my own private idaho is a 1991 american independent adventure drama film written and directed by gus van sant , loosely based on shakespeare 's henry iv , part 1 , henry iv , part 2 , and henry v , and starring river phoenix and keanu reeves .

the story follows two friends , mike and scott , as they embark on a journey of personal discovery that takes them to mike 's hometown in idaho and then to italy in search of mike 's mother .

van sant originally wrote the screenplay in the 1970s , but discarded it after reading john rechy 's 1963 novel city of night and concluding that rechy 's treatment of the subject of street hustlers was better than his own .

over the years , van sant rewrote the script , which comprised two stories : that of mike and the search for his mother , and scott 's story as a modern update of the henry iv plays .

van sant had difficulty getting hollywood financing , and at one point considered making the film on a minuscule budget with a cast of actual street kids .

after van sant sent copies of his script to reeves and then reeves showed it to phoenix , both agreed to star in the film on each other 's behalf .

my own private idaho had its premiere at the 48th venice international film festival , and received largely positive reviews from critics including roger ebert and those of the new york times and entertainment weekly .

the film was a moderate financial success , grossing over $ 6.4 million in north america , which was above its estimated budget of $ 2.5 million .

phoenix received several awards for his performance in the film , including the volpi cup for best actor at the 1991 venice film festival , best male lead from the independent spirit awards , and best actor from the national society of film critics .

