It is no shock that many people try desperately to reach the United States to attain a better quality of life for themselves and their families in their home countries.
This documentary focuses on children who ride atop a train they call “The Beast” in order to reach their “Promised Land.”
Some of the kids profiled are only nine years old and are traveling alone.
The risks are clear: they may be turned back by immigration officials on both sides of the Mexican/American border, abandoned in the desert without enough supplies, or murdered or raped by the smugglers hired to bring them to the United States.


While the children interviewed are street smart, they are still kids and have optimism about how they will better their lives once they reach the United States. It may be that naïve positive outlook that spurs them to undertake such a trip in the first place.
The children are from Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala. They are all trying to escape desperate poverty.
Director Rebecca Cammisa also gives time to the parents of a teen who died in the desert in the American southwest. He was one of the unlucky ones.

The intimate portraits provided by Cammisa are all the more compelling because her characters speak for themselves. She eschews using a narrator which brings the audience closer to the subjects.
While focusing on the here and now, this film is a timeless testament to the indomitableness of the human spirit and the constant search for something better.
“Which Way Home” is currently playing on HBO.

Murphy can be reached at: Lojano@comcast.net

This film paints a grim picture of life in Afghanistan.
It starts with Naqshbandi’s relationship with American journalist Christian Parenti. Naqshbandi is also a journalist and is called a “fixer” because he facilitates interviews and translates for foreign journalists.
Naqshbandi is later kidnapped by Taliban forces along with Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo and a driver. The driver is immediately beheaded.


It is at this point that the film shows the frustration on the part of Naqshbandi’s family who wait in vain for the government of Hamid Karzai to trade prisoners for him.
It is shocking how the Afghan government arranges for the release of Mastrogiacomo but sits on its hands when it comes to Naqshbandi, a native of Afghanistan. Naqshbandi’s father, who is shown prominently in the film, wonders why his government pushed so strongly for the release of a foreigner but refused to negotiate with the Taliban for his son’s freedom.
This movie is similar to “A Mighty Heart,” which was released in 2007. In that film, the wife of journalist Daniel Pearl desperately seeks him out when he is kidnapped in Pakistan in 2002.
Naqshbandi’s father has lost faith in his government which is apparently riddled with corruption and says the Taliban is not truly Muslim but “savages.”

“Fixer: The Taking of Ajmal Naqshbandi” shows how little control the central government has in the provinces and how strong the Taliban is in Afghanistan.
This film is one more bleak chapter in Afghanistan’s history.
“Fixer: The Taking of Ajmal Naqshbandi” is now being shown on HBO.

Murphy can be reached at: Lojano@comcast.net

Maybe you have to be Romanian to get this movie.
A comedy, it focuses on two men who claim they were part of the revolution that brought down Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in December 1989.

While being interviewed by a local TV personality, the pair face callers who claim they were in the public square on that date (December 22, 1989) and that they did not see the two show’s guests.
Some of the humor is overt and can elicit a smile or two but by and large it is subdued. It is so understated in fact that it is not funny at all.
It is hard for the audience to sympathize with the two main characters, an old man and an alcoholic history teacher.
There is a smattering of humor in the calls taken by the TV show, with callers swearing and vehemently denying that the two men were where they claimed to be.
The question from the TV show host is, then, if people in their village took to the streets after Ceausescu had already left, were they really part of the revolution?

Maybe it’s because it is eastern European that the film is darker than it is funny.
There is a defeated air about all of the main characters, a sense of weary cynicism.
This film (director Corneliu Porumboiu’s first feature) is sad and slow but thoughtful.
“12:08 East of Bucharest,” at 89 minutes long, is available on DVD.

Murphy can be reached at: Lojano@comcast.net

This is a rare glimpse into the life of North Korea.
The report comes from journalist Lisa Ling, whose sister, Laura Ling, was recently released from prison there during a visit from former United States President Bill Clinton.
Lisa Ling and her crew obtained access to the sealed country by following a Nepalese eye surgeon and pretending to be part of his crew documenting his experience.

It is almost surreal that North Koreans are slavishly devoted to “Great Leader” Kim Jong Il despite the hardships they endure.
The country has faced famine and still deals with malnutrition while Kim lives the high life.
In one of the documentary’s strangest moments, dozens of people who had been blind from cataracts kneel to and praise Kim once their bandages are off and they can see again.
And, Lisa Ling notes, it is difficult to determine the true faithful from the fearful and that more than 50 years of indoctrination has blurred that line significantly.
Kim’s cult of personality is so deep that he pervades every aspect of the average North Korean’s life.
The documentary shows interviews with several people, some of whom are defectors to the west.
One of those people used to be a prison guard and tells how, while being trained as a guard, he was instructed to regard prisoners as subhuman. He also said that North Korea would collapse if the many work camps there were to close.

As Lisa Ling says, this communist country would probably simply be a small anomaly except for the fact that it has nuclear weapons.
This is an interesting glimpse into probably the most insular nation in the world.
“Inside North Korea,” a National Geographic production, is available on DVD.

Murphy can be reached at: Lojano@comcast.net