Winter's Tale
Film Review by Kam Williams
Cat Burglar Courts Sickly Heiress in Searing Exploration of Undying Love
Peter Lake’s (Colin Farrell) parents had hoped to immigrate to the U.S. but were turned away at Ellis Island upon their arrival early in the 20th Century. Denied their shot at the American Dream, the Russian couple decided to leave their baby behind, setting him adrift in a tiny model of a ship called the “City of Justice.”
The infant was carried by the tide to the shores of Bayonne, New Jersey where he was found and raised by compassionate clam-diggers. Upon coming of age, the teen moved to Manhattan and earned an honest wage as a mechanic until succumbing to the pressure to join a gang of ruffians led by the ruthless Pearly Soames (Russell Crowe).
Peter was subsequently schooled in thievery under Pearly’s tutelage, though the two would become mortal enemies once the protégé tired of doing his malevolent mentor’s bidding as a cat burglar. Even after severing his ties to the criminal enterprise, the exasperated orphan was forever looking over his shoulder while on the run from the burly bully.
A critical moment of truth arrives when Peter finds himself surrounded by his former partners in crime and is somehow spirited away by a winged white stallion. Another turning point in the lad’s life transpires the fateful night he enters a well-fortified mansion’s second-floor window with felonious intentions.
For, before he has a chance to ransack the premises, Peter comes face-to-face with Beverly Penn (Jessica Brown Findlay), a sickly young heiress suffering from tuberculosis. And despite her impending demise, he becomes hopelessly smitten with the frail, philosophical free-spirit. Over the objections of her skeptical father (William Hurt), the star-crossed lovers proceed to embark on an otherworldly romance as enduring as it is ethereal.
Thus unfolds Winter’s Tale, a delightful flight of fancy marking the directorial debut of Akiva Goldsman, who won an Oscar for his screenplay adaptation of A Beautiful Mind. Akiva also wrote the script for this film which is based on Mark Helprin’s flowery best-seller of the same name.
Does this movie measure up to the source material? Can’t say, since I haven’t read it. Nevertheless, I found this well-crafted piece of magical realism quite imaginative and intriguing, though I suspect fans of the book might be a bit disappointed, given how much is ordinarily lost in translation bringing any 700-page book to the big screen.
A searing, supernatural exploration of the human soul suggesting not only that love is real but that miracles happen, too!
Excellent (4 stars)
Rated PG-13 for sensuality and violence
Running time: 118 minutes
Distributor: Warner Brothers
To see a trailer for Winter's Tale, visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBSj1MKwx6A
The New Black
Film Review by Kam Williams
The African-American community has been slow to get on the gay rights bandwagon, at least according to exit polls conducted on election days in states like California where the narrow defeat of same-sex marriage in 2008 was blamed on black folks. What’s up with that? After all, one would expect blacks, as the long-suffering victims of segregation and discrimination, including miscegenation laws forbidding race-mixing, to be quick to support LBGT equality.
But that hasn’t been the case according to The New Black, an eye-opening documentary directed by Yoruba Richen. The film follows the recent effort of African-American activists to rally support for Proposition 6, a Maryland same-sex referendum. This was to be no mean feat, given the way that the Black Church has dragged its feet in terms of LGBT issues.
The gay rights movement was apparently up against walking around money greasing the palms of black pastors coming courtesy of Mormons and white Evangelicals eager to sway the African-American vote. The Born Again crowd pressed for a literal interpretation of scriptures that leave no doubt about God’s will. Still, Bible-thumping bigots are ostensibly at odds with the open-minded attitude advocated by George Gershwin’s heretical hymn, “It Ain't Necessarily So” which warns that “The things that you’re liable to read in the Bible ain’t necessarily so.”
As far as conservative black ministers, some have called homosexuality “a white man’s disease,” and shunned members of their congregation who have come out of the closet. This even happened to Tonex, a Grammy-nominated Gospel singer who found his homosexual “perversions” criticized by colleague Reverend Donnie McClurkin, a convert to heterosexuality who has come to reject what he refers to as the gay lifestyle.
Nevertheless, most brothers seem to be coming around to a more tolerant attitude, despite the homophobia previously permeating black culture. For example, as a presidential candidate, Barack Obama narrowly defined marriage “as a union between a man and a woman,” only to arrive last year at a belief that “our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law.”
The African-American community collectively jumps the broom over its last big taboo!
