Passage to India

An epic novel of British/Indian relations woven into a mystery set in India under the British Raj.

City of Joy

Struggle for survival in the Calcutta Slums

Kundun

Based on the true story of Tibet's Dalai Lama and his daring struggle to rule a nation at one of the most challenging times in its history.

To Live (sub titles)

Follows a Chinese family's fortunes through the Chinese Civil War, the Great Leap Forward, and the Cultural Revolution.

Little Buddha

Tibetan monks search for their leader's reincarnated spirit. Three children from very different backgrounds are selected as possible candidates and brought to Bhutan.

Salaam Bombay

Krisha, a ten year old boy, has been abandoned in Bombay by his mother. He tries to earn money to go home while he lives in the streets.

Beyond Rangoon

Patricia Arquette stars as a tourist vacationing in the country of Burma. The quest for freedom in the movie is for Arquette, her Burmese friends, and for the Burmese people. Arquette is unwittingly dumped by fate into harm's way, only to rediscover her own inner strength. The Burmese people have been living in harm's way for years under a brutal military regime. It takes all the inner strength they can muster to make it through each day. And for those who are truly brave, there may be opportunities to escape into Thailand.

Red Corner

Richard Gere plays a downtrodden TV executive who sells syndicated shows on the global market and during a business trip to China he finds himself framed for the murder of the sexy daughter of a high Chinese official. Once trapped in a legal system in which his innocence will be all but impossible to prove, Gere must rely on a Chinese-appointed lawyer who first advises him to plead guilty but gradually grows convinced of foul play.

The Story of the Weeping Camel

Blend of fact and fiction providing a glimpse into the relationships, rituals, and livelihood of a four-generation family of nomadic shepherds in the Gobi desert of South Mongolia. (Amazon.com)

Not Without My Daughter

Sally Field plays an American who marries an Iranian and has a child. They go back to Iran for a visit and, to her horror, he tells her he's decided to stay there. If she wants to leave, she must leave her daughter behind. If she stays, she must live in a culture vastly different and, she believes, very dangerous.  The husband is truly despicable while Field projects a lot of overheated anguish as Betty tries to figure out a way to escape the country with her daughter

The Passion of the Christ

The Passion of Christ is an interpretation of the final 12 hours in the life of Jesus.

Out of Africa

A film about the life of Danish writer Karen Blixen (Meryl Streep), better known as Isak Dinesen, who travels to Kenya to be with her German husband (Klaus Maria Brandauer) but falls for an English adventurer (Robert Redford.

Hotel Rwanda

Depicts the atrocities in the country of Rwanda in 1994.  One man saves the lives of over a thousand people by granting them shelter in the hotel he manages.

Black Hawk Down

Re-creation the American siege of the Somalian city of Mogadishu in October 1993, when a 45-minute mission turned into a 16-hour ordeal of bloody urban warfare. Helicopter-borne U.S. Rangers were assigned to capture key lieutenants of Somali warlord Muhammad Farrah Aidid, but when two Black Hawk choppers were felled by rocket-propelled grenades, the U.S. soldiers were forced to fend for themselves in the battle-torn streets of Mogadishu, attacked from all sides by armed Aidid supporters.

Power of One

Set in the 1950s, a white South African teenage welterweight, whose trainer and mentor is a black man, falls for the daughter of a pro-apartheid activist.

Doctor Zhivago

A moving story of love and romance told against the flaming background of the Russian revolution.

Dr. Strangelove

Spoof of political and military insanity, beginning when General Jack D. Ripper, a maniacal warrior obsessed with "the purity of precious bodily fluids," mounts his singular campaign against Communism by ordering a squadron of B-52 bombers to attack the Soviet Union. (amazon.com)

Reds

The story of the love affair of John Reed and Louise Bryant in a war-torn world and how the Russian revolution shook their lives.

Russia House

When Katya (Michele Pfeiffer), a beautiful Russian book editor attempts to send British publisher Barley Blair (Sean Connery) a manuscript written by "DANTE", a noted Soviet scientist, she unwittingly involves him in a world of international espionage. Having met Blair at a dinner party, Dante trusts him to publish the manuscript, which contains information that could alter the balance of world power. But before the manuscript reaches Blair it is intercepted by the West's spy-masters.

Missing (*not "The Missing")

Based on an actual event, the story involves the search by his wife and father for a young American who has disappeared during a South American coup.

Romero

Movie about the life of Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador, who made the ultimate sacrifice in a passionate stand against social injustice and the oppression in his country. This film chronicles the transformation of Romero from an apolitical, complacent priest to a committed leader of the Salvadoran people.

El Norte

Portrays the life of a Mayan brother and sister who are forced to leave Guatemala in search of survival in "El Norte." But they discover that the U.S.-Mexico border is a virtual war zone. (amazon.com)

Salvador

A war photojournalist is sent to El Salvador in 1980 to capture the bloodshed, brutality and injustices of the war on film.

Cry the Beloved Country

This movie stars James Earl Jones as a rural minister in South Africa who makes his first trip to Johannesburg in search of his son. His son's destiny has been linked with that of a doomed, young white man, whose racist father is approached by Jones's character in the spirit of mutual understanding. (amazon.com)

Email me at  sandi.siemaszko@gpschools.org