Amy Young Movies
In the 1980's, a large number of Cambodian families fleeing the violence of the Khymer Rouge came to the United States to start new lives, but not all the young people who found themselves in a new and unfamiliar culture had an easy time of it. Some Cambodian youths settling in America joined street gangs, and Kim Ho Ma, Loeun Lun and Many Uch were three such young men. As teenagers, they were found guilty of serious crimes, and since Cambodia was unwilling to accept deportees, they served sentences in American prisons. Though Kim Ho Ma accumulated a long record of petty offences after he was released from prison, both Loeun Lun and Many Uch successfully rehabilitated themselves, with Lun married with children and holding down a steady job while Uch works with minority youth to help provide alternatives to gang life. However, under a new agreement between Cambodia and the United States, all three men face deportation to Cambodia, in effect punishing them for crimes for which they've already served time. Filmmakers David Grabias and Nicole Newnham examine the legal situation facing Cambodian ex-cons and the stories of these three men in the documentary Sentenced Home, as they examine Lun's struggle to stay in America and keep his family together, Uch desire to prevent others from falling into the same traps that claimed him, and Ma sympathy for his comrades, even as he explains that given his record he has little place to complain. Sentenced Home was screened as part of the "Documentary Fortnight" series at New York's Museum of Modern Art. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- 2002
The second episode of The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow documents the rising black middle class and the birth of African-American political organizations, like the NAACP in 1909. During this time, W.E.B. Du Bois emerged as an outspoken critic of the Jim Crow South in the pages of the NAACP's magazine, The Crisis. Others, like Charlotte Hawkins Brown, worked to improve educational opportunities for African-Americans. The 1910s would also see the birth of jazz, as artists like Louis Armstrong came to prominence. Despite advances in prosperity and political autonomy, however, many blacks continued to be threatened by violence. In the elections of 1898 in North Carolina, many ballot boxes were stuffed to remove African-Americans from political offices. In Wilmington, violence broke out, leading to a number of deaths. The limitations on black freedom would become more apparent as many African-Americans traveled abroad to fight for democracy in Europe during World War I. "Fighting Back" unfolds as an affecting oral history. ~ Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr., Rovi
- Starring:
- Richard Roundtree
- 2002
At the end of the Civil War in 1865, African-Americans, recently freed from slavery, were promised the right to vote and a place in American society. While the military maintained order in the South during Reconstruction, the North withdrew its support following the election of 1876. Southern leadership began to reassert its domination of African-Americans by enacting Jim Crow laws that segregated the white and black population. Violence was also used to intimidate African-Americans and anyone deemed sympathetic to their cause. Black leaders met this challenge in a variety of ways. Booker T. Washington founded the Tuskegee Institute and advocated a non-confrontational strategy for white and black relationships. Journalist Ida B. Wells struggled to bring attention to the practice of lynching. Episode one ends in 1896, the same year the Supreme Court upheld Jim Crow segregation in Plessy v. Ferguson. "Promises Betrayed" unfolds as an affecting oral history. ~ Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr., Rovi
- Starring:
- Richard Roundtree
- 2002
This PBS documentary miniseries sheds new light on an unfortunate period in American history, when the country's black citizens were legally -- and often violently -- kept "in their place" by the white hierarchy. Though promised full freedom and certain reparations after the Civil War, African-Americans soon found themselves being suppressed by organizations like the Ku Klux Klan and such odious legislation as the "lynch laws." With the Plessy vs. Ferguson case of 1896, even the American government conspired to reduce blacks to second-class citizen status, declaring that legalized segregation was perfectly acceptable, so long as it was "separate but equal," a phrase that quickly became a bitter joke. Thanks to such tireless black civil libertarians as Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. DuBois, Ida B. Wells, Walter White, and Charles Hamilton Houston, persistent efforts to assure racial equality (notably the NAACP) were set in motion -- often with tragic and bloody repercussions -- but it was not until the Brown vs. Board of Education case of 1954 that the repressive "Jim Crow" laws truly began to disintegrate. The series is divided into four hour-long episodes: "Promises Betrayed (1865-1896)," "Fighting Back (1896-1917)," "Don't Shoot Too Soon (1918-1940)," and "Terror and Triumph (1940-1954)." The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow made its first PBS appearance on October 1, 2002. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Richard Roundtree
- 2002
For this 90-minute PBS documentary, filmmaker David Grubin, armed with a mini-DVD camera, followed the daily routine of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan from October 2001 to May 2002. Annan is shown dispensing diplomacy in matters pertaining to the crises in Afghanistan and East Timor; he is also seen accepting the coveted Nobel Peace Prize. In a lighter moment, the Secretary General trades quips with the Muppet cast of Sesame Street. Kofi Annan: Center of the Storm made its first TV appearance just as pressure was mounting on the UN to sanction a preemptive military action against Iraq. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Actor Matthew Broderick made his directorial debut with this romantic drama based on the life of Nobel Prize-winning scientist Richard Feynman. Feynman (Broderick) grew up in New York, where, early on, he began to display a remarkably keen intelligence and a fascination with science encouraged by his parents. While in high school, Richard meets a beautiful girl named Arline Greenbaum (Patricia Arquette), and they quickly fall in love. Richard and Arline intend to marry someday, but they decide it would be prudent to wait until after they finish college -- they have no money, and Richard intends to attend Princeton after finishing his undergraduate work at M.I.T. However, these plans are changed when Arline discovers that she has tuberculosis, which was a very severe illness in the '30s; treatments were not always effective and victims were generally sent to sanitariums, where they could be quarantined from the rest of the population. With Arline's health in question, Richard agrees to marry her immediately. He's also offered a position in Los Alamos, NM, working on a top-secret project for the government. Richard tries to help Arline through her illness as he begins to develop ethical qualms about his new assignment, which is to help design and construct an atomic bomb. Infinity also stars Peter Riegert and Dori Brenner as Feynman's parents. Broderick's mother, Patricia Broderick, wrote the screenplay. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Matthew Broderick, Patricia Arquette, (more)
Steve Martin stars in this remake of the 1950 Vincente Minnelli classic as shoe executive George Banks, whose happily married existence hits a bump when he greets his daughter Annie (Kimberly Williams), home from a semester studying in Europe. She tells her father that she is engaged to be married. When the shocked George asks to whom, she says his name is Bryan (George Newbern) and that he is an "independent communications consultant." George is even more shocked when he finds out what the wedding will cost (when George goes through the card file for invited wedding guests and is told someone is deceased, George chirps, "He died? That's great!"). As George is ignored during the mad preparations for the wedding, he wistfully looks back to all the good times he has had with Annie and sadly looks forward to the time when he loses his little girl. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Steve Martin, Diane Keaton, (more)
- 1988
- PG
In this drama, young Phoebe (Alexandra Johnes) is sent to live with her wealthy grandmother (Glynis Johns) after both of her parents are tragically killed. As Phoebe attempts to accustom herself to her new life with her stern grandmother, she becomes very attached to her governess, Zelly (Isabella Rossellini). However, when her jealous grandmother discovers that her granddaughter has grown closer to the hired help than with her own flesh and blood, she fires all of the employees, much to Phoebe's dismay. ~ Iotis Erlewine, Rovi
- Starring:
- Isabella Rossellini, Glynis Johns, (more)
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