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June 27, 2006
P.O.V. Preview
Because of Sujewa's discussion of the ongoing ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka a few months ago, I've been paying a little more attention to what's going on there. Now Agnes is reporting that the PBS series P.O.V. will be inaugurating its new season tonight (Tuesday) with a documentary about this ongoing conflict in Sri Lanka, No More Tears Sister (as always, the episode's website is loaded with useful information), which focuses specifically on "the courageous and vibrant life of renowned human rights activist Dr. Rajani Thiranagama. Mother, anatomy professor, author and symbol of hope, Thiranagama was assassinated at the age of 35. This documentary recounts her dramatic story." I'm a big fan of PBS and P.O.V., so I'm very much looking forward to the new series. P.O.V. typically airs in most cities at 10 PM, but local broadcast times often vary considerably. You can enter your zip code here to find out the schedule for your PBS station.
While I'm blogging, I think I'll also throw a link to this recent CNN article on this year's documentary crop, which I found thanks to Sarah Jo at Documentary Insider. Christy Lemire's article is a mid-year review of the most critically-acclaimed films of the year thus far, a list that includes several documentaries including The War Tapes, An Inconvenient Truth and The Heart of the Game.
Posted by chuck at June 27, 2006 3:46 PM
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Comments
Did you watch Terrorist? You mentioned putting it on your Netflix queue a while ago and this post reminded me of it.
Posted by: CM at June 28, 2006 11:20 AM
I still haven't seen it. For whatever reason, I've never been able to adjust to using Netflix to watch movies, so it got lost on my queue. I'm guessing that when I move to F'ville, I'll have more time on my hands (few art house screens, museums, and other forms of distraction), so I'll get back in teh habit of watching movies at home.
Posted by: Chuck at June 28, 2006 11:30 AM
I caught No More Tears Sister at last year's NY Human Rights Watch and I thought Klodawsky made a good point about how even the idea of something that should be inalienable like human rights has become politicized. While Rajani was indeed left leaning, that was not part of her motivation on why she was working to rebuild her native village. How anyone could perceive her efforts to reopen the local medical school as a threat to the political struggles is incomprehensible. I still like the comment Rajani's ex-husband made about her humanitarian activities, and how he didn't think that her life would be in danger because of what she was doing, "We didn't consider human rights as politics".
Posted by: acquarello ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://chutry.wordherders.net/nav-commenters.gif)
at June 28, 2006 2:36 PM
Thanks for the pointer to your review--sounds like the doc is making an important argument. I'm planning to take a closer look at your more recent essays on Road to Guantanamo and Black Gold at some point soon.
Posted by: Chuck at June 28, 2006 2:57 PM