Home Media Magazine - October 28-November 3, 2007 - (Page 19)

www.homemediamagazine.com I RUN GRANNY RUN Street 11/6 DVD, NR. Arts Alliance America, Documentary, $24.98 REVIEWS REVIEWS That Gregg won the election is history. It was a blow to Granny D, but winEdited by ning 34% of the vote on Latchem John a $200,000 campaign proves the possibilities. Marlo Poras’ portrait of Granny D is an affectionate homage, and it’s hard not to love “the angry grandmother,” whether or not you agree with her. As the film shows, even her political opponents love her. She’s a wonderful reminder of the repository of knowledge and passion some people manage to grow and hold all their lives. This is an inspiring documentary about a woman who regains meaning in her own life by trying to make her world a better place. It’s also a great example of tow n-hall politics for students of civic affairs. Viewers of any age will appreciate the story and the quirky humor of hometown politics, Granny D style. — Holly J. Wagner www.homemediamagazine.com S hakespeare said that youth is wasted on the young. If that’s true, 94-year-old Doris “Granny D” Haddock is making up for lost time. She’s really ticked off at how many people, especially young people, don’t vote. So Granny D walks all the way across the country exhorting people to register and vote. In New Hampshire, a candidate drops out of a 2004 race under suspicious circumstances, and Granny D steps into the 24-hour deadline void to challenge Sen. Judd Gregg for his seat. She’s openly anti-war, anti-corporate-welfare and anti-offshore-drilling. She’s not afraid to tilt at windmills or laugh at herself. She’s a force of nature, the soul of determination. She trains so she can keep walking, running an oldfashioned grassroots campaign. For 78 minutes we walk alongside her, sharing her trials and victories. In shadowing her we meet the people she cares about and see how she faces her challenges. Some are unique to her situation: On the way to a dreaded debate, she realizes she’s forgotten her teeth and has to turn back to retrieve them. Jaunty piano music stitches together the segments and lends a silent-movie-style soundtrack to the perils of politics. QUICK TAKE Back From the Dead W WE Home Entertainment, through distributor Genius Products, recently released the DVD for Unforgiven 2007 ($24.95), a pay-per-view event from September fans will no doubt want to add to their collection. The program was billed as the return of longtime favorite The Undertaker, in what turned out to be a sluggish brawl with strongman Mark Henry. Highlights of the card include Triple H vs. Carlito (in which Carlito can’t be disqualified) and a decent world tag team championship match. — John Latchem I BLAME IT ON FIDEL Street 11/6 Koch Lorber, Drama, B.O. $0.1 million, $26.98 DVD, NR. In French with English subtitles. Stars Stefano Accorsi, Julie Depardieu, Nina Kervel-Bey, Benjamin Feuillet. B lame It on Fidel is the story of one family’s political awakening in the spring of 1970, seen through the eyes of a preadolescent girl. When her bourgeois parents decide to give up their comfortable townhouse to become involved with the battle against fascism in Spain as well as Allende’s campaign in Chile, Anna doesn’t understand why her life has to change. But change it does. First, her father insists that if she wants to continue to attend the con- vent school she loves, she can no longer participate in divinity class. Next, her beloved nanny is let go, and the children are left in the care of a series of political refugees with odd traditions, and even odder ways of preparing supper. Finally, her apartment becomes the home base for her father’s political cell and her mother’s documentary about women who have had abortions. Against the political upheaval on the streets and in her home, Anna must synthesize a set of beliefs with which she can live. As she negotiates the ideological maze her parents have constructed and with which they struggle as well, the film gently exposes the hypocrisies of political idealism. As Anna, Kervel-Bey is remarkable. In her performance, Anna both internalizes and discards personas and philosophies with depth and skill that belie her youth. Also wonderful are Depardieu (Gerard’s daughter) and Accorsi as Anna’s conflicted, struggling parents who are torn between longing to make a difference in the world and wanting to make their children feel safe. Blame It on Fidel is the first feature from director Julie Gavras (the daughter of Costa-Gavras), and although it may be challenging to viewers not familiar with the historical period it dissects, it is an astute, sensitive and absorbing look at how the personal and the political collide. — Anne Sherber Month 00–00, 2007 Home Media Magazine Magazine October 28–November 3, 2007 Home Media 19 19 http://www.homemediamagazine.com

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Home Media Magazine - October 28-November 3, 2007

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