TV and Film
When a Woman Runs for President — in Afghanistan
I’ve just finished watching FrontRunner, the new documentary from New View Films about Massouda Jalal, the only female candidate in Afghanistan’s 2004 elections. It’s hard, of course, to think about a woman running for president without immediately making comparisons to the current presidential race in the U.S. - it’s like a cartoon that needs a [...]
9Apr2008 | Andrea Useem | 3 comments | ContinuedGod as a Bearded Zucchini: Phil Vischer on the New Veggie Tales Movie
Last week, ReligionWriter reviewed the new Veggie Tales movie, The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything, which is out in theaters today, Jan. 11, and shared her conversation with Phil Vischer, co-creator of Veggie Tales.
Today that conversation, originally held in September in San Antonio, continues. (And RW wishes she had prepared this as a podcast, because [...]
What Makes a Movie “Christian?” Q+A on new Veggie Tales movie
There are no shortage of excellent kids movies these days — ReligionWriter rang in the new year watching Ratatouille and eating popcorn with her three young boys, for example — but this Friday, January 11, brings another kid’s option to the big screen: The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything: A Veggie Tales Movie.
What does [...]
World Peace Through Sit-Coms: Can Culture Succeed Where “Kinetic Solutions” Fail?
Just as megachurch pastor Rick Warren argues that churches can succeed where governments fail when it comes to humanitarian work, particularly in Africa, so some policy thinkers have begun to believe that culture can succeed where the current administration cannot when it comes to bridging the Islam vs. the West divide.
This win-through-culture approach resulted in [...]
CNN’s “God’s Warriors:” Good Watching, But the Book Is Better
When ReligionWriter’s husband first saw a press copy of CNN’s new six-hour documentary, “God’s Warriors,” lying around the house, he said he looked forward to learning about famous heroes and soldiers in the Jewish, Muslim and Christian traditions.
He was disappointed, then, when the first segment, “God’s Jewish Warriors,” which will air next Tuesday, Aug. 21, [...]
Women’s Issues Make Zaid Shakir Look Away
When interviewed tonight on Bill Moyers’ Journal, Imam Zaid Shakir appeared relaxed, looking straight at Mr. Moyers with his light brown eyes. But when the subject turned to the question of the divine mandate for wife-beating, Imam Shakir appeared flustered.
Moyers read to Shakir a translation of the Koranic verse 4:34, which, in the Yusuf Ali [...]
TV Review: PBS’s “The Muslim Americans” Disappoints
Photo: Muslim American teens Farah and Sarah Albani, interviewed by Judy Woodruff for the PBS documentary, “The Muslim Americans.” (Photo from the PBS website)
As part of its 11-part documentary series on the post-9/11 world, “America at a Crossroads,†PBS last night broadcast “The Muslim Americans,†a one-hour segment that was panned by the New York [...]