A powerful film with excellent acting, cinematography and direction. It is based on a true story as handed down by Director Darin J. Sallam’s mother’s best friend, but I ended up wishing that it were stronger in its depiction of the savagery exercised by the Israelis, perhaps recreating an actual major massacre of Palestinian civilians, like occurred at Deir Yassin, where 107 Arabs, including many women and children, were shot dead by Israeli militiamen from the Irgun and Lehi groups.…

A bit of a “vegetables” movie — probably good for you, great art and all that, cultural references, but not necessarily something you’re meant to enjoy.

Certainly it’s a good example of the director’s craft, but I had a hard time with the Travis Bickle character. I couldn’t quite work out where that was coming from. Was he a leftist’s straw-man, perhaps a sort of half-psychotic Archie Bunker, or perhaps yet another Statement on the Vietnam War? I know there…

The film is exceptional, the book is excellent. Many good bits and production values woven throughout the film, even though the overarching historical narrative is questionable. The so-called Risorgimento cannot be considered a good thing, or even inevitable. Behind it lay an alliance of various anti-monarchical and anti-Catholic movements. In order to create a republic of “Italy” there needed to be a series of trumped-up wars against Austria and the Papal States. It began as a fanciful dream by the…