War crimes on the Day of Remembrance for All Victims of Chemical Warfare

 

Operation Linebacker II, sometimes euphemistically referred to as the #Christmas bombings, was the outcome of a 1972 agreement between US war criminal and future Nobel Prize winner Henry #Kissinger and Vietnamese general Lê Đức Thọ. During an 11 day period, a staggering 20000 tons of shells were dropped on the cities of Hà Nội [#Hanoi] and Hải Phòng [#Haiphong], killing at least 1624 civilians.

“Peace is at hand.”

– Kissinger in 1972, commenting on Operation Linebacker II

Film as you may know it approaches the #Vietnam war from one of two perspectives. There is your heroic propaganda, reducing the Vietnamese to cruel vermin to be rooted out by brave Americans. That list is endless and I'm tired. Then on the other hand there's levity, song and dance and a swish of sentiment with Hair and the unforgivable Good Morning, Vietnam; the, see it wasn't too bad we brought “them” rock 'n' roll and bubblegum-approach. And only once upon a time there was The Deer Hunter. However none of these see the Vietnamese, regardless of North or South, as people. A backdrop perhaps, as exotic as foliage.

 

Showing what happened on the ground, other than the faith of Phan Thị Kim Phúc or Nguyễn Văn Lém, something beyond the fetishisation of helpless victimhood, is essential to put a face on things. And a voice in people's mouths.

 

Today, I use my voice to proclaim my wordless joy for the end of an era. And will spare it for the harrowing future to come.

Holiday shopping on Black Friday (once just the USA, now this pest is everywhere)

 

A little boy takes in the magic of pre-Christmas, while the adults rush and worry about all that must to be bought.

“Any resemblance between HELLZAPOPPIN’ and a motion picture is purely coincidental”

– tagline

'Twas the week before Christmas. Not too far from Copenhagen a helicopter lands, carrying #SantaClaus and a Christmas angel. A small welcome orchestra plays carols, after which the party makes its way to the Danish capital. There, more Santas join the duo.

“Here Santa opens a factory with 1000 workers”

– banner next to a Julemandshæren-occupied factory

Over the course of several days they bring cheer, song and hot chocolate to delighted Copenhagen Christmas shoppers. Then they show up at a local bank, demanding low-interest loans. Then, in support of the laid-off workers, they unroll a large banner at the recently shutdown General Motors factory. On the final day, Santa Claus visits Magasin, the Danish version of Macy's. In the true spirit of Christmas the Julemandshæren hands out the store's books to thrilled customers. Magasin staff is not amused. Some of them start pummelling the Santas, ripping off beards to prove that these are crooks, not real #Santa​s. Small children are in tears, their dreams of a just world shattered.

 

The Santas were a gift to the workers from Solvognen, Fristaden Christiania's anarchist theatre troupe. With disruptive, meticulously planned performances they sought to bring attention to social issues such as worker's rights, the massacre of Wounded Knee and – as late as 2006 – Guantanamo Bay.

To support his family, small-town boy Domenico moves to Milan in the hope to find a job. Eventually he's employed, as a clerk in a drab office replacing a senior worker who died. While the days drag on, only interrupted by coffee shop small talk with fellow teenager Antonietta, the Christmas office #party draws nearer.

“My wife gave me a big kiss this morning. I only get kisses once a month, on payday.”

– Sartori

With the dark absurdity of coming out of fascism and having to run a real-world country with a naive ineptitude – represented by the too-large-borrowed-from-father-suits – and pretence childlike bureaucratic procedures, Olmi's Il posto is a wonderfully sharp observation of postwar Italy.

There's a handful of notable amateur films in the National Film Registry. One of them is the Zapruder film, another Sid Laverents' Multiple SIDosis.

“In terms of sheer entertainment value, I think that it demonstrated that one eccentric genius alone in his garage can rival the best of the Hollywood studios””

– Ross Lipman, UCLA Film & Television Archive restorationist

Sid Laverents was an airplane engineer and former one-man band vaudevillian who in his fifties joined the #SanDiego Amateur Moviemakers Club. One of his best-known outputs, Multiple SIDosis, took him and his 16 mm #Bolex four years and 1,900 feet of celluloid to make. In it, Sid – and a musical troupe made up of many overdubbed versions of himself – performs the popular and insanely catchy tune Nola.

 

Catch it here.

The cyclical story of the Christ envisioned as an icon maker, the creator of sacred images of the saints and the Holy.

 

When you know what to look for – the significance of bread, the judgement of the Pantocrator, the wheel that begets martyrs – Иконостасът speaks the language of the people, not of the ecclesiastic.