Given the audience likely to see The Fight, I doubt Eli B. Despres, Josh Kriegman, and Elyse Steinberg’s documentary will change minds, and that’s okay. Not every political documentary should be judged on whether it’s a successful piece of agitprop. Instead, it’s better to view The Fight as a potent reminder of a mere glimpse of what America has endured over the past four years. Following just four of the 160 lawsuits the ACLU has filed since Donald Trump’s inauguration, The Fight shows how much the Trump Administration has attempted to obliterate civil liberties and …
Abortion is a contentious issue, and I imagine an indie film about it that doesn’t have movie stars won’t draw in anyone who hasn’t already made up their minds about being pro-choice or anti-abortion. And yet, watching Eliza Hittman’s moving drama, my concerns about the film’s efficacy of its advocacy slipped away as I was drawn further into the crushing normalcy of a casually cruel system that makes women endure an endless barrage of indignities. Watching the two young women at the center of Never Rarely Sometimes Always is devastating it just because …
An overlooked aspect in the Harry Potter wizarding world is that magical animals are not always treated ethically. Thank goodness for Newt and Hagrid.