the humanities film series presents

1776

Friday, September 21 at 7 PM

ETC Lecture Hall

The score for this Broadway musical turned Hollywood film was written by Sherman Edwards, a former high school history teacher who wrote portions of the dialogue and some of the song lyrics working from the letters and memoirs of the actual participants of the Second Continental Congress. The film features the struggles of the founders, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin among others, as the Congress worked to come to agreement on the Declaration of Independence. Featuring such rousing musical numbers as “Piddle, Twiddle and Resolve” and “Molasses to Rum,” 1776 will undoubtedly give you a new point of view on how America came to be.

Vincent Canby’s original review in The New York Times may suggest its continuing appeal: “The lyrics sound as if they’d been written by someone high on root beer…yet 1776…insists on being so entertaining and, at times, even moving, that you might as well stop resisting it.”

The Humanities Film Series Presents

EVEN THE RAIN

Friday, September 14 at 7 PM

ETC Lecture Hall

A Spanish film crew helmed by idealistic director Sebastian (Gael García Bernal) and his cynical producer Costa (Luis Tosar) come to Bolivia to make a revisionist epic about the conquest of Latin America – on the cheap. Carlos Aduviri is dynamic as “Daniel,” a local cast as a 16th century native in the film within a film. When the make-up and loin cloth come off, Daniel sails into action protesting his community’s deprivation of water at the hands of multi-national corporations.

When riots break out in Cochabamba, protesting excessive fees for water, production is interrupted and the convictions of the crew members are challenged. Sebastian and Costa are forced to make an unexpected emotional journey in opposite directions.

With ample irony, EVEN THE RAIN (También la Lluvia) explores the effects of Spanish imperialism, still resonating some 500 years later in the continued struggle against oppression by indigenous people.

This fictional Fitzcarraldo-like quest to make a film against all odds, is set against the back drop of the real life “Water Wars,” fought against the privatization of Bolivia’s water supply in the year 2000 and is anchored in the philosophies of historian Howard Zinn, as well as the stories of 16th century priests, Fathers Bartolome de las Casas and Antonio Montesinos, the first radical voices of conscience against an Empire.

the humanities film series presents our opening night feature

PAN’S LABYRINTH or El Laberinto del Fauno

Friday, August 24 at 7 PM

ETC Lecture Hall

“Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth is one of the cinema’s great fantasies, rich with darkness and wonder. It’s a fairy tale of such potency and awesome beauty that it reconnects the adult imagination to the primal thrill and horror of the stories that held us spellbound as children. If you recall the chills that ran down your spine and the surreal humor that tickled your brain in the presence of “Alice in Wonderland,” “Little Red Riding Hood” or “The Wizard of Oz” when you were a child, you’ll discover those sensations once again, buried deep in the heart of Pan’s Labyrinth.”  -Jim Emerson, RogerEbert.com

Set in the years immediately following the Spanish Civil War, Pan’s Labyrinth (or El Laberinto del Fauno) is a Spanish language film by Mexican director Guillermo del Toro. It follows the story of 11 year old Ofelia who struggles with the new life her mother has created for her family by marrying a Captain in Francisco Franco’s Fascist regime. Has Ofelia’s imagination offered her surcease from the cruelties of the real world or has she really escaped into a magical realm in which she may be the long-lost princess?

Students attending the screening will search for parallels between Ofelia’s magical world and the world of 1944 Spain.

Pan’s Labyrinth is Rated R for some language and violence related to its setting in Fascist Spain.

View the trailer:

The Humanities Film Series Presents

FLASH GORDON

Friday, May 11 at 7 PM

ETC Lecture Hall

Heroic earthling Flash Gordon saves the world from the nefarious Ming the Merciless in this lavish, intentionally campy 1980 adaptation of the famous sci-fi comic strip. The story is as basic as space operas get: Ming (Max von Sydow) has developed a plan to destroy the Earth, and Flash (Sam J. Jones) and his attractive companion, Dale Arden (Melody Anderson), are called upon to stop him. Along the way, Flash must battle Ming’s goons and the temptations of a space princess. Previously the basis for a 1930s adventure serial, Flash’s story is mined here for exaggerated, cartoon humor by screenwriter Lorenzo Semple Jr., a central figure in the similarly campy ’60s Batman television series. (allmovie.com)

But is it just a simple science fiction tale, or an explicit statement of American Cold War ethos?  We will examine the plot, characterization, and aesthetics of the film and decide whether the 1980 Flash Gordon feature functions best as a campy sci-fi flick or a Cold War allegory that speaks to 20^th century Americans’ deepest fears and anxieties.

Directed by Mike Hodges, Great Britain/USA, 1980, 112 mins.

THE HUmanities Film Series Presents

THE HELP

Friday, April 27 at 9 PM

ETC Lecture Hall

The Help is a 2011 adaptation of Kathryn Stockett’s novel. An ensemble piece about a young white woman, Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan, and her relationship with two black maids, The Help arrived in theaters among some controversy. Skeeter is a journalist who decides to write a book from the point of view of the maids in her community in the Civil Rights era South, exposing the racism they are faced with as they work for white families and the plight of black women who raise white children who ultimately become their future employers. Octavia Spencer’s performance as Minny was celebrated with a Best Supporting Actress win at the Academy Awards even as leaders in the African American community criticized the novel and film as depicting blacks as in need of a white savior.

The Humanities Film Series Presents

REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE

Friday, April 20 at 7 PM

ETC Music Room

Rebel Without A Cause is a portrait of youthful alienation that spoke to a whole generation and remains wrenchingly powerful. The yearning for self-esteem, the barrier to communication with parents, the comfort found in friendships, all beautifully realized by director Nicholas Ray, screenwriter Stewart Stern, and a fine cast. This was James Dean’s seminal performance and an equally impressive showcase for young Sal Mineo. CinemaScope.

- Leonard Maltin for Turner Classic Movies

THE HUMANITIES FILM SERIES PRESENTS

CITIZEN KANE

Friday, March 30 at 7 PM

ETC Lecture Hall

The Humanities Film Series PRESENTS

OH BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU?

Friday, March 23

7 PM

ETC Lecture Hall

O Brother, Where Art Thou? is a 2000 comedy film directed by the Coen brothers and starring George Clooney, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson, John Goodman, Holly Hunter, and Charles Durning. Set in 1937 rural Mississippi during the Great Depression, the film is a reinterpretation of Homer’s Odyssey.

The Humanities Film Series Presents

AND STARRING PANCHO VILLA AS HIMSELF

Friday, March 23

9 PM

ETC Lecture Hall

Hollywood makes a deal with Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa to film his war and recreate his life.

the humanities film series presents…

SULLIVAN’S TRAVELS

Friday, March 9

7 PM

ETC Lecture Hall