my own private idaho

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my own private idaho is most striking as a vision of a vanished bohemian city .
2 . the film journal : my own private idaho page by j . d . lafrance
river phoenix and keanu reeves in
my own private idaho .
( warner bros . )
river phoenix in my own private idaho by gus van sant ( 1991 ) © warner bros inc .
twenty years later , gus van sant reflects on my own private idaho’s vanished city of flophouses and hustlers .
[ video ] “river phoenix researching for “my own private idaho” part 1 of 9″ . youtube . com . urltoken
keanu reeves and river phoenix in my own private idaho by gus van sant . photograph : © warner bros inc
criterion collection to release ' the brood , ' ' my own private idaho , ' ' mulholland dr . '
gus van sant ' s ' my own private idaho ' uses a variety of devices to keep viewers off balance .
looking for movie tickets ? enter your location to see which movie theaters are playing my own private idaho near you .
the film inside me , inside us : the experience of ' my own private idaho ' through a phenomenological lens .
my own private idaho lacks the dramatic punchiness of drugstore cowboy , yet it ' s a rich , audacious experience .
river phoenix gives the finest performance of his tragically short career in my own private idaho , now streaming at sbs on demand .
text emily manning keanu reeves and river phoenix in my own private idaho by gus van sant ( 1991 ) © warner bros inc .
documents similar to the film inside me , inside us : the experience of ' my own private idaho ' through a phenomenological lens .
keanu reeves and river phoenix in gus van sant ' s my own private idaho . photograph : cine text / allstar / sportsphoto ltd
this is river phoenix and keanu reeves at their best . my own private idaho is my favourite river phoenix movie . a superb movie of tragedy , love and lost .
the title my own private idaho was inspired by the b - 52 ' s song
private idaho ,
although the film has little in common with the song . the
private idaho
in the film is the visions that mike occasionally sees in his mind . therefore it can be said that mike is
living in his own private idaho
- - an idaho which is visible only to him .
the film inside me , inside us : the experience of ' my own private idaho ' through a phenomenological lens . | perception | consciousness
there is a moment in gus van sant’s 1991 film my own private idaho when the main character awakens on a desolate midwestern american highway .
my own private idaho
is both a love story and a tragedy . it remains the high point in gus van sant ' s career .
. “she had a real intuition about me , and not since my own mom had anybody really had my number . she really understood my tastes , and my ambition , and my fear , my anxiety about wanting to do everything by thursday morning . ”
somewhere between surreal depravity and renaissance tragedy is gus van sant’s “my own private idaho , ” a visually compelling examination of unrequited love - romantic and otherwise .
“beautifully wrought , darkly funny and finally devastating , my own private idaho almost single - handedly revives the notion of personal filmmaking in the united states . ” — chicago tribune
criterion ' s blu - ray edition of my own private idaho is available now . watch an exclusive clip of a conversation between todd haynes and gus van sant below :
music featured in my own private idaho ( 1991 ) . many of the songs in the film were not released , so this is not at all a complete list .
hand2mouth ' s
time , a fair hustler
is a collage of influences , including shakespeare ' s history plays and gus van sant ' s
my own private idaho .
“ gus van sant ‘s sensibility is wholly original , wholly fresh . my own private idaho adds a new ingredient : a kind of boho sweetness . i loved it . ” — washington post
my own private idaho received generally positive reviews in the gay media , typified by planetout . com’s popcornq , which called my own private idaho a “deliriously unhinged story” that contains “one of the most beautifully nuanced depictions of naked desire ever captured on film” and which is part of “a cinema that resonates with more than just the facile palliative of happily - ever - after” ( 8 ) .
alex g ¡all - time quarterback ! the mountain goats my own private idaho lofi singer / songwriter love songs and other stuff . . . . . . . . everything is painful though river phoenix
grungy , grubby and authentic , the clothes in films such as my own private idaho were never meant to look good . but now a new paris exhibition is celebrating the director’s unlikely influence on the catwalk
van zant ' s my own private idaho is the story of two male hustlers , mike waters and scott favor , who meet in a bad section of portland oregon , befriend each other for some time , and then separate .
the first time i viewed my own private idaho , at rit ' s talisman , i found it quite confusing . only after attending the second screening did it make some sense to me . my own private idaho is a very complex film which ends without resolution of the story . it deals with
taboo
ideas which are not generally dealt with in the american cinema . one reason for my initial confusion may have been i was uptight about what i was seeing on the screen , and this distracted me from the story at hand . during my second viewing i knew what to expect , and devoted my attention to the story .
after studying under cinematographer ed lachman , shevaun mizrahi forged her own unique filmmaking path with its own set of rules .
because river phoenix ' s agent refused to show him the film treatment for
my own private idaho
, in late 1990 keanu reeves rode his motorcycle from canada to phoenix ' s hometown of gainesville , florida to hand deliver it himself .
“there’s not another road anywhere that looks like this road—i mean , exactly like this road . it’s one kind of place . one of a kind , like someone’s face . like a fucked - up face . ” —river phoenix , my own private idaho
tags : bisexual representation theme week , bisexuality , drama , keanu reeves , lgbtq , logan kenny , my own private idaho , river phoenix bookmark the permalink . follow comments with the rss feed for this post . both comments and trackbacks are closed .
the title of the film was based on the the b - 52 ' s song
private idaho
, released in 1980 .
“my own private idaho” is a film that is reflexive back on the original author of the story , william shakespeare . as one might know , or notice when watching the film , the film’s dialogue seems to be inspired by some kind of old - time poetry . gus van sant loosely based “my own private idaho” on one of the two plots of shakespeare’s play , henry iv , in which henry iv’s son , prince harry’s strained relationship with his father leads him to doing rebellious things , ignoring his responsibilities until he gets the money that he will inherit . in “my own private idaho , ” this can be seen clearly in the character of scott favor . but ironically enough , mike waters is the main protagonist of the story , on whose consciousness the film is based .
here’s further fuel to fire up those beliefs that james franco has succeeded in cloning himself . beginning on saturday , the actor together with director gus van sant are debuting an exhibition titled “unfinished” at the gagosian gallery in beverly hills . it consists of two films based on my own private idaho which van sant directed but franco did not star in . ( it co - starred keanu reeves and the late river phoenix as street hustlers . ) but after casting franco in 2008’s milk , van sant showed him the dailies and other footage that he had shot many years before for the 1991’s my own private idaho but which did not make it into the final cut . so franco decided to fashion it into two new films , riffing off the original title : endless idaho and my own private river .
out : first , i wanted to say that my own private idaho was the first “gay” movie i ever saw , since it somehow ended up in the little shop where we could rent vhs tapes on the air force base in japan where i went to high school .
tags : bisexual representation theme week , bisexuality , drama , gus van sant , jamie righetti , keanu reeves , lgbtq , my own private idaho , river phoenix bookmark the permalink . follow comments with the rss feed for this post . both comments and trackbacks are closed .
[ van sant ] disdain [ s ] narrative . he got away with drugstore cowboy because its band of drugged - out dodoes were engaged in a petty crime spree that almost passed for a plot . but my own private idaho is a different story . or rather nonstory .
according to the official descriptions , franco “edited outtakes , deleted scenes , alternate takes , and behind - the - scenes footage from my own private idaho into the 12 - hour film endless idaho which circa andy warhol provides an unprecedented look into the workaday process of making a movie , from location scouting to repeated takes . in a blend of documentary and fiction , interviews with actual hustlers who played secondary characters in my own private idaho are intercut with shots of river phoenix and keanu reeves improvising and refining their performances under the direction of van sant and his crew” . by contrast , my own private river “consists largely of shots of phoenix’s character woven into a compelling portrait . franco describes being mesmerized by phoenix ‘s ‘uninhibited acting’ in this unreleased footage , and his edit captures the gifted actor at his most emotionally expressive and physically dynamic” .
the 2015 criterion release of my own private idaho is based on a new 4k digital transfer , and presented in the film’s original 1 . 85 : 1 aspect radio . this release includes a number of extras , most of which were also included in the 2005 release from criterion .
a strong beginning that becomes a bit cryptic towards the end , my own private idaho is a respectable piece of film and is pure van sant . the poetic dialogue in some scenes mixed in with river phoenix ' s narcolepsy brings a story that develops unusual characters and a excellent adventure .
my own private idaho finds a home in cinema revolution as one of the first major titles from fine line features , a production / distribution company that was founded in 1990 as the art house division of new line cinema and run by cinema revolution curator ira deutchman from 1990 - 1995 .
my own private idaho , van sant’s third feature film , is a landmark of the new queer cinema of the 1990s - a movement which gave voice and expression to lgbtq stories , while also exhibiting distinctly fluid and subversive styles of filmmaking that rejected conventional narrative forms . accordingly , my own private idaho’s story about a group of young male hustlers in portland has an episodic structure , and is visually and tonally experimental . a dense dreaminess implants mike’s narcolepsy within the film’s fabric . this magnifies the sense that mike is adrift without an anchor ; that he experiences the world through an altered reality , where time is fragmented .
