The Devil came on Horseback

Monitoring a ceasefire was always going to be a tough job but ex-marine Brian Steidle had no idea he was about to witness such a thing as modern genocide. The Devil came on Horseback is an amazing documentary, not one I say is ‘good’ particularly due to its topic but amazing nonetheless. It tells the story [...]

Hey Bashir, shall we Waltz?

Waltz with Bashir is both an incredible screen animation and graphic novel depicting Ari Folman’s quest to rediscover his lost memories from the massacre of Palestinians in Beirut during 1982.
One night at a bar, an old friend tells director Ari about a recurring nightmare in which he is chased by 26 vicious dogs. Every night, [...]

Slumdog Millionaire

Now really is it worth all the fuss? Ten Oscar nominations? Four Golden Globes? The ‘best ensemble cast’ at the SAG awards? Probably. It’s a good film. It’s difficult not to be drawn in by the romance of the film or the beautiful cinematography, yet categorising a film depicting extreme poverty, religious riots, death, modern [...]

The Buddha Collapsed out of Shame

Baktay, die and you will be free!

The Buddha Collapsed out of Shame is a beautifully shot film by the younger Makhmalbaf film-maker, Hana. It tells the story of a young Afghan girl wanting to learn how to read and the struggle she undertakes to purchase a notebook by selling eggs. On her way to school she [...]

Persepolis Please

I’ve waited so long to be able to write this… Last night I went to see Persepolis. Its film premiere took place at London’s BFI cinema complex, which is about 200 miles from home. A long way to travel just to go the cinema hey? And we were half an hour late. No matter, the hour [...]