the Armistice Day significance did not know, or knew only vaguely, about the genocide. That said on the question which has to be drawn from that which is whether to recommend anybody to see the film I have to concede that I have to say no and respect the boycott initiated by an Armenian youth organization.
Look I only grabbed this film to look at the strong female lead and that really is all I can vouch for. And do. Having been burned twice I will shortly, Greg Green willing, do another review featuring a strong female role-and avoid the thickets of the dual controversies here.]   

   

Join with Korean-Americans to call for a peace treaty Support the Korea Peace Process Thursday, August 30 Stand-out: 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm, Park Street Station

From The Archives Of The Mumia Abu Jamal Case-Free Mumia

From The Archives Of The Mumia Abu Jamal Case-Free Mumia

Click below to link to the Partisan Defense Committee Website.


This entry on behalf of the defense of Mumia Abu-Jamal was originally written in by me in 2008 in response to the Appeals Court’s turning down his appeal of his murder conviction, a conviction filled with all kinds of legal and moral problems from the government’s side. I have edited the piece slightly here in 2017 but the main political points, unfortunately retain their validity-Frank Jackman    
*********
Frank Jackman comment(2008):
The legendary social commentator and stand-up comic Lenny Bruce, no stranger to the American ‘justice’ system himself over a slew of obscenity and drug-related cases, once reportedly said that in the Halls of Justice the only justice is in the halls. The truth of that statement came home on Thursday March 27, 2008 as a panel of the federal Third Circuit Court of Appeals voted two to one to uphold Mumia’s conviction.
The only question left is that of resentencing- the death penalty or, perhaps worst, life in prison without parole. I have not yet read the decision but we are now a long way away from the possibility of a retrial-the narrow legal basis for even appealing in the legal system in the first place. (Pennsylvania has since stopped demanding the death penalty and Mumia is now serving a life without parole sentence-2017) Know this- in the end it will be in the streets and factories through the efforts of the international labor movement and other progressive forces that Mumia will be freed. That is the only way, have no illusions otherwise, whatever the next legal steps might be.
An Open Letter to Mumia Abu-Jamal Supporters-A Personal Commentary

By Frank Jackman


The Partisan Defense Committee had (in 2008) passed "An Open Letter to All Supporters of Mumia‘s Freedom" to this writer. Those few who might not know of the torturous legal battles to free this innocent man can find further information at the above-mentioned Partisan Defense Committee site archives. I make my own comments below.


Normally I pass information about the case of political prisoner Mumia abu-Jamal on without much comment because the case speaks for itself. The case has been front and center in international labor defense struggles for over two decades. However, in light of the adverse ruling by a majority of a federal Third Circuit Court of Appeal panel in March 2008 that affirmed Mumia’s 1982 conviction for first-degree murder of a police officer and left the only issue for decision that of resentencing to either reinstate his original death sentence or keep him imprisoned for life without parole I have some things to say about this fight.

Occasionally, in the heat of political battle some fights ensue around strategy that after the smoke has cleared, upon reflection, leave one with more sorrow than anger. Not so today. Today I am mad. Am I mad about the irrational decision by the majority of the Third Circuit panel in Mumia’s case? Yes, but when one has seen enough of these cases over a lifetime then one realizes that, as the late sardonic comic and social commentator Lenny Bruce was fond of saying, in the Hall of Justice the only justice is in the halls.

What has got me steamed is the obvious bankruptcy of the strategy, if one can use this term, of centering Mumia’s case on the question of a new trial in order to get the ‘masses’- meaning basically parliamentary liberal types interested in supporting the case. This by people who allegedly KNOW better. The bankruptcy of this strategy, its effects on Mumia’s case and the bewildered response of those who pedaled it as good coin is detailed in the above-mentioned Open Letter. Read it.

Today, in reaction to the Third Circuit court’s decision, everyone and their brother and sister are now calling for Mumia’s freedom. At a point where he is between a rock and a hard place. However, it did not have to be that way. Mumia was innocent in 1982 and he did not stop being innocent at any point along this long road. Freedom for Mumia was (and is) the correct slogan in the case. A long line of political criminal cases, starting in this country with that of the Haymarket Martyrs if not before, confirms that simple wisdom. Those who consciously pedaled this weak ‘new trial’ strategy as a get rich quick scheme now have seen the chickens come home to roost. And Mumia pays the price.