the shakepearean subtlety and sedation found in “my own private idaho” is seen loosely , aside from the plot , on the characters’ lines as well . the lyrical and poetic tone of mike , scott , and bob’s words are actually paraphrases of shakespeare’s script from his play , henry iv . compared to the loud , aggressive , and violent depiction of shakespeare’s titus andronicus by julie taymor , there is no doubt that “my own private idaho” is more tranquil and relaxed . it may also be attributed to the different contents and contexts of the two plays , but it can nevertheless be credited to the two directors’ treatments of the material .
my own private idaho is not a genre film , per se , but it is a formula film in the fact that there is a main character ( mike ) who is searching for a long - lost relative . generally formula films are simply reworkings of cookie - cutter stories , but director / screenwriter gus van zant has decided to work a formula story into a product which contains unconventional ideas and characters , and forms of sexuality which are not appealing to the general public . these ingredients make for a very unpredictable film , yet it is a formula film nonetheless . my own private idaho is certainly not typical hollywood fare .
even as hand2mouth seeks to audio - visually transport its audience to a sepia - toned past , walters insists that
time , a fair hustler ,
isn ' t purely nostalgic - - not about the
life on the edge
portrayed in
my own private idaho ,
nor about the lost city the film portrays .
river phoenix died of an overdose just two years after making idaho , leaving behind a powerful legacy of performance which included stand by me , the mosquito coast and an oscar - nominated turn in running on empty . but as the drug - taking , narcoleptic street hustler mike waters in my own private idaho , phoenix delivered the gutsiest performance of his career and was rewarded with an independent spirit award for best male lead .
my own private idaho and the living end are very private films . conspicuously addressed to a particular audience and commercially limited by both budget and aesthetics they are not films open to everyone , entries into universal popular culture that could potentially play to random spectators . they are special , personal films that rely on audience identification for much of their impact . though it is impossible to demonstrate a gay - male - heavy demographic break down of the audiences of these two films , and though the star power of phoenix and reeves has no doubt drawn many non - gay male viewers to my own private idaho , the assumption that the two films enjoyed a proportionately large amount of interested gay male viewers on their initial release is , i believe , a reasonable one ( 10 ) .
my own private idaho will play in the annex cinema tonight at 7 pm , the penultimate addition to cinema revolution . next week , we will conclude with robert altman’s 1992 black comedy , the player . next , be on the lookout for the release of our annual summer classics film series coming next month . see you at the michigan !
frank church wilderness , idaho the largest wilderness in the lower 48 states and my personal favourite . the middle fork section of the salmon river is a legend among rafters .
before good will hunting and finding forrester ; before the ill - advised psycho remake and the experimental gerry ; before the movies about harvey milk and kurt cobain , portland - based indie auteur gus van sant made my own private idaho , an avant - garde drama starring river phoenix as a narcoleptic gay hustler and keanu reeves as his friend and co - worker .
my own private idaho is a wistful , delicate hybrid , a movie that does more than it could possibly seem to be doing at once . on the 25th anniversary of its release , it reminds us of the risks hollywood’s periphery used to take , and of the stakes that even a not explicitly political movie often had ascribed to it . van sant grew up in a wild era for cinema , amid an explosion of radical underground movies by the likes of andy warhol , but also on the cusp of new hollywood . his own art is a symptom of both trends , which might explain why a movie like my own private idaho now registers as a strange artifact , off - kilter and unusual but not quite avant - garde . van sant’s approach comes off as natural and lived in , warm rather than academic .
as a retelling of shakespeare’s “henry v , ” now set among street hustlers , “my own private idaho” was by turns nonchalant and touching , structurally loose but coherent , graced with unexpected lyrical images and narrative hairpins . shakespeare is used in the film to convey the transcendence of time , wishing to convey that mike and scott are figures than can exist anywhere and anytime .
phoenix’s best performances stand out because of this intimacy . his work in my own private idaho is all heart – open and unselfconscious , bruised yet tough . he brings us painfully close to mike so we care what happens , where he goes , what will come next . van sant’s film is a testament to the actor’s beauty , vulnerability , and his abundant talent .
on this day in 1991 , my own private idaho , an independent film written and directed by gus van sant and starring keanu reeves and river phoenix , premieres at the new york film festival . the movie told the story of two young male hustlers , one of whom ( phoenix ) is a hapless narcoleptic searching for the mother who abandoned him , and the other of whom ( reeves ) comes from a wealthy family ( the character was inspired , in part , by shakespeare’s prince hal in henry iv ) . the pair meets in portland , oregon , and later travels to idaho and italy . my own private idaho –the title reportedly came from a song by the rock band the b - 52s–was nominated for six independent spirit awards and won for best screenplay , best male lead ( phoenix ) and best film music .
the late river phoenix opens gus van sant’s 1991 surrealist drama my own private idaho on an open road in the middle of a stunningly vacant idaho landscape . he is completely alone yet sets the stage by breaking out into soliloquy , as an actor would at the beginning of a stage play . it’s a stylization choice from van sant and a reoccurring theme in the film that explores the lives of street hustlers in the pacific northwest , projected through a shakespearean lens .
after getting some attention with his micro - budget debut , mala noche , van sant wanted to make my own private idaho next . but everyone in hollywood told him a story of gay hustlers was too
niche
to get any traction . so instead he made drugstore cowboy , about a roving band of junkies who rob pharmacies—a premise with more mainstream appeal , apparently .
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the music selected by van zant for this project consists primarily of old american folk tunes . therefore it is not incidental in nature , rather it provides a continual background
mood music
effect . this is totally incongruous to the typical hollywood style , where the story is punctuated by orchestral music . the style of music used in my own private idaho perfectly suits the smooth , unobtrusive editing and chronological narrative structure . my own private idaho has a very slow , leisurely pace . scenes flow at an almost standstill rate , focusing on small details . sometimes this is beneficial , as the dialog seems to be written as though it were a literary masterpiece and not natural speech . the slow pace gives the audience time to contemplate what the characters are speaking of .
any would - be filmmaker can tell you how nerve - racking it is to meet with potential producers and then wait to hear back about whether they ' re going to make your movie . van sant said he found out his producers had committed to making my own private idaho when other filmmakers told him ,
congratulations , they ' re skipping our film to make yours . ”
my own private idaho , on the other hand , often seems as rootless as poor mike . yet the film has an authentic emotional lyricism . when van sant shows us speeded - up images of clouds rolling past wheat fields , the familiar device transcends cliche , because it’s tied to the way that mike , in his benumbed isolation , experiences his own life — as a running piece of surrealism . the sheer , expressive beauty of those images haunted me for days . a -
- the making of my own private idaho , a documentary that runs about 40 minutes and includes editor curtis clayton , directors of photography john campbell and eric alan edwards and production designer david brisbin talking about the film’s development , production and post - production . good stuff , if you enjoy going beyond the principal creatives to find out what other above - the - line people think about filmmak
my own private idaho ‘s mike ( river phoenix ) is always destined to end up in the same place . no matter where he goes , he will always end up on this deserted road in idaho where the film begins . he can go anywhere in the world and he’ll end up back where he started , dealing with his thoughts , his fading memories , and his narcolepsy . this is his existence , almost the entirety of it : go somewhere , meet people , have sex , come back here . my own private idaho is an almost aimless film , there is no traditional narrative and many scenes occur with no real sense or purpose . while there is sometimes the idea of a plot or narrative goal , the film isn’t really about that ; instead , it’s a film about characters and how they live their lives , their circumstances , and the things that haunt them .
hand2mouth ' s
my own private idaho
- inspired production ,
time , a fair hustler ,
examines both that civic story and the story of van sant ' s film through a lens of bittersweet nostalgia . the show , which opens friday , july 31 , imagines what might have happened to the film ' s characters in the nearly 25 years since the events of the movie took place . where , it asks , would these derelicts and drifters fit into the tidier portland of today - - if they ' d fit at all ? summoned together in a vaguely judicial setting , the personae of
my own private idaho
give testimony on what they ' re up to now and how they were connected with mikey and scott ' s story . as they reminisce , memory overwhelms reality .
my own private idaho often feels like two films spliced together . indeed , van sant’s main sources for the film were two separate screenplays and a short story , all written by him . during the making of his first feature , mala noche ( 1985 ) , van sant met a street kid who became the inspiration for mike . there is also the influence of shakespeare’s plays , henry iv ( parts 1 and 2 ) and henry v , or more precisely , of orson welles’ chimes at midnight ( 1965 ) . welles’ film is focused on the falstaff character from those plays , reimagined in my own private idaho as bob ( william richert ) – a mentor to the hustlers , and the man from whom rich kid scott ( reeves ) , like prince hal , must break away to accept his destiny .
