Alexander Radszun Movies

The story of the first American soldier to be killed in the Iraqi war sets the stage for a studied exploration of just what it means to be an emigrant in search of the American dream in director Heidi Specogna's look at the life of slain soldier José Antonio Gutierrez. When his face made the nightly news, Gutierrez was mourned as an ambitious Guatemalan boy who dreamt of growing up to be an American and fighting for the freedom that America represented to him. As filmmaker Specogna comes into possession of two photographs of Gutierrez -- one as a young orphan and another as a grown soldier -- she speaks with the people who knew him best in hopes of getting the true story of his short and tragic life. The result is a revealing look at the harsh socioeconomic conditions that drive desperate individuals such as Gutierrez to brave the treacherous journey to America in hopes of building a better life for the ones they love. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Noted French director Claude Chabrol helmed this oddity, a remake of German director Fritz Lang's 1922 classic Dr. Mabuse. The film features an all-star international cast as it tells the futuristic horror story of a bizarre epidemic which has swept West Berlin leaving a grim trail of grisly suicides. Meanwhile, the media broadcasts weird, highly suggestive propaganda. The authorities are appalled by all the bloodshed, but only one lone cop suspects that the "suicides" are really the work of a demented criminal mastermind. The film is also known as Dr. M. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Made for television, A Father's Revenge stars Brian Dennehy as a high school basketball coach. When terrorists pull off a political kidnapping in West Germany, Dennehy's stewardess wife Joanna Cassidy is among the hostages. Fed up with the apparent foot-dragging of the authorities, Dennehy takes personal action in effecting Joanna's rescue. He hires Ron Silver's band of mercenaries, then heads to Germany to bring back his wife himself. Credibility is stretched to the limit at times, but the three stars are at their peak. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In March of 1848 there was an aborted revolution in Berlin that serves as the pivot for the action in this film, the story beginning with an incident that quickly mushrooms out of control. A man fishing along a river bank decides to light up, when a policeman comes over to haul him in for violating the ordinance prohibiting outdoor smoking -- and the officer is thrown into the drink for his efforts. The news spreads, and soon women are protesting the price-fixing at bakeries, people are evicted for being arrears on their rent, and when an anarchist's flag is seen flapping from the window of an inn, a barricade is set up right in front of the inn's entrance. The innkeeper runs around trying to set things right again, a singer comes along who plies the gathering crowd (she wants to start her own establishment), a loving couple takes advantage of everyone's distraction to spend some quality time together, and the students keep streaming in to join the growing throng. Before long, everyone is geared up for a major confrontation with the king's soldiers when along comes a bunch of merry workers with a barrel of beer to celebrate the event -- and even though the fiery leader of the protest is as threatening as possible, the beer stays. Soon the Prussian king shows up waving a revolutionary flag and that sets everyone off -- but not exactly in the manner that the revolutionary leaders would have wanted. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide