Beanpole Kantemir Balagov Non-Stop Production, 2019 Opening at the Film Forum in New York City Beanpole is a Russian film set in Leningrad just after the Second World War has ended. In addition to the shattered buildings left behind in the 900-day siege, there are also shattered human beings who
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Canadian Dimension: Marx at the Movies
The Young Karl Marx Raoul Peck Diaphana Films, 2017 Raoul Peck’s The Young Karl Marx opened on Friday, February 23 at the Metrograph in N.Y. and the Laemmle Royal in L.A. It is the story of how the youthful Marx and Engels became fast friends and worked together as a
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Flint’s poisoned water and capital’s second contradiction
Flint River, circa 1979 • Photo by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
In recent days Flint, Michigan has been in the news because the city’s water has not only become undrinkable but also hazardous for use in bath…
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Naomi Klein, Jodi Dean and ‘Green Keynesianism’
Naomi Klein • Photo by Ben Powless Leftist critics of Naomi Klein’s This Changes Everything need to answer a question she posed: ‘History is knocking at your door: will you answer?’ Despite its obvious intention to challenge the corporate-dominated status quo, some Marxists fault Naomi Klein’s This Changes Everything for
Continue readingCanadian Dimension | Articles: Informant
In early 2009 the anarchist movement in Austin was shocked to learn that Brandon Darby was an FBI informant who had helped entrap David McKay and Bradley Crowder, two young activists from Midland, Texas, into constructing 8 Molotov cocktails. In mid-2012 it was the Marxist movement’s turn to be traumatized.
Continue readingCanadian Dimension Feed: The myth of Vladimir Putin’s progressivism
For that segment of the left that thinks more in terms of hegemonic blocs and geopolitical chess games between imperialism and “anti-imperialist” states than classes, Putin is something of an exemplar. Immanuel Wallerstein, perhaps its most respected and principled representative, made the case for Putin in a July 15, 2007
Continue readingCanadian Dimension Feed: We are Legion
Like its name, and unlike Wikileaks that is known mostly through its founder Julian Assange, the hactivist group Anonymous is not easily tied to any particular individual. Operating in semi-clandestine conditions, its members have only made public appearances behind the famous V for Vendetta Guy Fawkes masks. Opening last Friday
Continue readingCanadian Dimension Feed: The Forgotten Space
Directed by Allan Sekula and Noël Burch, The Forgotten Space, is a probing examination of modern-day transportation systems like container ships that make global trade possible—their impact on workers, the environment, and more subtly the quality of life for city-dwellers living under its influence. When the Communist Manifesto first appeared
Continue readingCanadian Dimension Feed: Lula: Son of Brazil
In the press notes for “Lula: Son of Brazil,” screenwriter Denise Paraná, upon whose biography (originally a PhD dissertation) the script is based, advises: “This is not a political film but a human story about overcoming great odds.” Just so everybody gets the picture, director Fabio Barreto replies as follows
Continue readingCanadian Dimension Feed: The Company Men
I shied away from “The Company Men” in 2010 because it sounded too much like “Up in the Air,” the repellent George Clooney vehicle about corporate downsizing. Both films were far more concerned about the unemployed executive than the average factory worker, but clearly we are in a different period
Continue readingCanadian Dimension Feed: Random notes on television comedy
August 11, 2011
On July 29, an article titled “Curb Your Racism” appeared on the widely read Mondoweiss, a blog devoted to “the war of ideas in the Middle East”. Written by Eleanor Kilroy, it expressed dismay at the most rec…
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