i found my own private idaho to be a very depressing film . river phoenix ' s character never does find his mother ; and to make matters worse , he loses scott to a woman . his narcolepsy is uncontrollable , and this makes him an oddity to most people . without scott , it appears that he has no one to turn to at a time when he seems to need help the most .
my own private idaho represents the shotgun marriage of two individual stories that , like mike and scott themselves , don’t really belong together : a road movie about mike’s fruitless search for love and security , and an arch modern retelling of shakespeare , with scott playing a role distinctly abstracted from the gritty day - to - day of his temporary street - hustling brethren . it’s common to hear people talk about my own private idaho as two movies in one—conversations that usually end with a preference for mike’s heartrending tale of unrequited love winning out over keanu reeves doing shakespeare . but the impulse to treat the film like competing anthology hours misses how gracefully van sant incorporates the two stories while making a point of how distant they are from each other . even when they occupy the same space , like the campground the characters improvise in an idaho field , they’re worlds apart , and no amount of yearning on mike’s part can bridge the gap .
the relentless deployment of the road movie genre in both films seems far from incidental . my own private idaho and the living end are overt road movies . the road is a central , fleshed - out character in both films . in idaho , a particular road that mike says he “knows” bookends the film and is returned to in a number of scenes . at one point mike ascribes a face to it , and later ponders whether it has an end , or whether it runs all the way around the world .
idaho to north carolina : wherever you go , i ' ll follow ya .
by leftleg
i’m a bisexual man . i realized i was bi earlier this year . i haven’t known who i really am for very long and since i’m young , i still have a lot to learn about myself . the first time i watched my own private idaho was the first time i felt like i wasn’t straight . it kick - started my awakening sexuality , the first step of many in realizing who i truly am . it was the first time i felt sexual desires towards men and for a couple weeks , i thought that i could be gay since i thought like this . then i realized that i was attracted to both women and men and i didn’t have to choose ; i could be attracted to both and that would be okay . i came out to my parents , a lot of my friends , and my girlfriend . this film changed everything about my life , nothing was the same for me after watching .
my own private idaho was a landmark film when it was released in the early 1990s and joined other standout movies of the time , including jennie livingston’s documentary on new york’s underground drag shows , paris is burning ( 1990 ) ; todd haynes’ feature poison ( 1991 ) ; derek jarman’s version of christopher marlowe’s edward ii ( 1991 ) ; and gregg araki’s moving road - trip film , the living end ( 1992 ) .
in his follow - up to drugstore cowboy ( 1989 ) , the gifted writer - director gus van sant has bucked expectations in more ways than one . my own private idaho , which stars phoenix and keanu reeves as street hustlers drifting around the northwest — one homeless and mostly gay , the other a bisexual rich boy who turns tricks out of boredom and rebellion — blithely detonates any conventional wisdom about the sorts of roles young hollywood heartthrobs are supposed to be taking on . van sant , though , isn’t just out to shock the mainstream . the viewers who may actually be most taken aback by my own private idaho are those who loved drugstore cowboy and were hoping for a companion piece , a movie that burrows into the desolate street culture of young gay prostitutes with the same outlaw vitality that marked van sant’s comic tale of early - ’70s portland druggies .
it’s been 20 years since river phoenix’s death , and gus van sant’s 1991 road movie my own private idaho is still almost unbearably sad to watch . it isn’t just that phoenix’s charisma and promise are on full display , though idaho ranks alongside running on empty and dogfight among his best roles . it’s the way van sant’s script leaves phoenix in a state of constant vulnerability , like a turtle without its shell . at times , his character’s narcolepsy—in which he suddenly , unpredictably falls into a deep sleep—feels like a narrative contrivance , an ongoing deus ex machina calibrated to pivot the story in whatever direction van sant decides to take it . but it’s really more a metaphor for a lonely , loveless drifter who has no defense against a world that can take his money , his heart , and his life . phoenix and his character aren’t one and the same , but they share an openness and sensitivity that’s keenly felt in my own private idaho . they’re prey for a rapacious world .
my own private idaho was the result of three projects coming together . the first was a modern adaptation of henry iv called
howling at the moon
, which was about street kids in portland , and was told entirely in william shakespeare an verse . the second was called
in a blue funk
, and was about two spanish cousins , living on the streets of las vegas , who decide to go to spain after seeing their last name on a spanish map , and wanting to find out about themselves and their family . the third was actually titled
my own private idaho
, and was about an early version of the mike character as a hustler , who gets picked up by a german auto parts salesman and
kept
at his house . gus van sant had trouble finishing the scripts , so he merged them together into the finished form .
in this essay , i will argue that the films of “new queer cinema” were generally misread . i will read two films from the period , my own private idaho ( gus van sant , 1991 ) and the living end ( gregg araki , 1992 ) , not as defiant and coherent queer responses against the visceral and cultural traumas of the aids crisis , but as passive pieces of shrapnel from the epidemic , hiv - positive cinema .
my own private idaho follows the journey of two street hustlers , mike ( river phoenix ) and scott ( keanu reeves ) . mike has the condition of narcolepsy , something that comes up multiple times in the film , starting in the beginning while standing at a lonely stretch of highway in idaho . later , he gets hired by an older woman , who takes him back to her mansion , where two other hustlers await , including scott , mike’s best friend . right before performing his services for the woman , he experiences another fit of narcolepsy .
“my own private idaho” is a personal film , reflecting some of van sant’s own encounters and experiences . michael parker , a homeless street hustler who smokes pot , served as inspiration for the character of mike waters . scott favor , the tale’s other lead , is a rich boy who goes slumming in the underbelly of portland and seattle . as the product of upper - class family , van sant could relate more easily to scott : “scott is , or could be , me , coming from the blue - blood and royalty of portland . ” the project became even more personal , when van sant cast himself as the ponytailed bellboy in the idaho hotel .
when i had first watched the film my own private idaho ( 1991 ) , i was unaware of the specific references to shakespeare’s henry iv parts i and ii and henry v . categorized and hyped as a queer - road - western film by the press , the shakespearean element was largely overlooked in favor of the then - shocking reality that beloved teen heartthrob and james - dean - lookalike river phoenix was portraying a gay street hustler type .
after the emotional wringer of filming gus van sant’s my own private idaho , “i just did not feel like barreling through someone’s psychosis , ” river said . he opted for a low - stress money gig : sneakers . as one actor in the film said of the title , “it sounded like a bad teen comedy about a hapless junior - high basketball team that is saved when they recruit a girl point guard who’s a great shot . ”
the eldest son of a fugitive family comes of age and wants to live a life of his own .
- since my own private idaho features homelessness pretty prominently , it only makes sense that leroy ( played either by an actor or by albert ) and director jonathan caouette would sit down to talk about how their own street experiences have influenced their work , i suppose . both have connections to van sant—he produced caouette’s film tarnation and used leroy / albert’s screenplay for his film elephant — but beyond that , i’m not sure these two deserve more than 50 minutes of special features space for their discussion , especially when you consider that this is another audio - only track .
these sound like caricatures , and in some small way they are . but my own private idaho ’s enduring accomplishment is that it can see all of these men with sympathy and good humor . it allows them to be idiosyncratic and strange , and practically lynchian in their inability to conform to the usual modes of behavior . as such , they’re a spectacle to be acknowledged and loved , without suggesting that they also need to be forgiven . that’s queerness . and my own private idaho is a masterpiece because that queerness is an ethic , not a subject . it’s an ethos , not a convenience . in 2016 , when the threats to gay life have become subsumed beneath performances of polite politics and the needs of the middle class , it’s helpful to remember a movie like this , full of people like these , who confront us with who they are without giving us a chance to tell them who to be .
my own private idaho was a troubled production from the beginning , and was actually a merger of three different projects that gus van sant was working on . he was very intent on adapting shakespeare and retaining the quality of the original language in the film , which new line cinema initially rejected , but which the international market seemed to be quite excited for , allowing for much of the dialogue to maintain the original shakespearean feel . review our gay themed films here
getting much less attention not far from the kodak theatre , in beverly hills , was a gallery exhibition called unfinished , where just two days prior to oscar night franco had presided over the rebirth of another fallen star . working with director gus van sant , franco launched a powerful installation of video art , cutting a 100 - minute film full of unseen footage of river phoenix from the dailies of van sant ' s modern day classic my own private idaho .