Excellent (4 stars)
Unrated
Running time: 75 minutes
Distributor: Film Forum
To see a trailer for The New Black, visit
Dinesh Sharma
“The Global Obama” Interview
with Kam Williams
Sharma on Obama!
Dr. Dinesh Sharma is a cultural psychologist, marketing consultant and an acclaimed author with a doctorate from Harvard University. He is an Associate Research Professor (Honorary) at the Institute for Global Cultural Studies, SUNY-Binghamton; a senior fellow at Institute for International and Cross-Cultural Research, NYC; and a columnist for Asia Times Online, Al Jazeera English and The Global Intelligence, among other syndicated publications.
His recent articles and opinions have appeared in the Wall Street Journal Online, Wonkette.com, Free Lance-Star, Far Eastern Economic Review, Middle East Times, Middle East Online, Epoch Times, Biotech Law Review, Health Affairs, Media Monitors, DC Chronicles, Fredricksburg.com, MyCentralJersey.com, International Psychology Bulletin, and other journals. Dr. Sharma has been profiled domestically and internationally including in L'Echo, DeStandaard, Luxembourg Wort, 352 Lux Magazine, The Eastern Eye, Asian Affairs, Cincinnati Herald and The Skanner, to name a few.
On TV, Dinesh’s work has been favorably reviewed on Politics Tonight (WGN News), Urban Update (WHDH Boston), City Line WABC Boston, KITV Hawaii, Bay Sunday San Francisco, and many other shows. On Radio, he has been featured on Conversations on the Coast in San Francisco, Reality Check FM-4 Vienna, South African Broadcast Corporation (SABC) and numerous other talk shows.
Furthermore, he has been a consultant in the healthcare industry for major pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device clients for about a decade. He is the author of “Barack Obama in Hawaii and Indonesia: The Making of a Global President,” which was rated as among the Top 10 Books of Black History for 2012 by the American Library Association, Book List Online. Here, he talks about the follow-up book, "The Global Obama."
Kam Williams: Hi Dinesh, thanks for the interview.
Dinesh Sharma: Any time. It’s very nice of you to conduct this interview. You reviewed my earlier book and the new book, “The Global Obama.” So, I really appreciate it.
KW: What interested you in writing another book about Obama?
DS: Well, first, Barack H. Obama is a landmark presidential figure as the first black, multiracial, multicultural president from Hawaii and the Pacific. In the first book, Barack Obama in Hawaii and Indonesia, as you know, I documented, with ethnographic interviews, the childhood and adolescence of this history-making president. The idea was to show that the childhood of a historical leader speaks to the historical times and, in turn, shapes the future in some important ways. When I lectured around the world for the first book, I realized that he was more popular abroad than at home. I had known that from some of the early surveys by the Pew Research Center and The Economist. But when I toured throughout Europe, Asia and Africa, this was really brought home to me. So I wanted to do a book on that trend and try to explore some of the reasons for this finding. Given that no author has an expertise in all areas of the world, I decided to make this an edited book, with help from friends who span the globe. In the new book, we have covered five continents and more than twenty countries.
KW: Was it a harder sell, since the President’s bloom has fallen off the rose, at least domestically?
DS: It wasn’t a hard sell with the publishers or the reviewers. Most reviewers got the purpose of the project right away and supported it. In fact, the book is part of a series that is headed by James MacGregor Burns, who wrote the classic book on leadership and coined the term “transformational leadership,” Georgia Sorensen, who worked in the Carter administration, and Ron Riggio, a professor of leadership at Claremont McKenna College. Given that Obama is a relevant historical figure despite the negative polling trends domestically, he has many more admirers than detractors at home and abroad. In fact, the publisher wanted us to focus on his leadership style within a cross-cultural context, which is the theme of the new book.
KW: How do you explain his enduring popularity overseas?
DS: I think it has partly to do with his international biography and global moorings in almost all continents--Africa, Asia, Europe and the US, of course. Professor Ali A. Mazrui calls him “the child of three continents.” But if you include his Irish or European ancestry from his mother’s side of the family, he may be called “the man of four continents” or the global president, a symbol of the changing times.
KW: What were you most surprised to learn about him in the course of your preparing this book?
