The vitality of our twenty-first century democracy, which is not at all guaranteed, depends on this sincere commitment to understand the historical and cultural forces that have shaped and continue to shape our world. If we close ourselves to such investigation, surely the rapidity of global change will leave us in the dust . . . or perhaps even cast us into “the dustbin of history,” to quote two leaders of the previous century—Leon Trotsky in 1917 and President Ronald Reagan in 1982.
The three selections for 2013’s Film for Thought series explore how people who are quite literally extraordinary navigate some profoundly longstanding and entrenched religious, political, legal, and cultural values, and in the process, force them to respond, and sometimes even change.
All three of the filmmakers ask the same questions. How did their subjects end up in these totally unexpected, yet highly visible places? And what allowed them to survive, and even thrive, in such antagonistic, frequently openly hostile settings?
You’ll find the answers these three films provide nuanced, thought-provoking, and inspiring.
Click HERE to read the essays.
FILMS FEATURED IN 2013
AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY: THE EVOLUTION OF GRACE LEE BOGGS
KORAN BY HEART
THE LOVING SOCIETY