although river phoenix has distinguished himself as an actor ever since his second film , stand by me , nothing he has ever done before prepares you for his performance in private idaho as the motherless , homeless , loveless piece of human driftwood .
really amazing ! river phoenix is just fantastic , and van sant really knows his stuff . i love the cameos made by actual hustlers from the streets of portland , or . it really rings true . my own private idaho was the result of three projects coming together . the first was a modern adaptation of henry iv called howling at the moon , which was about street kids in portland and was told entirely in william shakespearean verse . the second was called in a blue funk , and was about two spanish cousins , living on the streets of las vegas , who decide to go to spain after seeing their last name on a spanish map and wanting to find out about themselves and their family . the third was actually titled my own private idaho and was about an early version of the mike character as a hustler who gets picked up by a german auto parts salesman and
kept
at his house . gus van sant had trouble finishing the scripts , so he merged them together into the finished form . it is a must own !
i’m a huge river phoenix fan ( rip ) , and i also enjoy gus van sant’s work when he’s on his game ( about 75 % of the time ) , so “my own private idaho” has been one of my favourite films since i was a teenager . mostly , i think that it’s phoenix’s tragic performance that carries this film and allows it to hold up 20 + years after its initial release . he brings such a raw emotion to the character of mikey , and this is definitely one of the films that reminds me of how big of a loss his death was .
in many ways , gus van sant’s my own private idaho ( 1991 ) is a film about duality , weaving together conflicting stories about love , family and the inescapable lure of home , even when it is a place you can never go back to again . and that duality also lends itself heavily to the sexual identities of the film’s main characters , mike ( river phoenix ) and scott ( keanu reeves ) , two street hustlers with opposite views of their own bisexuality , as well as the fulfillment they receive from their life on the street and where it will ultimately take them .
gvs : but i was trying not to bring my own personality into it ; i was trying to just get out of the way of the script . i was trying to make something that i thought was in their minds .
the episode “our private idaho” takes viewers to coeur d’alene , idaho . once the epicenter of the aryan nations’ white - supremacy movements , coeur d’alene has nearly doubled in population in the last two decades . nearly 90 percent of its new arrivals are white , and although the percentage of nonwhite residents is gradually increasing , it’s still tiny at 5 . 5 percent .
musing on a desolate highway in idaho , mikey waters ( river phoenix ) convulses and collapses in a narcoleptic fit . the sky passes overhead in time lapse as he dreams of his mother holding him , comforting him before the titles commence . already , in these first few shots , we are introduced to several tropes that by nearly all accounts should come across as tired cliché or , at the very least , wholly unoriginal . but it is a testament to gus van sant that “my own private idaho” rises above hackneyed tropes , repurposing rote cinematic sequences to breathe new life into the normally trite .
i ' m fascinated about the class differences between the two men in my own private idaho and think it remains a hot topic , especially when arguments around the marriage equality battle come up . or how people with wealth and privilege urge younger kids to come out , but they can be rejected and end up being homeless or sex workers or doing whatever they have to do to survive . do you think that’s a topic that should be tackled in some way in art or in film ?
if you’re going to make a movie about queer people , you’re likely going to get a divisive response . does it reinforce negative stereotypes ? does it provide an accurate cross - section of the diverse lgbt community ? how many think pieces will it incite ? in this regular column , we’ll look at depictions of queers in cinema and ask , was it good for the gays ? today we look at gus van sant’s classic entry into the new queer cinema movement , my own private idaho .
to a portlander watching two decades later , my own private idaho is most striking as a vision of a vanished bohemian city . van sant’s half - condemned landscape of questing rent boys and itinerant prankster - kings is hardly visible beneath today’s downtown , where youthful “creatives” tap ipads at prohibition - esque cocktail bars and homelessness seems anything but romantic . reeves’s and phoenix’s flannel - clad apparitions might wonder where to cruise for johns , but they could sell their wardrobes at vintage stores for hefty sums .
“my own private idaho” won the independent spirit award for best screenplay . the film also gained river phoenix the best actor honor at the venice film festival . quite established for his age , phoenix had already impressed in “stand by me” ( 1986 ) and had also received a supporting actor oscar nomination for “running on empty” ( 1988 ) , sidney lumet’s political melodrama . van sant’s feature also helped keanu reeves , then best - known for his “bill and ted” movies , to get better screen roles .
made for two and a half million dollars ( 7 ) , my own private idaho made around seven million dollars at the u . s . box office , and won several awards at film festivals around the world , mainly for phoenix’s performance , and van sant’s screenplay . it has remained a relatively well - known film , probably due to the subsequent career successes of van sant and reeves , and the enduring pop - mythology of river phoenix , who died of a drug overdose in 1993 .
gus van zant ' s three feature films are not very similar in directional style ; however they do have a few similar traits . van zant ' s films contain serious stories which appeal to one ' s intellect . at first , my own private idaho seems to be a simple and straightforward story , but as previously mentioned it is quite complex and involved . the subject matter that van zant works with is unique and original , as most directors would not be willing to work on such projects as he . during the height of nancy reagan ' s
just say no !
campaign , van zant completed drugstore cowboy , a film whose primary characters are drug addicts . my own private idaho contains prostitution and shades of homosexuality , and was made during a time when one of the most deadly diseases in the world can be transmitted by sexual contact . for whatever reason , aids simply does not exist in this film , and the omission is so obvious that it must have been intentional .
van sant includes large chunks of shakespeare’s henry plays , as filtered through orson wells’ chimes at midnight , in my own private idaho . it certainly breaks the narrative flow to hear street hustlers speaking in a modernized version of blank verse , dropping in some direct quotes ( “i have heard the chimes at midnight” ) and re - enacting scenes straight out of the play / film . the fact that some of the young actors can’t quite handle their lines only adds to the disruptive quality of these sequences .
william richert was a writer and director who ' d made a night in the life of jimmy reardon , in which phoenix played the title character . for some reason , phoenix became fixated on the idea of richert playing bob pigeon in my own private idaho , even though richert was not an actor . richert was offended by the suggestion , telling phoenix ,
it ' s a big fat pederast . is this what you think of me ? is this what you think i should be playing ?
rewatching the film means even more to me as a bi man because of how it portrays sexuality , something that passed me by the first time . i started to notice so much more and i cried a lot . that’s okay though because this film means more to me than i can ever fully describe . we need more films with the sexual representation of my own private idaho so that other queer kids like me can figure out who they really are . it is truly a spectacular piece of work .
the film was part of a new wave of gay cinema , and it added to phoenix ' s burgeoning reputation as a sensitive , brooding actor , made all the more tragic by his sudden death two years later . it changed van sant ' s life , too , putting him on the path that would lead to high - profile hits like good will hunting . a quarter - century later , let ' s look back at the making of my own private idaho and see what dreamy treasures await us .
according to the u . s . census ( 2010 ) , the population of coeur d’alene is just over 44 , 000 , making it the seventh - largest city in idaho . boise city is idaho’s largest city with over 200 , 000 residents .
while van sant’s breakthrough feature , drugstore cowboy ( released in 1989 ) , did not feature any gay themes , his debut feature , mala noche ( released in 1988 ) , was revolutionary in that it depicted gay characters and relationships in an apolitical way . my own private idaho continued that trend ( as well as drugstore cowboy ‘s depiction of street culture , trading drug addicts for male hustlers ) and featured river phoenix as a gay male prostitute in portland who falls for his co - worker of sorts , keanu reeves .
here’s one thing i can say for sure after rewatching gus van sant’s my own private idaho , 16 years after it first hit the cinemas : it’s nothing like a conventional hollywood film . i saw it when it first came out , in 1991 , but somehow over the years my memory revised it to be an edgy story about two hustlers in the pacific northwest , with a wickedly funny sequence in which porn magazines come to life . that’s not an entirely wrong description , so much as it is incomplete : van sant does tell an edgy story about hustlers , and the porn magazine scene is pretty much as i remembered it , but what my memory erased about this film is how essentially disruptive it is , presenting anything but a conventional narrative in the usual hollywood sense .
i ' ve been tasting roads all my life . this road will never end . it probably goes all around the world .
when mike is in idaho he has a clear view of mt . hood . not only is the mountain too far away to see ( over 200 miles ) , there is another mountain range lying between idaho and mt . hood , blocking the view .
the music ( by bill stafford ) is also a jarring mix , incorporating cowboy ballads like eddy arnold’s “the cattle call” and bill stafford’s “home on the range” , and crooner rudy vallee’s “deep night” , alongside more contemporary songs like elton john’s “blue eyes” and madonna’s “cherish” . even the title cards are unconventional in my own private idaho : each is in a different , bright , solid color , behind plain white text , producing as jarring an jarring effect as if an avant - garde novel suddenly morphed into a children’s picture book .


