John Pilger

I came know about John Pilger only last year. He is an inspiring news reporter and documentary film maker. After watching many of his documentaries, i feel that his films should be included in the media cariculum. In an interview when he was aked "what is wrong with journalism today?" his reply was very interesting

John Pilger: Many journalists now are no more than channelers and echoers of what Orwell called the official truth. They simply cipher and transmit lies. It really grieves me that so many of my fellow journalists can be so manipulated that they become really what the French describe as functionaires, functionaries, not journalists.Many journalists become very defensive when you suggest to them that they are anything but impartial and objective. The problem with those words "impartiality" and "objectivity" is that they have lost their dictionary meaning. They've been taken over. "Impartiality" and "objectivity" now mean the establishment point of view. Whenever a journalist says to me, "Oh, you don't understand, I'm impartial, I'm objective," I know what he's saying. I can decode it immediately. It means he channels the official truth. Almost always. That protestation means he speaks for a consensual view of the establishment. This is internalized. Journalists don't sit down and think, "I'm now going to speak for the establishment." Of course not. But they internalize a whole set of assumptions, and one of the most potent assumptions is that the world should be seen in terms of its usefulness to the West, not humanity. This leads journalists to make a distinction between people who matter and people who don't matter. The people who died in the Twin Towers in that terrible crime mattered. The people who were bombed to death in dusty villages in Afghanistan didn't matter, even though it now seems that their numbers were greater. The people who will die in Iraq don't matter. Iraq has been successfully demonized as if everybody who lives there is Saddam Hussein. In the build-up to this attack on Iraq, journalists have almost universally excluded the prospect of civilian deaths, the numbers of people who would die, because those people don't matter.It's only when journalists understand the role they play in this propaganda, it's only when they realize they can't be both independent, honest journalists and agents of power, that things will begin to change.

The War Dance

Dir: Sean Fine & Andrea Nix - 2007
A fine documentary on horrible war and music. The film blends the horrific stories of three child victims of war with youthful hope for the future through music. The cinematography is outstanding. The directors manage to capture the beautiful landscape of Uganda's war-torn north while also showing how ravaged both the countryside and families have been during the last decades. The music that propels the film forward was also inspiring, wonderful and unique to ears.

The willow tree

dir: Majid Majidi - 2005
A moving, thought-provoking movie from Majid Majidi (director of children of heaven and color of paradise). It is a story of Youssef, a blind university professor, who spends his time playing with his young daughter, and has his wife assist him with his work. From the onset, it's a happy little family, except that Youssef has a dream, that he could one day regain his sight and see again.Life is always unexpecting one, you do not know what is there waiting for for u........ Visually speaking, the weaving of light with dark scenes allows the story to further come to life giving a final illumination on a story that shares, sympathizes and delivers.The film might seem simple - few key characters (lovable too), gorgeously shot, and you might think you have the plot all wrapped up, there's always this beauty in the simplicity of it all, and its powerful underlying message ever so subtle, in no way sledge-hammering itself on you at all.