Adam is our ancestor in all of the Abrahamic faiths. He’s also the unforgettable main character in the first movie from Chad you’ve probably ever seen. That’s Adam—a former national champion swimmer—in the photo above and also standing ramrod straight on the DVD A Screaming Man, below.
TODAY, we have news about A Screaming Man and several other terrific movies you may want to see—and most of them are free courtesy of the PBS POV series.
FIRST, UPCOMING ON PBS POV SERIES … FOR FREE
Check the PBS POV website for more information about these movies, including local showtimes.
IMAGE FROM THE OATH COMING TO PBS POVFOOD, INC. TUESDAY AUGUST 9: You’ve probably heard about this literally gut-wrenching documentary or you may have seen it in a theater or on DVD. In his review of the 2008 documentary, Roger Ebert published a long list of disturbing details about American food production. Then, he wrote: “I just wanted to scare the bejesus out of you, which is what Food, Inc. did to me.”
THE OATH. TUESDAY AUGUST 16: ReadTheSpirit published a full review of this equally disturbing documentary, The Oath, in 2010. In this case, the goal isn’t to make you sick about the food you’re consuming. Rather, this is a troubling look at the world of terrorists’ family relationships. In our 2010 review, we wrote: “This is a world of shadows and boasts and dangerous relationships. The Oath is not a History Channel-style … exploration of terrorist history. It’s an intimate portrait of people and families who are deeply enmeshed in these deadly relationships.”
MARK YOUR CALENDAR FOR POV SHORT CUTS AUGUST 23: Set your recording devices now for an entire evening of short documentaries, ranging from the competitive sport of bird watching to some family stories captured in the StoryCorps project.
SECOND, A SCREAMING MAN FROM CHAD VIA FILM MOVEMENT
At ReadTheSpirit, we constantly look for compelling movies with main characters from minority religious cultures in the U.S. They are rare! Earlier, we reported on Ocean of Pearls, a feature-length drama about a young Sikh doctor that was produced by Sikh filmmakers in the U.S. The newly released DVD A Screaming Man (available now from Amazon via this link) comes all the way from Chad. When was the last time you watched a feature-length African drama? (No, Invictus is a terrific movie, but it’s not purely a product of Africa.) In this case, director Mahamat-Saleh Haroun made several movies before A Screaming Man. Now, we have Film Movement to thank for showcasing this deeply moving anti-war drama about a typical Muslim family struggling to keep at arm’s length from the warfare that rages in many parts of Africa. Adam—the film’s main character depicted on the cover of the DVD—is a patriarch who supports his family by working as the pool attendant at a luxury hotel in Chad. Haroun brilliantly turns the oasis of that pool into a kind of Eden where Adam hopes to raise his own son peacefully separated from Chad’s chronic battles with rebel forces. Of course, Eden’s gates are broken open in the Bible—and even this Adam’s status as a famous champion can’t protect his little utopia. Seriously consider ordering a copy of this movie via Amazon. You’ll be moved by this anti-war drama and you’ll find it a great discussion-starter.
ALSO: Consider visiting the Film Movement website and learning about their DVD-of-the-month club.
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Originally published at readthespirit.com, an online journal covering religion and cultural diversity.