the weather underground is a 2002 documentary film based on the rise and fall of the american radical organization the weathermen .

using much archive footage from the time as well as interviews with the weathermen today , the film constructs a linear narrative of the organization .

the film , directed by sam green and bill siegel won the audience choice award at the chicago underground film festival and went on to be nominated for an academy award in 2004 .

the weather underground ( film )

one of the top documentaries , this award - winning film interweaves extensive archival material with modern - day interviews to explore the incredible story of the weather underground .
their story is history they don ' t teach in school , which makes the weather underground all the more welcome .
the remarkable story of the weather underground , radical activists of the 1970s , and of radical politics at its best and most disastrous .
the weather underground leaves the viewer with many questions . to the filmmakers ' credit , most of them are the right and urgent ones to ask .
the weather underground explores the unbelievable story of the weathermen , the notorious group of 70 s radicals who , outraged by the vietnam war and racism in america , went underground to wage a low - level war against the u . s . government , bombing targets across the country that they felt symbolized the real violence .
a cinematic portrait of the homeless population who live permanently in the underground tunnels of new york city .
as an exploration of the weathermen in the context of other social movements of the time , the film also features rare footage and interviews with former sds members and the black panthers , further examining the u . s . government ' s suppression of dissent during the 1960s and 1970s . looking back at their years underground , former weather underground members paint a compelling portrait of troubled times , revolutionary times and the forces that drove their resistance home .
the tomatometer score — based on the opinions of hundreds of film and television critics — is a trusted measurement of critical recommendation for millions of fans . it represents the percentage of professional critic reviews that are positive for a given film or television show .
winner of the grand jury prize at the sundance film festival , troublesome creek : a midwestern was nominated for best documentary . . .
one crucial moment documented in this film is when sds , with 100 , 000 members an important force among american young people , was essentially hijacked at its 1969 national convention in chicago by the more radical weather faction .
if names such as bernadine dohrn , bill ayers , mark rudd , naomi jaffe and brian flanagan mean nothing to you , you ' ll definitely want to see the thought - provoking documentary , the weather underground .
oh and you might want to check into an fbi agent assigned to the weather underground case . he said , while bill ayers was dangerous , bernardine dohrn was bat s * * * crazy and scared the h out of him .
the ballad of narayama
is a japanese film of great beauty and elegant artifice , telling a story of startling cruelty . what a space it opens…
i ' m not taking a left - right position here , i just believe terrorism and tyranny can be committed by any side of the political spectrum . ultimately , this is terrorism . there ' s no qualms about that . whether you feel it is justified , as i presume you see the plo or weather underground as being , is completely up to your political and moral beliefs .
in 1970 , a group of young american radicals called the weathermen announced their intention to overthrow the u . s . government . fueled by outrage over the vietnam war and racism in america , they went underground later in the decade , bombing targets across the country that they felt symbolized the real violence that the government and capitalist power were wreaking throughout the world . this oscar - nominated documentary interweaves extensive archival material with modern - day interviews to explore the group ' s incredible story .
at the time of the 1994 rwandan genocide , the mufti of rwanda , the most respected muslim leader in the country , issued a fatwa for . . .
institutional piracy ,
todd gitlin called it ; one of the founders of sds and later the author of a landmark book about the student left , he watched in dismay as the weather faction advocated the violent overthrow of the u . s . government . their program of terrorist bombings , he said ,
was essentially mass murder .
when a innocent person was killed in one of its early bombings , the group however decided that was
a terrible error ,
and took care that nobody was injured in a long series of later bombings , including one at the capitol in washington , d . c . but a greenwich village townhouse used by the weathermen as a bomb factory was destroyed in an accidental explosion that killed three bombmakers .
the internet was first in the hand of the government only and then because of the realisation of what could be done with it , it ended up in the hands of us all . i am not sure how many people are on the net daily or weekly but it has to be in the billions . the anti government is spread all over the world , the only thing they could do to really stop it is to unplug at the source . that is the real threat . az
a rare behind - the - curtain look at the earth liberation front , the radical environmental group that the fbi calls america ' s ' number one domestic terrorist threat . '
in the segment about the accidental explosion of the greenwich village townhouse at 18 west 11th street , dustin hoffman can be seen standing next to a fire truck observing the scene . he was living in the townhouse next door with his wife at the time , anne byrne .
bob dylan music “video” for “subterranean homesick blues , ” the song that inspired the weathermen’s name .
spinning plates is the story of three extraordinary restaurants and the incredible people who make them what they are . the first is a . . .
narrated by walter cronkite , this 2008 documentary is a behind - the - scenes look at the lasting impact of the 1940 documentary . . .
great documentary , the moral of the story is never compromise morality for the sake of radical change , do what you can and the wrongs will be rewritten , the human spirit will never be conquered , it hasn ' t in the history all of civilization . great new ideas will always make primitive ones obsolete , don ' t overthrow the government overgrow the government , and keep hope alive .
basically the story of a man forced to finally see the injustice around him . riley’s movie is designed to do the same thing to you . …
i agree , if you think you are right and the rest are wrong the warning bells should go off . normally the truth of the matter is 50 / 50 from both sides view , sides are so far apart neither can see the correct answer .
life has many ways to bite people ' s as $ , it can come at you from any angles in a variety of ways . some fear the dark , the woods , the streets , the abroad or the internet . i like to take chance . az
@ john , i really like your post . i just want to add that i don ' t think that the people in the rest of the world hate you , those who do should know that the people in the us are no different than anywhere else in the world . my personal view is that it is very unfortunate that the global power of your country is basically in the hands of uninformed ( and misinformed ) , mainly untravelled voters who are primarily concerned with internal issues in the us . that makes them not too much different from voters in many countries of the world however . the problem is that such lack of understanding of global issues by the common people , paired with aggravation of the economic situation in the us , allows the power elite of your country to ( mis ) use its military power for the gain of essentially a few . but the same would have happened if any other country of the world gained global dominance . people like you , and many others who post here from the states , show to all of us that the bad politics of the us are denounced by many of its citizens .
the us government has access to the net as every government in the world has access to the net . i have gone around quite a bit , it has gotten possible to access the internet anywhere , with satellite internet . even badass guerillas are a click away . az
i ' m 62 years old . i was in high school in the 60 ' s . i saw many things , but i never even heard of these people ! good job hiding the truth msm !
power to
we the people .
what happened in nam was wrong , and every single act of terrorism committed by tptb , is also wrong ! and yet ,
we the people
have done little - to nothing about it . where , oh where , are the balls of the american people ? we ' ve murdered millions of civilians all over the world ; and continue to do so ! however ,
violence begets violence .
and it is wrong as well ! ps by
never heard of
i ' m referring to the
underground . . . . society
democratic society ? these so - called
college students
don ' t seem to know , this country was designed to be republic ! not a democracy . our founders stated , that a
democracy
is the worst form of government !
thanks john and it ' s rare that someone has actually seen that brothel , israel from the inside through outsider ' s eyes . but soviet union did ' win the war ' as stalin was handed over what hitler softened up ; half of europe to carry on gulaging regardless . american grain and produce kept the bolshevick soviets in power and all the money funnelled into the eugenics and aerodynamics funded through hitler ' s regime became the property of us and uk military . once the mission of destroying christianity , morality and family in the east , the wall came down and the floodgates opened as east morphs with west which was under fabian socialist communism on the left and fascist elitism on the right .
humanity will make it , but the whole system will need to change , and it will . change will come when they realize the system is broken or the broken break the system . time has infinite endings but some are inevitable .
i see dohrn at the conference on world affairs at the university of colorado , where she is as angry about the unnecessary criminalization of poor ( often non - white ) american young people as she was then about the war . she has , you must observe , the courage of her convictions .
