hellman-1

I first saw this documentary in 1981 and I am not exaggerating when I say it changed my life. A few years later I took an 18 month unpaid leave from my professorship to work as a full-time volunteer trying to defuse the nuclear threat. While many factors contributed to that decision, "The Day After Trinity" certainly was one of them.

The thing that impressed me most about this film was that it showed me how we can fool ourselves as to our motivation. We think we base our decisions on a rational foundation, but this film helped me to see places in my own past where I had made major decisions and not been totally honest about some of my motivation. We have socially acceptable and socially unacceptable reasons for doing things and hide the socially unacceptable ones even from our own consciousness. But they are at work in the unconscious, where they can take over and do great harm. Watching this film made me vow to do my utmost never to do that again. (It's not as easy as it might sound!) It is not light fare, but definitely worth watching. Aside from what a viewer can learn from it, the film is very well done, with much high drama.

The Dinner Game is one of my favorite comedies. With one hilarious turn of events after another, you'll think it can't go on getting funnier ... but it does. In addition to the humor, it makes a really good point about human relations and the way that what goes around, comes around.

While this isn't totally slapstick, it has elements so, if you're turned off by that genre you may want to look elsewhere.

Also keep in mind that it's in French with subtitles in case that's a problem for you. Othewise rent it or buy it. You'll be glad you did.

This last line is added so IMDb will post it. They require 10 lines and I've said all I really needed to. Hoping they'll eliminate that requirement.

Martin