CulturePopular Culture

A Long-Loved Love

| 3 min read

Sometimes there are tender tears. On my flight across America a few days ago, I watched the film, “Coming Home,” born of the genius of Zhang Yimou, the celebrated director whose work over the last generation has changed the nature of Chinese cinema. One more time he has told a tale about being human amidst...

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CulturePopular Culture

The Wound of Knowledge

| 3 min read

“Never say that a soldier does not know the cost of war.” As the story comes to its sober conclusion, this is the response of the British army officer to the cabinet secretary who is bitterly critical of the decision-making at the heart of the film, “Eye in the Sky.” Protesting loudly, she is sure...

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CulturePopular Culture

The Way History Happens

| 4 min read

“What’s the good of a street that doesn’t lead to a church?” As the 1980s became the 1990s, and the world was watching the Soviet Union implode, its first indication that something was changing was what they themselves called “glasnost.” Russian for “openness,” it was the Soviet policy of open discussion of political and social...

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