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Wednesday, June 18, 2008

An American Crime

I was not prepared for such a wrenching horror story. This film is vastly more disturbing than anything Clive Barker or the video game industry could dream up.

My HS social studies teacher told us the story of Kitty Genoves's murder in NYC. In the popular imagination Genoves' murder marked a (low) point in American history where one could argue that our American civic culture was dead. Or at least dead in Queens, New York. The story of her murder was grossly distorted by the press but it's also true nobody made sure the police came. None of the witnesses could have been sure what they saw but none of them bothered to investigate the situation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitty_Genovese

What happened under Gertude Baniszewski's roof goes way beyond the "bystander effect." Be advised this is a deeply disturbing film.

This Is England

Great film about nineteen-eighties British kids. Worth a rent.