Standard Operating Procedures – A Movie Review

An examination of the unintended consequences of the Iraqi war with a focus on events at Abu Ghraib prison which began to appear in global media in 2004. The prison quickly became notorious for the shocking photos of the abuse and torture of terror suspects by military men and women. Ultimately, it is the story of soldiers who believed they were defending democracy but found themselves plunged into an unimagined nightmare.

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In The Realms of the Unreal – A Movie Review

Henry Darger, an elderly recluse, spent his childhood in Illinois’s asylum for feeble-minded children and his adulthood working as a janitor. He lived a quiet, nearly solitary existence, but his imaginary life was exciting, colorful and sexually provocative. When he died in Chicago in 1973, his landlady discovered in his room 300 paintings, some over 10 feet long, and a 15,000-page illustrated novel (The Realms of the Unreal), which told the epic story of the virtuous Vivian Girls leading a child slave revolt against the evil Glandelinians. Featuring Dakota Fanning (Hide and Seek) and Larry Pine (The Royal Tenenbaums) as narrators and imaginative animation of Darger’s work, OscarĀ® winner Jessica Yu (Breathing Lessons) brings to life one of the twentieth century’s greatest self-taught artists. This is a very interesting story with a surprising dose of an undercurrent of suspense about what will happen next. It was worth watching.

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