![\"\"](\"http:\/\/consistent-life.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/1-blog-movie-Mountain.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nPrisoner of the Mountains <\/em><\/strong>[\u041a\u0430\u0432\u043a\u0430\u0432\u0441\u043a\u0438\u0439 \u041f\u043b\u0435\u043d\u043d\u0438\u0445] <\/em>(1996): This Russian movie, an updating of a Leo Tolstoy short story, is set during an unnamed conflict that is presumably meant to be the First Chechen War (1994-1996)<\/a>. This war pitted Russian government troops against Chechen separatist insurgents. The movie revolves around what happens when two Russian soldiers, Vanya and Sasha, are captured by insurgent Abdul-Murat.<\/p>\n Abdul-Murat hopes he can exchange the two soldiers for his own son, who is held prisoner by the Russians. He is willing to keep the two men alive as long as he can get his son back, but no longer.<\/p>\n Through the men\u2019s captivity and the accompanying negotiations, we get to know Vanya and Sasha and Abdul-Murat and his family, as well as Vanya\u2019s mother, who plays a role in trying to free her son. Both Russians and Chechens are capable of demonizing and killing each other, but they are also capable of kindness and mercy. Captives and captors can even connect as people and enjoy each other\u2019s company. The movie also makes clear how all parties are to some degree victims of a corrupt Russian military establishment that is almost as indifferent to its own soldiers as it is to the insurgents.<\/p>\n While the movie includes scenes of violence, Prisoner of the Mountains <\/em>is highly unusual among war movies in not sensationalizing violence. Even movies trying to show the horrors of war can portray violence in a way that is dramatic or exciting. However, when violence occurs in Prisoner of the Mountains,<\/em> it is generally presented in a quick, matter-of-fact way, with few cinematic effects. The movie avoids being exploitative while reminding us of how war and wartime hatreds destroy human lives.<\/p>\n Some Mother\u2019s Son <\/em><\/strong>(1996). During the Troubles in Northern Ireland, a significant conflict arose in the early 1980s over the status and treatment of IRA members<\/a> imprisoned by the British. Margaret Thatcher\u2019s government insisted on treating the IRA as a group of criminals. The imprisoned IRA members insisted that they were prisoners of war and should be accorded the rights of POWs, including being allowed to wear their own clothes rather than prison uniforms. Several IRA prisoners, most famously Bobby Sands<\/a>, protested their treatment by going on hunger strike.<\/p>\n This fictionalized retelling of the prison conflict looks at two widowed women whose sons are among the imprisoned IRA hunger strikers. Annie Higgins is a staunch IRA supporter who looks with pride on her son\u2019s activities; Kathleen Quigley is an apolitical schoolteacher who rejects the IRA\u2019s violent tactics. Despite their differences, the two women unite to campaign for humane treatment for their sons and the other imprisoned men.<\/p>\n Some Mother\u2019s Son <\/em>clearly abhors the Thatcher government\u2019s draconian policies (the main government representative is portrayed as being unrelievedly hateful, in one of the movie\u2019s less subtle touches). Nevertheless, the movie also, in some very powerful scenes, condemns IRA violence. Both protagonists and their diverging views are treated respectfully and other characters, including some British officials, display intelligence and humanity.<\/p>\n Perhaps most interesting, Some Mother\u2019s Son <\/em>poses the question of whether trying to extract concession by slowly killing oneself through a hunger strike is an ethical tactic. The movie also questions the ethics of sacrificing lives\u2014even one\u2019s own life\u2014to make a political point.<\/p>\n Four Days in September <\/em><\/strong>[O Que \u00e9 Isso, Companheiro?] <\/em>(1997) In 1969, a Brazilian radical group called MR-8 decided to challenge the military dictatorship ruling their country by kidnapping Charles Burke Elbrick<\/a>, the US ambassador to Brazil. By capturing the diplomat, the radicals hoped both to force the US-backed regime to release some of their comrades from prison and to gain publicity for their cause. Four Days in September<\/em> dramatizes the kidnapping and the complications that ensue.<\/p>\n The focus of the movie is Fernando Gabeira<\/a>, one of the MR-8 radicals. He and his comrades are mostly college-aged intellectuals. They are idealistic and self-serious but also prone to bickering and joking around like any other group of students. The movie also shows that for all their passion they are largely out of their depth when it comes to violence.<\/p>\n Their hostage is well matched to such captors: Ambassador Elbrick is an intelligent man who feels guilty about US support for the dictatorship. Fernando and the others soon start talking and arguing with Elbrick and something almost like a rapport develops between captors and captive. Nevertheless, radicals must face the question of whether to kill Ambassador Elbrick if their demands are not met.<\/p>\n The movie also follows the Brazilian police\u2019s attempts to track down the kidnapped ambassador. The officer in charge of the investigation has been deeply involved in the regime\u2019s repression, including torture. Rather than present him simply as a villain, though, the movie shows how the police officer is haunted by what he has done; he seems to be suffering from Perpetration-Induced Traumatic Stress<\/a>, which now mars his life.<\/p>\n Because the movie takes the time to show us all these different characters as real, flawed but sympathetic people, how the crisis is resolved and the various fates people meet makes the viewer feel the tragedy of the whole situation all the more deeply.<\/p>\n All three of these movies were made roughly 30 years ago and thus are due for rediscovery. Any of these movies would make for valuable viewing and topics of discussion among consistent life ethic advocates or other activists concerned with peace and justice. All serve as important reminders of the need to see past the passions of political conflict and recognize others\u2019 humanity.<\/p>\n ==============================<\/p>\n For more of our movie reviews, see:\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n The Movie \u201cWicked\u201d: Making a Real Person of the Witch of the West<\/a><\/p>\n A Complex Man\u2019s Complex Legacy: What the Movie Rustin Leaves Out<\/a><\/p>\n Movie Review: Oppenheimer<\/a><\/p>\n Movie Review: Sound of Freedom<\/a><\/p>\n Displaced and Brought Together by War: The Tale of Giovanni\u2019s Island<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Violence That Didn\u2019t Happen<\/a><\/p>\n Seeing Is Believing: Films to Inspire a Consistent Life Viewpoint<\/a><\/p>\n Movies with Racism Themes: \u201cGosnell\u201d and \u201cThe Hate U Give\u201d<\/a>The Darkest Hour<\/em>: \u201cGlorifying\u201d War?<\/a><\/p>\n Hollywood Movie Insights I\u00a0<\/a>(The Giver<\/em>,\u00a0The Whistleblower<\/em>, and\u00a0The Ides of March<\/em>)<\/p>\n Hollywood Movie Insights II<\/a>\u00a0(Never Look Away<\/em>,\u00a0The Report<\/em>, and\u00a0Dark Waters<\/em>)<\/p>\n Jasmine, Aladdin, and the Power of Nonviolence<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n