Issue link: http://cp.revolio.com/i/24680
dvd watch Feminist films now available for home viewing The Garden Scott Hamilton Kennedy, director This inspiring documentary chronicles the struggle of farmers in South Central Los Angeles, primarily Latinos, to retain rights to a 14-acre community garden conceived in hopes of healing the blighted neighbor- hood after the 1992 Los Angeles riots. The property, originally owned by a developer and bought by the city in 1986 for a trash incinerator, was granted to the gar- deners in what farm leader Rufina Juárez calls a move “to pacify the community.” But in 2003, the city returned the land to the developer for the original $5 million price—far below 2003 market value—during a closed-door city council session. The farmers received notice to vacate. What follows is a tale of bureaucracy, individual greed and the power of a community to effect change. Available from www.thegardenmovie.com. —MICHEL CICERO Frontrunner Virginia Williams, director “As a mother takes care of her children, I will struggle for the welfare of Afghanistan,” announces Massouda Jalal during her 2004 run for president in the country’s first democratic election. Jalal’s gender makes a hard job harder: Unable to smile during her campaign so as not to provoke controversy, she must watch as police tear down her campaign posters while leaving those of male candi- dates. Her main opponent, interim President Hamid Karzai, is featured on regular televised nightly broadcasts while she battles for basic transportation. Despite the odds (and the pervasive government corruption), Jalal perseveres with remarkable dignity. Available from www.frontrunnermovie.com. —PAULA SILINGER www.msmagazine.com As We Forgive Laura Waters Hinson, director Fourteen years after he bludgeoned her father to death, John sits across from 36-year-old Chantale, a woman who lost her land, home and family in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Though pleading forgiveness as part of a recon- ciliation program, he cannot make eye contact with her for more than a few seconds; she cannot accept his apolo- gy. Since 2003, Rwanda has released perpetrators of the genocide to their home villages. The documentary fol- lows two courageous women, Rosaria and Chantale, as they search for strength to accept their families’ murder- ers back into their communities. Rosaria regains trust in her sister’s murderer as he helps harvest her sorghum crop, and bright-eyed teenagers share their dream for a unified Rwanda. Yet these optimistic shots barely dilute Chantale’s pain. “It feels like God abandoned me,” she says. Available from www.asweforgivemovie.com. —KATIE FARDEN Frozen River Courtney Hunt, writer and director On a bleak, snowy morning in upstate New York, Ray Eddy (Oscar-nominated Melissa Leo) wakes in her decrepit mobile home to find her gambler husband has run off with the family savings, leaving her flat broke and desperate to feed her two sons. With repo men at the door, Ray falls in with Lila Littlewolf (Misty Upham), a Mohawk from the nearby reservation, the prospect of fast cash luring her into the younger woman’s scheme of smuggling immigrants into the U.S. across a frozen river. Courage and spirit are tested in this somber Sundance Award-winning film, as the women risk everything for their children and discover they’re not so different after all. Widely available. —NINA BOUTSIKARIS FALL 2009 | 61