I would point out two factors that made a ‘retrial’ strategy in the case of an innocent man particularly Pollyanna-ish for those honest militants who really believed that Mumia’s case was merely a matter of the American justice system being abused and therefore some court would rectify this situation if enough legal resources were in place. First, it is illusory that somehow, as exemplified in this case, a higher court system would remedy this egregious wrong. Long ago I remember a lawyer, I believe that it might have been the late radical lawyer Conrad Lynn no stranger to political defense work, telling a group of us doing defense work for the Black Panthers that all these judges belong to the same “union.” They do not upset each other’s work except under extreme duress.

Second, and this is where the ‘wisdom’ of the reformists about reaching the ‘masses’ by a stage-ist theory of defense work (fight for retrial first, then freedom) turns in on them. As witness the list of names of those who have signed the Partisan Defense Committee’s call for Mumia’s freedom, excepting professional liberals and their hangers –on, those interested in Mumia’s case (or any leftwing political defense case) will sign on just as easily for freedom as retrial. Thus, opportunism does not pay, even in the short haul. That said, Free Mumia- say it loud, say it proud.

Monday, August 27, 2018

He’s Been A Bad Boy, He’s Been A Bad Boy-Again-The Very Loosely Film Adaptation Of Homer’s “The Iliad” Bad Boy Brad Pitt “Troy”(2004)-A Review


He’s Been A Bad Boy, He’s Been A Bad Boy-Again-The Very Loosely Film Adaptation Of Homer’s “The Iliad” Bad Boy Brad Pitt “Troy”(2004)-A Review




DVD Review

By Alden Riley

Troy, Brad Pitts

That dude, that max daddy poet who wrote in weird meter indeed, some hex hexameter thing only poets and English Lit majors would understand Homer (no known last name or place of residence although assuredly not homeless in the modern sense) knew how to tell a story, kept the crowds humming, kept the boys and girls fixated to see what they could learn about allure and love trampling power, glory and a side order of hubris which is after all a Greek word. Yes, that daddy, oops, max daddy poet whose works were only slightly shorter than the late Professor Alan Ginsberg, he of Howl angel hipsters and homoerotic fantasies got the whole thing about the ten major themes in Western literature right-especially the boy meets girl idea, the hubris of the gods (God in latter day mono speak) defining some ill-thought out fate for mere mortals, the mortals taking their own bad ass  fates with grains of salt, the hubris and rage, fury maybe a better word and the seemingly never-ending wars for power, glory, etc. maybe love in the mix too if Helen was as beautiful as the man said, the tormented life of the hero-heroine and the like. Good job brother, good job indeed. How old Homer’s idea translate to the big 21st century screen is another question as the Bad Boy Brad Pitt-led cast of the film adaptation of Homer’s epic Troy bring to a crude point what our max daddy was trying to say on his way to numero uno in the Western literary canon, the now doomed old white men canon which has been given short shrift of late. (For no known academic reason except style and politics because after all you could in my humble opinion may world literature a “big tent” including all the unjustly forgottens-but later on that since we are into the roots today).



Here’s the play as old time film reviewer Sam Lowell a man locked in his own literary battles with Sarah Lemoyne, a young up and coming reviewer, was fond of saying in his salad days. Needless to say, love drove things batty back then, back three thousand years ago just like today if you can believe the news, fake, alternative, truthful or otherwise and take a look at what is going on around you. Paris, excuse me if I don’t run the litany of other aliases he went under especially after he went down to infamous and unmanly defeat at the hands of his girlfriend’s husband, Menelaus, king hell king, another Sam Lowell expression, of virtuous and manly Sparta who was full of that rage, maybe fury is a better word, and swore to kill the bastard who took his woman away without so much as a by your leave had eyes for one Helen. Helen, hellion, formerly of Sparta and now address unknown but suspected to be in a place called Illium and hence the Illiad but who in those days when men, women, gods (God in that damn mono-speak) worked like seven dervishes to keep the place safe from infidels, greedy kings and warlords, con men and priests under the name Troy, not Troy, New York which was only a Dutch sailor’s wonder dream back then if anybody was living in Dutch land.

