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Twin Town High (vol. 8) |
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Films About Town: Musical and environmental flicks
Friday 15 September @ 03:11:39 |
 by ED FELIEN
Unless they extend the run, Wednesday and Thursday are the last two days to catch “Isn’t This A Time, a tribute to Harold Leventhal.” This is not just a film of a concert (although a film of Arlo Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Peter, Paul and Mary and The Weavers in concert should be enough to start anyone’s engine), but also a commemorative celebration of a profound victory over stupidity and fascism.
In the 1950s Pete Seeger was called before Congress. They were investigating Communist Party influence in the entertainment industry, which meant supporting international peace, civil rights and workers’ rights. At that time The Weavers (of which Pete was part) had a number one hit on the jukebox, “Goodnight Irene.” Just being called before Congress meant being put on a blacklist (ask Harry Belafonte). Even with a No. 1 hit, their record company dropped them. Stores refused to sell their records. Radio stations stopped playing them, and clubs wouldn’t book them. Then, Harold Leventhal told them he wanted them to play Carnegie Hall for Thanksgiving in 1955. He put up his money and booked the hall. He broke the blacklist, and American cultural life and the left was back on the road to recovery.
 In
2003 they had another Carnegie Hall reunion, this time to thank Harold Leventhal
for his uncommon courage and faith. Jim Brown’s film takes us back and
forth from the present to the past and shows us it’s the same struggle,
and, even when it’s the same players, it’s the same fire 50 years
later. It’s playing at St. Anthony Main Theater, 115 Main St SE, Mpls.
612-331-4723. Call for times.
This Thursday at 7 p.m. the Science and Culture film series at the Bell Museum
continues with more bad news. We’re losing Tuvalu. Tuvalu is a little
island close to Australia that is rather rapidly going under water. Al Gore
in his film/slide presentation says we’re going to lose Florida up to
the panhandle, but already in Tuvalu sea water is creeping up the shore and
flooding the lowlands.
The mountains of plastic garbage and the rusted relics of World War II-era armored
vehicles suggest Tuvalu was a victim of Western excesses even before global
warming. At moments in the film you wonder if the little island will be drowned
first in plastic before being swallowed by the sea. There is a disarming informality
in this South Sea island. The former president is interviewed in his very modest
home and small grandchildren are running around his chair. He is very sweet
and mild mannered, but he is deadly serious when he says the U. S. should pay
reparations for destroying Tuvalu. The total Gross National Product of Tuvalu
is only $11 million. It is a poor and underdeveloped country, and it may be
enjoying its final moments.
Next week on Thursday, the series continues with the “The End of Suburbia.”
This film asks how long we can continue to commute with the loss of fossil fuels.
Discussion after the film will center on the potential impact of peak oil in
Minnesota and alternatives to urban sprawl. The following Thursday, Sept. 28,
at 7 pm the film “Kilowatt Ours” will show how one family tries
to end their dependence on coal and nuclear power. These films and these discussions
are the best hope we have for solutions to take us beyond the abyss. ||
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