OK, so let me float this one by you. Most people can\’t contend with provisional thinking, so if you\’re one of those people, please don\’t read further.
Israel and the United States each have successes and failures in their respective health care systems, but the younger of the modern nations, rooted in its tradition of helping the needy, has much to teach its American ally.
Critics say Los Angeles is all image. The city, they claim, presents an illusion to the world much like the movies Hollywood projects on its big screens. The myth goes that it\’s a city of facades, with the favored tools are the editor\’s airbrush or the plastic surgeon\’s scalpel. There are no friendships here, only contacts and connections, they say.
Von Trotta, one of Europe\’s preeminent filmmakers with a special gift for portraying strong women, has previously chronicled the story of 20th century Germany in such films as \”Rosa Luxemburg\” and \”The Pledge.\” It took her some 10 years to complete the cycle by documenting her country\’s \”darkest period\” in \”Rosenstrasse.\”\n\nWhile staying true to the basic facts, she has dramatized the story by telling it largely through the eyes of a young American Jewish woman, Hannah Weinstein (Maria Schrader).
At the Humanitas Prize awards luncheon in Universal City earlier this summer, Jacob Aaron Estes picked up a $10,000 cash prize honoring the screenplay for his Paramount Classics film, \”Mean Creek,\” which opens this weekend.
When asked what he would do with the money, the Chicago-bred writer/director told The Journal, \”Pay rent.\”
The \”Mean Creek\” script depicts what happens when a teenage prank goes horribly wrong on a rafting trip. Such unexpected cruelty, Estes said, is based on \”a whole accumulation of childhood experiences that I borrowed from.\”
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