DS: When I prepared the manuscript, the sheer enormity of the challenges the U.S. faces abroad were mind-boggling. It became clear to me that the job of managing all of these conflicts simultaneously is, indeed, very difficult, especially, if the U.S. wants to remain the global leader in the 21st Century. That’s why China does not necessarily want to be in the position of a global superpower. The other BRIC countries, Russia, India and Brazil, are not anywhere near being global superpowers. Countries around the world expect the U.S. to deliver, be engaged, and respond to their needs. Presidential leadership is a really tough job, does come not easily. “To those much is given, much is expected,” to paraphrase President Kennedy.
KW: What has been your most special moment in your visits to the White House?
DS: Hard to say, but I think watching the President in the East Room when he hosts some of the sports teams, stars from the NBA, WNBA, and NFL, after they have won a championship. Obama is a sports aficionado! You can really observe that when he’s around athletes. He gets a kick out of it. His inner-jock self comes out and his language becomes very jocular.
KW: What’s it like to be a member of the press corps accompanying President Obama on a trip?
DS: Very interesting. As an immigrant from India who lived in Chicago for many years, or even as a graduate student at Harvard in psychology and human development, I didn’t think or imagine that one day I would be covering the first black president at the White House.
KW: You traveled to various places where Obama grew up while researching your first book about Obama. Where did you think the seed of his presidential destiny was planted?
DS: Hawaii. His parents met there and he attended one of the elite preparatory schools on the island, Punahou Academy. Hawaii was the last state to join the Union in 1959 after the attack on Pearl Harbor and World War II. Obama’s father arrived there as an exchange student in 1959 and Barack was born two years after Hawaii became part of the U.S. It shaped not only his inner-most self, his destiny, but also his vision of America as reflected in his saying, “There is no Red America or Blue America, only the United States of America.” As the first majority-minority state, you could say that Hawaii shaped Obama’s identity indelibly. They both grew up together, in parallel, and are now leading America towards being a blended nation, demographically.
KW: What will be the focus of your next book about Obama?
DS: Not clear yet, but something to do with American identity, politics and culture in the era of globalization, similar to what I have been writing about lately.
KW: Is there any question no one ever asks you, that you wish someone would?
DS: No one has asked ever said to me, “You’re not African-American, so why are you so obsessed with Obama? Why is Obama your muse?” Or, “Aren’t you tired of Obama yet? You know his polling numbers are falling.”
KW: Would you mind saying something controversial that would get this interview tweeted?
DS: President Obama will be an even bigger statesman in his post-presidency, while working for Africa’s development.
KW: What is your secret wish?
DS: To smoke a cigar with the President on the roof of the White House But, alas, he does not smoke anymore.
KW: The bookworm Troy Johnson question: What was the last book you read?
DS: “The Future” by Al Gore, “A Singular Woman” by Jenny Scott, “Legal Orientalism” by Teemu Ruskola, and I just started reading “The Great Soul” by Joseph Lelyveld.
KW: What is your favorite dish to cook?
DS: Fish Curry.
KW: The Mike Pittman question: What was your best career decision?
DS: To attend Harvard, and recently the decision to write two books on President Obama, in that order. Hopefully, more to come!
KW: When you look in the mirror, what do you see?
DS: There is no limit to what one can do!
KW: If you could have one wish instantly granted, what would that be for?
DS: That both my children will be well-educated, well-read and well-travelled.
KW: The Judyth Piazza question: What key quality do you believe all successful people share?
DS: Dogged determination – consistency and persistence in performance. It’s not just enough to have good ideas, one has to deliver.
KW: The Michael Ealy question: If you could meet any historical figure, who would it be?
DS: There are so many – I would like to have met Freud, Jung, Gandhi, Nehru, Lincoln, Churchill, Martin Luther King, Mandela, Claude Levi-Strauss, Dali, Margret Mead, Camus, Foucault, Sri Aurobindo, Krishnamurti, other Indian Philosophers. And the list goes on. As you can see, I think intellectuals are historical figures, too, because they can change the world with the power of their ideas.
KW: What advice do you have for anyone who wants to write about a president?
DS: Always follow your path, or the road less travelled.
KW: Thanks again for the time, Dinesh, and best of luck with the book.
DS: Thanks very much, Kam.
To order a copy of The Global Obama, visit: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1848726260/ref%3dnosim/thslfofire-20
To order a copy of Barack Obama in Hawai'i and Indonesia, visit:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0313385335/ref%3dnosim/thslfofire-20
Kids for Ca$h
Film Review by Kam Williams
Anybody who needs a new reason to hate lawyers ought to check out this shocking documentary chronicling a pay-to-play scheme whereby a couple of crooked judges, Michael Conahan and Mark Ciavarella, enriched themselves at the expense of adolescents unlucky enough to be arrested in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. The evil pair’s plan involved first condemning the existing juvenile detention center owned by the county.
