Arts

Something has been stirring in Holly- wood during the past decade: a surge of victoriously independent, politically con- scious voices, both on the set and on the picket line. Who would have thought such a politically-grounded cultural renaissance could have ever sprung from as unlikely a period as that of Reaganism?

But it is precisely this pro-big business, repressive atmosphere that has precipitated a revived cultural expression -of militant optimism. It derives from the growing insurgence among many Hollywood film makers that parallels and is nurtured by the nationwide popular protest movement against an anti-democratic administration.

With the rampant decontrol mania and corporate monopolization which have characterized Reaganism, any platform for a diversity of opinions and ideas in the mainstream media has been virtually elimi- nated, leaving film as one of the few remain- ing alternatives.

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10 « Pacific Tribune, May 4, 1988

U.S. independent filmmakers edging out Rambo and company

Media conglomerates have engulfed pub- lishing and record companies, TV and radio stations, and newspaper and magazines, as well as film studies. But movies have benef- itted in certain regards.

The breaking up of the narrow, restrict- ing studio system by corporations (as well as the competitive impact of television) has freed films from direct studio control and allowed them to sink or swim on their own as investment commodities.

As a result, some persistent, idealistic Hollywood personalities, in a backlash against the administration’s repressive and imperialist policies and backed up with the clout of their celebrity status, have been able to see their vision through, though not without a great deal of struggle.

The impetus for this hopeful trend has arisen from social issues that have long been suppressed by the mainstream media.

For instance, the plague of farm foreclo- sures gave rise to a series of compelling farm films. Jessica Lange, who led the way, co- producing and starring in Country, was inspired to tell a critical story about the suffering of farmers because “people are

being run off their land, land they’ve tended ©

all their lives. Nobody was paying any atten- tion to their plight. I became determined to make a film that would.” Country was rejected by every Hollywood conglomerate, but was eventually picked up by Touch- stone, a new and independently minded studio. :

The House Democratic Task Force on Agriculture later invited farm film stars Lange and Sissy Spacek (The River), along with Jane Fonda (who also played a farm woman in the TV movie The Dollmaker) to make eloquent offscreen appearances to tes- tify on behalf of the American farmer.

The series of progressive Vietnam War movies also came into conflict with Holly- wood. Filmmaker Oliver Stone saw his

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movie Platoon turned down by every major studio and had to raise money on his own for a film that went on to win four top Oscars, including Best Film, at last year’s Academy Awards ceremony.

Such dedication has succeeded in open- ing up a topic that remained “forbidden” for a decade, with the filmmakers having to fight against the tide of revisionist social fiction like Rambo, and the huge financial input of the U.S. military into the making of such pro-war movies (using these films also for recruitment promotions in the absence of the old compulsory draft). :

The efforts of these filmmakers have not been in vain and, as a result, another “‘for- bidden topic” of even longer duration, the infamous McCarthy period, is just now coming upon the entertainment scene, beginning with The House of Carroll Street, and to be followed by others shortly. Anti- intervention, anti-racist, pro-labour and peace films have also benefitted, and are pushing further into mainstream circula- tion, including Matewan, Salvador, Walker, Hollywood Shuffle, Wall Street, Amazing Grace and Chuck, and Superman IV.

Some stars, like Robert Redford, have started their own enterprises to expedite independent production, drawing inspira- tion from the regional independent film movement. Redford’s Sundance Institute has made the anti-nuclear Desert Bloom, and more recently, The Milagro Beanfield War, which just hit the top 10 movie chart in New York.

Evidence of the strength and influence of such trends is manifested as well in the polit- ical arena. Redford is showing and discuss- ing a selection of his films this spring in the

SCENE FROM MILAGRO BEANHET WAR ... progressive, people-orient films making headway against Holly- wood violence and vacuity.

USSR. Stars like Martin Sheen, Whoop! Goldberg, Robin Williams and Cher ate participating in actions on behalf of the homeless and hungry. | Joining the resistance to imperialist intervention and nuclear proliferation ar, people like Sheen, Kris Kristofferson and Barbra Streisand. Jack Lemmon, Sheet and Tyne Daly have agreed to speak out for labour in upcoming radio and TV spo Tony winner and Hollywood veteran John Randolph has just become the newly electet chairman of the National Council of SOvig American Friendship. And the list cor tinues to grow. é | This trend in popular thinking, in the direction of grassroots oriented cultural trends, contributes to a wide-ranging momentum that reflects, is nurtured by and

ilds the le’s movement. a nm «Prairie Milley People’s Daily Work

The music of the Andes Mountains in South America reaches the Lower Mainland on Tuesday, May.24 with the performance of Sukay at the Van- couver East Cultural Centre. Sukay, consisting of three Bolivians and an American, play several traditional instruments of the peoples of Bolivia, Peru, Northern Argentina, Chile and Ecuador, and sing in three languages. Their concert begins at 8 p.m., and admission is $10. If your taste runs to contemporary country and topical, Linda Allen and Geof Morgan may be worth looking into. They play at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre on Sunday, May 15 at 8 p.m., with $8 admission. For tickets phone the Vancouver Folk Music Festival, 879-2931.

CIA and drugs investigated

We've been inundated lately with news of Panama’s “strongman,” Gen. Noriega and how much the U.S. Reagan administration wants him out of power. But what we haven’t heard much of is how the accused drug-runner operated without interference for so long.

“Guns, Drugs and the CIA,” a KCTS Channel 9 presentation, will present the story of how the USS. intelligence agency has financed drug lords abroad to fight in reactionary causes. In return, the Frontline series production shows, they use CIA money, equipment and protection to smug- gle narcotics into the United States.

Producers Leslie and Andrew Cockburn investigate that activity as it affected the contra war against Nicaragua and the “secret war” in Laos during the Vietnam War. In the latter case it chronicles the CIA recruitment of the Hmong tribe in Loas asa secret army and the subsequent rise of a

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hand-picked leader, Vang Pao, as one of the key heroin dealers in Southeast Asia.

The producers interview a former CIA agent connected with the Laos case, and 2 Cuban-American involved in the Colon~ bian drug cartel. It airs on KCTS, Channel 9 in most areas of B.C., on Tuesday, May 17 at 9 p.m.

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Also of note on KCTS is the return of the 12-part series, Declaration of Independents, which promises such fare as Studs Terkels “Union Maids.” The series, which alts “round midnight” — one should check the TV guide for exact times each week — on Saturday night begins May 7 with three independently-made_ shorts, including “Witness to War,” the short film on an American doctor’s aid to the liberation for ces in El Salvador. Other films that evening are “Newsreel” and ‘“Hiroshima/Naga- saki.”