MEMBERS
ACTIVITY
GROUP SCORE
ESTABLISHED
Learn about Stories
Welcome to Stories!
Rewards
Author:
Joyces Choices
Joyce Kulhawik, best known as the Emmy Award-winning arts and entertainment critic for CBS-Boston (WBZ-TV 1981-2008), is currently lending her expertise as an arts critic/advocate, motivational speaker, and cancer crusader. Kulhawik is President of the Boston Theater Critics Association, a member of the Boston Society of Film Critics, and Boston Online Film Critics Association. Kulhawik has covered local and national events from Boston and Broadway to Hollywood, reporting live from the Oscars, the Emmys, and the Grammys. Nationally, Kulhawik has co-hosted syndicated movie-review programs with Roger Ebert and Leonard Maltin. Look for her arts & entertainment reviews online at JoycesChoices.com
Comments:
Some movies are torture. “Barb and Star go to Vista Del Mar” is like jumping off a comedy cliff and finding yourself forever cringing in the world where jokes never land. Even Kristen Wiig can’t save you.
Some movies are about torture. THE MAURITANIAN is a film that doesn’t tell us anything we didn’t already know, but now we have the personal specifics of a true story in a film which features a gripping central performance– but within a flat script which doesn’t do justice to the injustice on display.
THE MAURITANIAN
The film is based on the best-seller “Guantánamo Diary” a memoir by Mohamedou Ould Salahi who was held by the U.S. government without being charged but nevertheless “detained” at the American Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Tahar Rahim in a deeply sympathetic and shaded performance plays Salahi who one night in 2002, was plucked from his home in the East African country of Mauritania and the arms of his mother in the middle of a family celebration. Brought in for questioning, Salahi would end up imprisoned for the next 14 years, shackled and accused of recruiting the 9/11 hijackers but never charged. How could this happen on an American naval base? A little history. According to the MILITARY TIMES jurisdiction there has been a legal conundrum created by the 1898 Guantanamo Bay lease agreement “stipulating that Cuba retains “ultimate sovereignty” over the territory while the U.S. has “complete jurisdiction.” The result was a “no man’s land” in which torturous conditions were suffered by muslim prisoners held there post 9/11 in the war on terror.
LAND
“LAND” marks the directorial debut of the splendid actress Robin Wright who also stars. I remember interviewing her for the first time on the occasion of her acting debut as the beautiful young star of an NBC TV soap opera called “Santa Barbara.” Even then she was instantly relaxed and credible on camera. Since then I’ve watched Wright blossom as a subtle and charismatic actress in notable roles over time: THE PRINCESS BRIDE, FORREST GUMP, and more recently as the Golden Globe-winning star of the Netflix series HOUSE OF CARDS. She has gradually expanded her range as an actress of uncommon nuance and depth, with a hallmark stillness at her core.
Join Us!
To join this community, create a free account. Click the Join button above and then register. After you register, you will be brought back to this page. Click the Join Button again.
There are many benefits to being a member of a this community. You'll have access to resources to help provide support, inspiration and services. You also have access to VIP content, rewards and specials.
3/6/2021