Next, they took millions of dollars in kickbacks from the private corporation hired to build and then run a larger facility. Furthermore, they secretly signed a contract with the company in which they agreed to continue to help the firm maximize profits by keeping the cells filled with juvenile delinquents.
They subsequently accepted additional checks for each child sent to the prison, most for long stretches of time and for the flimsiest of infractions. Punishment was meted out not only for antisocial behavior like cursing at a bus stop, making fun of the principal on a webpage, and fighting at school, but in cases where the accused was totally innocent, like the boy arrested for riding a stolen scooter that had inadvertently been purchased by his parents, and another arrested for possession of drug paraphernalia that had admittedly been planted by the local police.
These youthful offenders as young as 12 were generally denied their right to an attorney and so fared poorly in the kangaroo court, and far worse behind bars. It comes as no surprise that they often suffered from a combination of depression, anxiety, mood swings and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, even years after being paroled. Some would become trapped in the criminal justice system’s revolving door and eventually ended-up in an adult penitentiary.
All of the above is recounted in distressing detail in Kids for Ca$h, a heartbreaking expose directed by Robert May about two of the slimiest creeps to ever walk the Earth. Conahan and Ciavarella’s shady shenanigans finally came to light after the Juvenile Law Center took up the cause of the falsely accused.
But the unrepentant jurists’ have never shown any remorse, with their stints in country club federal prisons amounting to a slap on the wrist, given the thousands of lives they’ve ruined. We can only pray that a special room in Hell has been reserved for these “scumbags,” as they were called on the steps of the courthouse by the grieving mother of one of their innocent victims who had committed suicide.
Excellent (4 stars)
Rated PG-13 for profanity and mature themes
Running time: 102 minutes
Distributor: SenArt Films
To see a trailer for Kids for Ca$h, visit
The Monuments Men
Film Review by Kam Williams
Most people are probably unaware that while Hitler was sweeping across Europe during World War II, he simultaneously directed his army to plunder any priceless works of art found in the course of its pillaging. For, believe it or not, the cultural rape of the beleaguered continent was all a part of the Fuhrer’s diabolical plan which not only included conquest and ethnic cleansing but turning his Austrian hometown into the cultural capital of the Third Reich.
Consequently, millions of artifacts were looted from museums, churches and private collections and transported to subterranean sites such as salt mines where they’d be safe from aerial attacks. However, the madman’s demented scheme also called for the destruction of any treasures he deemed degenerate if they conflicted with his propaganda campaign touting Germany’s racial purity and manifest destiny.
So, towards the end of the war, when the Allies caught wind of what was afoot, they assembled a team of curators, archivists and art historians whose stated mission was to retrieve and preserve as many of the stolen items as possible. With time of the essence, the seven experts started scouring the ravaged countryside in search of missing masterpieces.
That urgent effort is the subject of The Monuments Men, a bittersweet adventure directed by George Clooney. This tragicomic account of the crack platoon’s heroics is very loosely-based on Robert Edsel’s relatively-sober best seller of the same name, a meticulously-researched, 512-page opus encyclopedic in scope.
The film adaptation, which understandably conflates events and characters as a concession to the cinematic formula, was essentially designed with the masses in mind. Clooney, who stars as Frank Stokes, surrounded himself with a talented cast capable of convincingly executing with perfect aplomb a script which tends to veer back and forth recklessly between suspense and gallows humor.
His A-list ensemble features fellow Academy Award-winners Matt Damon (for Good Will Hunting), Cate Blanchett (for The Aviator) and Jean Dujardin (for The Artist), and nominees Bill Murray (for Lost in Translation) and Bob Balaban (for Gosford Park), as well as John Goodman and Hugh Bonneville. Given the palpable chemistry generated by their characters’ camaraderie, it’s a little sad that they don’t all survive the perilous trek behind enemy lines.
A history lesson about an obscure chapter of World War II successfully turned into entertaining Hollywood fare.
Very Good (3 stars)
Rated PG-13 for violence and smoking
In English, French, German and Russian with subtitles
Running time: 118 minutes
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
To see a trailer for The Monuments Men, visit