Daniel
E.L. Doctorow adapted Daniel from his novel, The Book of Daniel, which reimagined the Julius and Ethel Rosenberg case as fiction. Directed by Sidney Lumet, the film delves into the New York City Jewish Communist subculture of the 1940s and ’50s as the net of McCarthyism tightened. Nowadays one might ask: “Did Communists really speak to each other in private like soapbox orators?” The emotional damage on the children of the accused atomic spies is riveting.
Hackers: 20th Anniversary Edition
Cyberpunk was in the air in 1995 when young unknowns Angelina Jolie and Jonny Lee Miller made Hackers. Drawing on Hollywood juvenile delinquent tropes and pretending to be down with the kids, Hackers was part of the cultural moment that inspired a greater film, The Matrix. Like it, Hackers featured a hacker protagonist in shades battling sinister online intrigue in a color-coded world set to throbbing techno rhythms. The anniversary edition includes interviews and a documentary.
“Last Days of the Nazis”
This History Channel series, out on a two-DVD set, examines the depositions made by several Nazis after World War II and asks the question: What were they thinking? With 8 million surviving Nazis at the time of Germany’s surrender, the Allies were eagerly interviewing their captives for clues. What they found were psychopaths and sadists, careerists, rebels and true believers. Some Nazis were unrepentant. Others were rueful; many were disingenuous. Dramatizations are mixed with archival footage.
