Wednesday, February 11, 2015

February 11, 2015: I Love American Historical Films

[For each of the last couple years, I’ve dedicated my Valentine’s week series to highlighting some American loves of mine. I wanted to do the same this week, leading up to a special weekend post on a new love. I’d love for you to share your own Valentine’s loves and thoughts in comments!]
On three great historical films you can watch right now on NetFlix (and are still worth seeking out if you don’t have a subscription):
1)      John Sayles’ Amigo (2010): The only film I know about one of the least remembered American histories, our military occupation of the Philippines. And a funny, nuanced, passionate, and moving movie in its own right.
2)      Steven Spielberg’s Amistad (1997): Not a perfect movie by any means, but for my money the best film about slavery until 12 Years a Slave came along. I would definitely argue it should be better remembered than more famous and flawed Spielberg films like E.T.
3)      The Grapes of Wrath (1940): Of course I think the novel is better, but the film is pretty impressive and important in its own right (and, yes, Springsteen had only seen the film at the time that he wrote “The Ghost of Tom Joad,” although he did get to Steinbeck’s novel eventually). Not sure there’s a better American performance than Henry Fonda as Tom Joad.
If you watch any or all of these great movies, come back and share your thoughts in comments, please!
Next love tomorrow,
Ben

PS. What do you think? Loves of yours you’d share?

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