my favorite movies of the 2000s, #21 and #22

And so it continues…

#25: (500) Days of Summer
#24: FLOW: For Love Of Water
#23: In The Bedroom

#22: House of Sand and Fog (2003)
Again, a movie I saw a while back (in the theater!) and don’t remember a lot of the details completely.  However, I do remember it was the first movie that made me cry out of sadness.  The movie focuses around two families (neighbors, I believe) of differing cultures and the ways they interact, or don’t.  It becomes a bit of a morality tale and story of what happens when people don’t try to understand one another but instead go in for the fight.  Great acting by Ben Kingsley and Jennifer Connelly.

#21: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (2003)
Before the world really knew about Hugo Chavez, there was this documentary.  I saw this movie at the Chicago International Film Festival, and it was one of the first documentaries to really show what a documentary can do.  The film crew was there simply to do a bio on Chavez when a coup occurred.  Thus, the film had incredible access to the events of the coup.  The film makes a case the coup was backed by the US, and if you’ve heard all the anti-Chavez rhetoric happening, that really wouldn’t be surprising.

At the screening, a man from Venezuela gave a rant saying the movie did an injustice to life in Venezuela, but the movie was quite powerful in detailing what seems to have happened in this instance and the general existence there.  It may be hard to get your hands on this to watch, but if you can, you’ll be amazed at what you didn’t see on TV.

(note: imdb.com lists the title as “Chavez: Inside the Coup”)