■ Dirty Wars: The World is a Battlefield
When The Nation’s Jeremy Scahill began investigating civilian deaths in an off-the-books U.S. night raid in Afghanistan, the thread of clues led to a startling conclusion. A secretive military force reporting directly to the White House, the Joint Special Operations Command, has been conducting an ever-widening covert campaign across the world with no regard to the rules of war and less for the long-range implications of a War on Terror without end.
■ In the House
A sophisticated comedy of the sort best done in France, François Ozon’s In the House concerns a precocious Lycée student whose literature teacher becomes fascinated with, complicit in and the subject of his ongoing class-assignment narrative. Along the way, Ozon gently spoofs contemporary mumbo-jumbo in education and the arts and ponders the intersection of reality and representation. In the House stars Fabrice Luchini and Kristin Scott Thomas in a droll satire that turns unsettling as fantasy overtakes everyone’s life.
■ Wings of a Warrior: The Jimmy Doolittle Story
Jimmy Doolittle is best known for leading a suicide air attack on Tokyo in response to Pearl Harbor. The Wings of a Warrior documentary shows the daredevil flyer setting aviation benchmarks before his 1942 raid. He was the first pilot to land a plane “blind” with instruments only. Later in World War II, he lead the bombing campaign that helped defeat Nazi Germany. Recalling his one-way flight over Tokyo, Doolittle declared it was just “routine.”
