Jean Oppenheimer

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In the Face of Evil

Sophie Scholl relives the last days of an anti-Nazi hero

By Jean Oppenheimer
Apr 6, 2006

We all want to believe that in even the most dangerous or frightening of situations we would have the courage to stand up for our convictions--that we would not name names, that we would not betray our friends or our ideals. Thank God, most of us will never have the...
Beauty Amid the Horror

Fateless paints a stunning portrait of a Jewish teen's death-camp survival

By Jean Oppenheimer
Mar 30, 2006

If French writer André Malraux was correct when he claimed that "all art is a revolt against man's fate," the most horrific events in human history can give rise, incongruously, to images of soul-searing beauty. How else to explain the stunning black-and-white images that fill Fateless, the story of a...
Thugs & Kisses

A South African street fighter finds new life in the wrenching redemption tale Tsotsi

By Jean Oppenheimer
Mar 16, 2006

A gritty portrait of ghetto life in contemporary South Africa, Tsotsi packs an unexpected emotional wallop. Gavin Hood's film tells a story of violence and redemption that's even more remarkable when you consider that neither of the lead performers had ever acted in a movie previously. It's little wonder that...
Blood Business

Why We Fight probes America's passion for war

By Jean Oppenheimer
Feb 9, 2006

In his 1961 farewell address, President Eisenhower warned Americans that an insidious new force was taking hold in the country. He called it the "military-industrial complex." Born of necessity during World War II, this once-valuable conjunction of the military, the federal government and the armaments industry was suddenly taking on...
Simply Galling

The Dying Gaul offers three likable people who act appallingly

By Jean Oppenheimer
Nov 24, 2005

Deception, betrayal and revenge. In his film directorial debut, acclaimed playwright/screenwriter/theater director Craig Lucas is done in by his own script, which becomes so excessively icy and cruel that it breaks, rather than solidifies, any bond it could hope to establish with its audience. A modern-day Greek tragedy--complete with an...

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