February 2004 • Issue 364



Best of the Year: Film

Strong female leads seem to be the common thread of the NI’s best films of the year. In Far from Heaven (NI 354), writer-director Todd Haynes’ subversive retake of the Hollywood ‘women’s picture’, Cathy lives the ‘American Dream’ – executive husband, perfect home and family, beautiful and fashionable clothes, even the leisure time for charitable work. Yet, when seen in public with her black gardener, her life unravels.

The main character of Niki Caro’s uplifting Whale Rider (NI 359), also struggles against conformity and chauvinism. Pai, only 12 years old, but resourceful and courageous, is an obvious natural leader of her Maori community, yet as a girl is excluded from tribal initiation.

In Spirited Away (NI 361), Hayao Miyazaki’s beautiful and subtle animated fantasy, Chihiro is a self-centred teenager who learns to value others while being true to herself.




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FROM THIS ISSUE

You get proud by practising
A poem by Laura Hershey, poet and disability activist.

Strong & smart
Teacher Chris Sarra is turning upside-down ideas about what Aboriginal kids can and can’t do.

I was born white
Mark Minchinton undertakes a journey back to his – and his country’s – Aboriginal roots.

Equality Watch: Race & Ethnicity

Betrayal
Two years after the liberation of Afghanistan, are its women really free? Report from Mariam Rawi.

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IN THIS COLUMN

Alexandra
What war does to people’s humanity and how, without trust, touch and intimacy, we’re lost.

Linha de Passe
An outstanding realistic drama that shows these people’s ordinariness, strengths and weaknesses, and never idealizes or diminishes them.

Time and Winds (Bes Vakit)
A beautiful contemplative immersion in the children’s sense of the immensity of time and events. Written and directed by Reha Erdem

El Baño del Papa (The Pope’s Toilet)
A film about the Pope’s toilet. Directed by Enrique Fernandez and Cesar Charlone

My life inside
A masterful piece of film-making that leaves the audience gasping at the injustice of a 99 year sentence for a Mexican 'illegal' migrant following the death of the child she was minding

An island calling
An explosive mix of politics, religion and sexuality explored through the life of a gay couple in Fiji






Voices from the margins:

Multimedia: video, podcasts, and more.

House of Hunger Poetry Slam in Zimbabwe
Poetry Slam in Zimbabwe
The House of Hunger poetry slam held in Zimbabwe in 2006, and organised by the Pamberi Trust, showcased young artists performing inspirational work on issues from corporate power to child soldiers. The video features four of the poets.
Published by Pambazuka News.
Raised Voices video:
Atossa Soltani from Brazil on the Climate Change
Desmond Desai from South Africa on Corporate Power
Iranian Women Speak Out
Iranian women speak out
3 March 2007, London. Women's rights activists marched through the English capital last week to celebrate International Women's Day with a protest against the misogyny of the Islamic regime in Iran and the threat of invasion by the US. Hear the voices of Iranian feminists Azar and Leila Parnian and the sounds of the demonstration as it passed through the heart of the city. Click here to learn more about the campaign.
Produced by Heidi Bachram.
Raised Voices audio:
Benny from West Papua on Corporate Power
Vinayan from India on agriculture