Movie Purge: January

Brother’s Keeper centers on the Ward brothers, illiterate dairy farmers living together in a shack in upstate New York, and the trial of Roscoe Ward, who’s been accused of the mercy killing of one of his ill brothers. The pace of the movie gets bogged down at times, but otherwise it’s an intriguing doc. C+

Two Days In April follows four college football players, each at a different level of stardom, as they prepare for the NFL draft. I thought it was interesting to see not only the physical aspect of readying themselves for pro football, but also the mental preparation and training that’s required of them by their agents.  The best and most gut-wrenching part of the movie is on draft day, as the cameras roll while these prospects count down to either the realization or the shattering of a dream that they've been playing for their whole lives.  Some dreams come true; others remain just that. A-

Forgiving Dr. Mengele is a film about unfathomable forgiveness.  Josef Mengele was a Nazi scientist who conducted inhumane experiments on identical twins at Auschwitz during World War II.  Eva Kor is a surviving 'Mengele twin' who has publicly forgiven Mengele and the Nazis, and the film documents her life and her quest to understand her history and navigate both emotion and circumstance. A

The Atomic Cafe chronicles Cold War hysteria from the atomic age of the 1940's through the 60's.  The film consists entirely of government propaganda film clips, newsreel footage, and military training films.  It's comical now to see how dismissive of atomic warfare the government wanted to appear. The format grows a bit tiresome, so I'll caution that this is for history buffs only.  B-

A Certain Kind Of Death investigates what happens when someone dies and leaves no next of kin.  This documentary may sound morbid, and there are a few graphic scenes, but it really approaches the subject matter of death from a business-like standpoint. What happens to someone who has no one when they die? Who sees to the final affairs? It was darkly fascinating to find out.  A