the weathermen orchestrated a string of bombings , called for the
days of rage
in chicago , were in a vanguard of a more widespread anti - war movement that saw national guard troops on the campuses , the pentagon under siege by protesters including hippies who vowed to levitate it , and the infamous chicago 7 trial . whether the protest movement hastened the end of the vietnam war is hard to say , but it is likely that lyndon johnson ' s decision not to run for re - election was influenced by the climate it helped to create .
i was repsonding to this post , you were implying the internet could be the awnser to a revolution in our generation , i was simply pointing out the internet works both ways and if you were ever suspected of wanting to overthrow the government they could easily see what you had written online in the past .
ironically , many charges against the weathermen had to be dropped because the fbi had violated the law with its
cointelpro ,
a secret agency to discredit the left . after the war ended and the weatherman movement faded away , dohrn and ayers lived in hiding for several years with their children - - an existence some say inspired the 1988 movie
running on empty .
eventually they turned themselves in , and today are leading productive , unrepentant lives .
in a candid and unflinching portrait of palestinian prisoners , shimon dotan takes viewers inside the hot house , the highest security . . .
a powerful , emotional and relevant reminder of the heartbreaking toll war takes on the innocent , this award - winning documentary tells . . .
sorry if i came acrross agressive . i just don ' t see how the communication on the net can be stopped at this point . az
the purpose of ww1 and ww11 was to ' unite ' europe into one superstate whilst settling palestine as the israeli ' promised land ' . which , incidently was first ' thought ' to be south africa ! nice climate but a poor geopolitical location . even though balfour the jew unlawfully designated the land it was on the tacit understanding that the residents be treated with all due consideration and respect and that no action should be taken to harm or disposses the palestinian people . st david ' s hotel put paid to any protection the british may have afforded those sold and betrayed .
out in the silence follows the story of a small american town confronting a firestorm of controversy ignited by a same - sex wedding . . .
the oscar - winning desert victory explores the allied forces campaign during world war ii to drive germany and italy from north africa , . . .
as former members reflect candidly about the idealistic passion that drove them to bring the war home , they paint a compelling portrait of troubled and revolutionary times , with unexpected and often striking connections to the current world situation .
directors sam green and bill siegel expertly limn the forces that gave rise to weatherman and clearly sympathize with the group ' s motivations . at the same time , they don ' t stint on weatherman ' s follies .
all empires have been built on the blood of slavery by pyrates invading and claiming the land on behalf of thier elders and peers and as city of london , washington dc , vatican city , tel aviv , hong kong and dubai are infested by the same ilk , our attention should be rightly focussed on where the sources of the problems lie , closer to home .
our founding fathers noted that a straight democracy is a form of tyranny , as the majority becomes abusive of the rights of the minority . that is the reason that the us never was a straight democracy . we elect leaders who represent our interests , but they do so of their best judgement , such as it is . a republic has core principles that the majority is not allowed to overrule . a democracy does not inherently have such safeguards .
another fabulous documentary featuring one of the more radical elements of the ' 60s protest movement ( at least for white america ) . this is cat and mouse game between the authorities and those driven to change society in desparate ways .
i mean , millions upon millions have died in the name of creating classless society where the
oppressors
of old are basically replaced oppressors of new . thousands have died in the name of liberation or socialist terror movements as well .
spellbound follows eight teenagers on their quest to win the 1999 national spelling bee .
save my name and email in this browser for the next time i comment .
is it possible for an artist to break ? following on - the - verge artist will gray through the recording of his debut album ( feat . . .
documentary about war photographer james nachtwey , considered by many the greatest war photographer ever .
a tribute to the late tab hunter , a gay matinee idol and hollywood trailblazer .
um . . . republic is a government without a monarchy . democracy is the political system . they are not mutually exclusive . you can ' t have a republic with a king . or a democratic dictatorship . republic is the form , democracy the process .
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walter44 defending the judaic satanic crime syndicate operating out of israel and the city of london . interesting times we live in right now , they ' re exposed for what they are , pedophile supremacists who have an insatiable lust for blood and love to us the west for their proxy wars . ahhh but their days are numbered , we are in the end times .
' humanity will make it ' where ? our species , just like the majority of species to ever inhabit the planet , will certainly not ' make it ' we are destined for extinction and seem intent on speeding that process up ourselves . the planet will make it .
an interview with terry gilliam , director of
the man who killed don quixote .
i hope not all the people on this site are pseudo intellectual types , seems that people just seem to try and get the upper hand even when comments are neutral and not agressive .
thanks for making this one available . very important for the younger generation to take lessons , knowledge & wisdom from the past albeit not too distant . what a time it was . . .
whose side the documentarians are on is never clear - - in a muddy rather than an ambiguous way . did anyone die from the weathermen ' s bombings ? we don ' t find out here .
a must - see for anyone interested in one of the most turbulent periods in recent american history .
its ok , and you were right , the government will never need to monitor all the likes or comments on the web and it would be impossible for them to do so . however , just imagine if stalins government had access to the web , it would be a living nightmare . i am not trying to say our current rulers are stalinesk but in the near future they may well be , and in that scenario anybody who is deemed anti government could easily have their previous intenret history used against them .
i find it that history repeats its self > : d the cycle of times of peace and war .
two individuals , jeff and kelly , claim to be in love with the 80 ' s pop singer tiffany .
the most dangerous man in america
is the story of what happens when a former pentagon insider , armed only with his conscience , steadfast determination , and a file cabinet full of . . . see full summary »
an eye - opening look at idealism taken to extremes during one of the most turbulent periods of american history .
informative , disturbing documentary about a time of great upheaval in the usa , and a group of misguided people who chose the wrong direction to try and make a difference . just one question why aren ' t these people in jail ?
the internet like most things can be used for both good or evil , its true we can now voice our opinions about politics and our stance on current affairs , but it is also true that our opinions and political stance can easily be found out . and im sure your aware that the people in power have very different agendas than you do . i ' d be carefull about what you post on the internet , it may just bite you in the ass one day .
from a moral viewpoint i do think that in some cases violence is justified . when you are fighting a violent institutions that have such undemocratic chokeholds on society that peaceful solutions simply won ' t work , the people in power leave no other options . but this applies only in extreme cases . and that is exactly the problem . when you live in a bubble of such stronghearted activists you lose your sense of selfevaluation . i wouldn ' t use violence as a mean to create a better world , simply because it is not effective . the cruelty that is required for militant action will stick on you , so even if you succeed to overthrow the people in power , you will not get new leaders that will bring the peaceful world . i think that many of the cruel revolutionaries started off as genuine goodwilled people who turned bad because of all the violence that came with their struggle .
a documentary on perception of the united states ' s war with iraq , with an emphasis on al jazeera ' s coverage .
they had a lot of revolutionary ideas , people , reasons but they didn ' t have the internet . we do . az
the future will never arrive because it is an illusion . we exist as awareness bound in continual change ( death & rebirth seen in nature ) in the ever - present now . a thing not nearly so static as might at first appear as this instant can never be grasped before it moves onto the next instant . this ever - present instant , in which each point of consciousness is the center of it ' s own universe is all there is . explore what it is . . . ( ' it is not as it appears , nor is it otherwise ' ) after - all , where does the universe reside ? out there ? or in here ?
i don ' t know your whole conversation , but of course there is such thing as leftist tyranny . if leftists believe equality and social justice is the prime goal for society and politics , the more extreme your tactics to get there could easily lead you to tyranny .
the ebert club is our hand - picked selection of content for ebert fans . you will receive a weekly newsletter full of movie - related tidbits , articles , trailers , even the occasional streamable movie . club members also get access to our members - only section on urltoken
they had a lot of revolutionary ideas , people , reasons but they didn ' t have the internet . we do . az
