Movies

August 26, 2003

Maori Restorative Justice I've got infonesia regarding where I found this, but this is a fascinating article about the way Maori deal with young offenders: This is restorative justice, a system that has transformed the way juvenile offenders are treated in New Zealand and now embraced wholeheartedly by the British Government. It brings criminals and their victims face to face, and assigns responsibility for retribution to families and the community. I saw Whalerider on the weekend, which was a somewhat flawed but entertaining tale of a Maori tribe's struggle for meaning in the modern world. It kind of traded on its ethnicity, was overly serious, and clumsily directed, but was still a pretty fascinating and rare look at the New Zealand indigenous peoples.  9:49:00 PM      Trackback []    Movies Politics

Angels in America Angels in America is my favourite play. It's extraordinarily well-written, wonderfully creative and a clinic in magic realism. It also happens to be about 6 hours long, all told. So, it was with mixed feelings that I learned that Mike Nichols was directing a mini-series adaptation for HBO. My concerns were eased, though, when I read about the casting, which includes Meryl Streep, Al Pacino (in a role he was born to play), James Cromwell, Emma Thompson and (the luminous) Mary-Louise Parker (who, frankly, deserves an honourable mention for my freebie list). Apparently it's supposed to air this Christmas, which is a little odd, as it's a pretty serious play about, among other things, AIDS. And I don't think there's much Yuletide content. But, what the heck, I look forward to it. 10:37:44 AM      Trackback []    Movies The Arts