[the] ENGLISH-BLOG [.com]

Photograph: 'Der Danzig Danse Macabre III' © 2006 Lee Hobbs

Today's Film Review courtesy of English-blog contributor Rachael T.

*Warning: Article may contain spoilers!

Heroes in the Eyes of the Beholder

First a synopsis:

From the creators of the hit trilogy, The Matrix, comes a thrill ride of a movie that'll leave you quoting it for the rest of the day. V for Vendetta is a perfect blend of action, suspense, mystery, and drama, making the film . . .

Source: http://www.sonoma.edu/users/s/steiner/img/marinij_3.jpg

The film Process B-7185 by Bernard Offen and the academy award winning Hollywood production Crash elicited so many responses (see HERE for Process and HERE for Crash) that I felt it deserved another devoted blog entry. This difference about this entry, however, is how similar thematic developments in both (one was a historical auto-biography, the other a work of fiction) diverged and brought understanding to sensitive issues such as racism, intolerance, hate and hate-crimes (as opposed to war-crimes, for example). Some of my students did a wonderful job comparison writing exercises involving subject matter from both films . . .

Source: http://www.powerhousebooks.com/photos/8199157-550px.jpg

"There's a world outside your window / and it's a world of dread and fear" - from "Do They Know it's Christmas?" by Sir Bob Geldof, et al.

As students of the Holocaust, we know something about the horrors of genocide . . .

From The Citizenship and Civic Engagement Initiative:

Since 2003, there has been a war between the Sudanese government and two rebel groups in this western region of Sudan. The government forces and the ethnic militias called "Janjaweed" have systematically attacked the Darfurian civilians, killing unarmed people, burning their villages, stealing their livestock, and forcing them to flee. The government forces and the Janjaweed have also terrorized these displaced people in their refugee camps. The Janjaweed are using rape as a weapon to further demoralize and destroy the social fabric of the Darfurian peoples. These brutal actions have been called "ethnic cleansing" and "genocide."

Last week the IUP (Indiana University of Pennsylvania) student newspaper, The Penn, ran the following article about the humanitarian crisis in Sudan (see below). Dr. Marveta Ryan-Sams, in a campus-wide email, said "There is a genocide taking place in the Darfur region of Sudan. Thousands of Sudanese citizens are being killed, raped . . .

Source: http://www.zchor.org/auschwitz/picskomski/KOMSKI20.JPG

Scholars,

As several of you might know, I lived as an expatriate for many years overseas, primarily in post-Communist Europe, teaching, doing research and operating new businesses after the Berlin Wall came down in East Germany.

I made many good friends there including Mr. Bernard Offen - a survivor of the Holocaust - who has dedicated much of his life to giving, sharing, educating and promoting peace. I had the opportunity to learn a lot from Bernard and . . .