The presiding dignity of the fortress unbreachable King Priam, played in the film, remember to follow the bouncing ball because we are reviewing a film along the way, by the oldest brother of Peter O’Toole or maybe father because he had lost a step or seven since he played Lawrence of Arabia in another war is hell film and Henry some number in The Lion In Winter going mano a mano with Eleanor of Aquitaine speaking of salad days. Priam father to ninety-eight pound weakling Paris who was totally outmatched by old man Menelaus and his mega-death brother and heir apparent Hector who as older brothers often have to do finished off Menelaus just in a nick of time.  So Hector he-man and Paris light on his feet match up in the sibling contest to bring some excitement to Illium town.  

Funny this older brother had it right when he heard Paris had bewitched Helen, that beauty so they say who would go on to launch a thousand ships-and not in a good and jovial way like at a ship’s christening. War ships and plenty manned by rough-hewn sailors who took their love anyway they could get it under the whip just like Carl Solomon of hipster dreams and madness. This kidnapping, some say the whole thing was an early high-end wife-swapping but those harpies have malicious tongues, of Helen was bad news, was predicted by Mr. Hector, also no known last name or abode, except that silly Illium, of bringing down everlasting hell and damnation on the town, would make guys, gods, like Apollo go crazy with ire, maybe fury is a better word. Proved right but at what cost when senile and nerve-deadened Priam indulged his freaking younger son and who knows maybe had twilight designs on her himself if she really was that beautiful. (The gal who played her Diane Kruger no question an ice queen beauty was built for sweaty nights and silky sheets but who would soon wear on a man’s nerves with her damn harping about that bloody lost to her ex-husband now mercifully dead by the hand of Hector mentioned already).

War, war to the death, like half of the Western literary canon that would follow this path-breaking epic was all that could resolve this deadly dispute. Not surprising the leader of the war party in Greek was Menelaus’ older brother Agamemnon, king of flea-bitten Mycenae and a guy who lived to breath everlasting hell and damnation on anything that breathed over in Illium town-wanted power glory and a few good wenches, slaves to keep his bed warm. Naturally this is only the barest outline of what got the conflict going and be assured that no way could Hollywood dole out enough dough to do the whole Trojan War, Trojan remember the other name for residents of wacky Illium. The cost for the billion extras alone would break Universal or Paramount. The war lasted years as one might expect of guys who fought with axes, spears, and arrows so this film will only detail the last gripping episodes where Troy is burned to the ground by the greedy Greek governors led by brother-less child Agamemnon and that cast of thousands who roiled the Aegean finding love wherever they could-savage rapine if the occasion called for it and wenches and shipboard romances if they hit an lively port.   

While the boy meets girl story drives the film, has to since after all Helen’s face launched that one thousand ships and the guys who played the Greek kings except the pretty boy kind of Ithaca who seemed to have some sway over him, the real focus is on the warrior class, on guys like one Achilles, later in history as predicted by myopic mother to be known as painful Achilles heel but then a stone-cold killer, a warrior to put every Marvel Comic cinematic character in the shade, even Captain America if you can believe that. This Achilles is ranked number one in the world, the known world which was basically the Greek city-states, Troy, Dutch lands if inhabited by static dreamers and maybe bloody England since many of the actors had distinctive British accents and had that sun never sets on the Empire demeanor. The problem with being Achilles, warrior for hire to the highest bidder or if he like the taked, remember played by modern day bad boy, and bad boy again Brad Pitt, is some ass is always looking to knock you down, take you down a peg. Or have some hireling do the dirty work. No question Achilles, another guy with no known last name or address except the battlefields of whoever has the best deal, had a long run at number one stone cold killer maybe the legendary Greek psycho but he also had his sensitive side, that brooding philosophy king in waiting Plato was always dogging us mere mortals with. Worried maybe about his strange obsession with bedding vestal virgins especially those who served one Apollo, a god among gods (God in mono-speak), also with no known last name or place of residence. Emphatically not worried about his fate, knowing what dear mother had spun her crystal ball around, knowing too a soldier’s destiny but ready to throw the dice that glory would come with living fast, dying young and making a good ashen-strewn corpse. And we still speak his name, speak of the warrior king if not of his vestal virgin with the unpronounceable first name, also with no last name although her former residence was One Temple Of Apollo Place. Yeah, that max daddy Homer sure knew how to tell a story-even in weird meter.