alive inside is a joyous cinematic exploration of music ' s capability to reawaken our souls and uncover the deepest parts of our . . .
excellent documentary lifting the lid on another hidden part of our history . it ' s easy to tell when a thought - provoking doc lands because all the trolls come out : ) if israel is so democratic , how come they build a wall to exclude all those who they disagree with ? bit like the roman empire and hadrian ' s wall - that ' s not democracy but aparteid like in former south africa .
in the united states , more than 2500 individuals are serving life - without - parole sentences for crimes they committed when they were . . .
you know how many
press enter
a second are happening on the internet at once . who ' s going to keep a tab on that ? of course if
the law
wants to check on a certain person , the law can search on a computer ' s past actions . they have done that for child pornography for exemple but those who are caught are such a minimum compare to those who abuse . in a way i see it as a way of creating fear in people . i have written many opinions about pot growing , should that make me fear the cops at my door ? to some it would . but why would they lose their time with little me when guys like julian assange and his many followers are busy riduculing the law and the government and they get away with it . if anything they want you to fear . are you a funny one ? az
from pitched battles with police on chicago ' s city streets , to bombing the u . s . capitol building , to breaking acid - guru timothy leary out of prison , this carefully organized clandestine network attempted to incite a national revolution , while successfully evading one of the largest fbi manhunts in history .
in the sixties , i thought the future would never arrive . over forty years later and i ' m still waiting . inevitable . . . not from my experience . its wait till tomorrow until there are no tomorrows left . then my kids and grandkids can take over waiting for this inevitable future .
very very few ashkenazi or sephardic jews live in the middle east , far preffering the fat innards of their host countries but then , they belong nowhere on earth , as israel is an ideology , a religion of world conquest and domination over nature and ' goy ' . it would be in error to think that , should the location of israel come under attack , the problem of ' israel ' will have been solved as many would like to believe . your analogy of texas being invaded by ashkenazi israeli ' s is accurate and already a fait accompli ' - that ' s exactly how it works .
this documentary follows the 2002 mayoral campaign in newark , new jersey in which a city councilman , cory booker , attempted to unseat longtime mayor sharpe james .
powerful . informative . inspirational . and the ' right ' wants to destroy these people and all who agree or even wonder about who they really are .
imagine discovering that you don ' t own the mineral rights under your land , and that an energy company plans to drill for natural gas . . .
a refreshingly original fairytale , randa chahal sabbag ' s the kite follows sixteen - year - old lamia - who must cross a border checkpoint . . .
they
is anyone group who tried to reverse the flow of power and bring equality ,
we
is anyone group who will try in the future or is trying as we write . as for me , my battle has been an everyday
eyes in eyes , hands in hands
kind of thing . az
daily box office ( sun . ) | weekend box office ( jul . 6–8 ) | # 1 movie : ' ant - man and the wasp ' | showtimes
ultimately , this movement not only failed but probably helped nixon get elected . question : dohrn and rudd now are alive and well and out of jail . in what other countries would anyone who engaged in violent overthrow of the government still be alive . answer . western style democracies and certainly not any of the leftist tyrannies these people took as a model . and certainly not the islamofascist palestinian cause that some of these lemmings agitate in favor of today . incidentally , israel is a western style democracy
roger ebert ' s speech on empathy for the
11th hour
series on april 9th , 1994 , being republished here in honor of his birthday june 18 .
wrong
how ? all i said is that the potential for tyranny and radicalism exists within any ideology , even if you personally believe that ideology has supremely good intentions .
i really enjoyed this documentary . i think their ideas were good , but their method to carry them out was wrong . ways change , but the struggle still goes on ! ! !
excellent doc , this sheds light on a fascinating time in american and in a way , world history . it was a point when youth across the world felt revolution was really possible . . . and to see what these kids , who are basically my age , were thinking when they decided to become urban guerillas and attack symbols of the united states , is really eye opening . in 2011 , one could not feel that there was some major precedent in 1965 - 1973 when protests and riots seemed to happen everywhere , inspired by uprisings in the arab world .
to those of you who agreed with these people just because you watched their version of things , you ' re the kinds of people hitler would have loved because you would never bother to verify anything you were told .
the purpose of ww1 and ww11 was to ' unite ' europe into one superstate . . . . . . . . . . . . where did you go to school . . . afghanistan . . . unite europe . . ? ww1 if you know any thing was started for no apparent reason other then cousins in a pissing contest . . . find the doc on ww1 . . . in this top doc website . . . ww2 . . . . . the allies joined to unite . . who . ? england , france . . . boy can you please send me what you smoke . . ? read what i left for you kindergarten drop outs . . . again lord balfour was not a jew go to wiki . . . . they always state if the person is jewish . . . . . . . . . . and jesus was a jew is incorrect . . . he is still a jew . . . . . . . . . . . . he never denounced being jewish . . . . . he denounced some practices of the powers that were . . .
for starters , most of you probably don ' t even know that jane fonda visited a north vietnamese prison camp for american prisoners , and betrayed a bunch of them to the camp commander so they were tortured and / or executed .
: once richard nixon was elected president and inaugurated in january 1969 , we were targeted , bam , bam , bam , by a very sophisticated , advanced , counterintelligence program ; at the same time , by very crude and violent police .
argue with you ? stalin , mao , weren ' t mass murdering tyrants ? israeli arabs aren ' t granted full citizenship unlike the so called palestinians who are second class citizens in all arab countries . what ' s there to argue ? one must argue with facts and you have none goodbye
leftist tyrannies
? ? ? - - an oxym * ron walter . no such thing as a
leftist
tyranny .
an oxym * ron only to a m * ron . let ' s list a few leftist tyrannies : stalin ' s russia , mao ' s china , nicolae ceau ? escu ' s romania , pol pot ' s cambodia , ulrich ' s east germany , enver hoxha ' a albania to name a few . as for your comments on israel , well they lack any facts . i won ' t waste too much time teaching you things you should know before you jabber nonsense . i ' ve been to israel several times . guess what . the arabs in israel are granted full citizenship . they even have representatives in the knesset who were voted in . arabs are full citizens in israel while the so called palestinians you babble about were confined to refugee camps and treated as second class citizens in all arab countries . these so called palestinians have engaged in serial mass murder in terrorists attacks . i suggest you learn your facts instead of being a knee jerk leftist .
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lakeith stanfield and his sorry to bother you crew reveal their most soul - crushing jobs in our freewheeling interview .
director nathaniel kahn searches to understand his father , noted architect louis kahn , who died bankrupt and alone in 1974 .
never before seen super 8 home movies filmed by richard nixon ' s closest aides - and convicted watergate conspirators - offer a surprising and intimate new look into his presidency .
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enjoy a night in with these popular movies available to stream now with prime video .
lol . i love arguing with people like you . al i have to do is state my case , and then watch you prove me right with your mindless , reckless , unrestrained hate and venom .
definitely a top doc . loved this . so glad they did what they did without killing anyone other than a few of their own . have a feeling that was more luck than judgement though . i guess if your going to start a revolution you might as well do it in style . if your going to be a bear , be a grizzly : )
hi az , who is we , and what exactly do you stand for . i ' m not being a smart a $ $ i ' m just trying to find a level for your way of thinking .
not much has changed in almost 100 . 000 years ( estimated time of humans existing . )
i doubt anything will change it least for another 1 . 000 years or more . but that shouldn ' t stop us from trying > : d
mr . kanamori , a teacher of a 4th grade class , teaches his . . .
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um olhar interessante sobre um período conturbado e incrivelmente rico no cenário da militância política entre os jovens norte - americanos : a década de 70 .
proves to those few of us who try to see both sides of an argument that evil is a mere perception .
a compelling documentary that makes effective use of contemporary interviews , news - show clips , grainy 8mm footage and narration .
roger ebert was born on this day in 1942 , and died a little over five years ago . i owe a good part of my success…
a look back at robert zemeckis ' half - animated classic , who framed roger rabbit , on its 30 - year anniversary .
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beatrice dalle and jean - hugues anglade star in this shocking and offbeat story of lovers whose all - consuming relationship descends . . .
starring golden globe nominee david oyelowo ( selma ) this searing british drama follows one man ' s painful journey towards self . . .