By Anne Brodie
Directed by Edivan Guajajara, co-founder of Mídia Indígena, Brazil’s leading Indigenous-led journalism collective and environmental filmmakers Chelsea Greene and Rob Grobman, We Are Guardians, reminds us of the devastation that once threatened to ruin the global environment – the destruction of the “lungs of the earth” – the Amazon Rainforest. Illegal logging and mining has been a contentious issue in Brazil. Corporations are chopping down trees hundreds of years old and selling wood to China, the US and Canada among other countries. It is widely acknowledged that the threat against invaluable element of earth’s existence is “the most critical ecological and human rights crisis of our time”. Former Brazilian President Bolsonaro was all for it, and launched an openly hateful racist campaign against the protective indigenous people there, and the “uncontacted people” who have lived in harmony in the forest for thousands of years. He said he would “de-Indianise” Brazil! Brave women led the movement to protect the place, with indigenous men carrying bows and arrows, while the invaders, armed with rifles, continued to rape the forest. Looking on a terrain map now you can see there clear cutting has taken place. According to the filmmakers, members of the US Congress have taken bribes to back logging and selling to Costco, McDonalds and other familiar brands. A boat ride along the Amazon River reveals acres of pasture, now empty, so much for knocking the forest down to raise cattle or“feed the globe”; pleas at international climate conferences have netted zero response. Its unbearable watching the majestic trees fall, knocking down others in its path, and erasing wildlife habitats ands itys unique species. Brazilians understand the situation better now and Bolsonaro was replaced by environmental advocate President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. All hail the women who turned the tables on Big Money and fought the system and highlighted global anti-indigenous bias. Still there is more to do. Wow. TIFF Lightbox July 11, 13 and 17. And how’s this? The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) will be held in the Amazon for the first time later this year. Produced by Oscar and Emmy winning documentarian Fisher Stevens, with Leonardo DiCaprio as Executive Producer.
Portraits of Dangerous Women from writer-director Pascal Bergamin is a sly portrait of British women brought together by the death of a stray dog. Steph (Jeany Spark) is with her father navigating a deserted winding rural road; she’s in a rage, breaking every rule of safe driving, and comes to a screeching halt when the dog is hit and killed. Two women are already at the scene, and Ashley (Jasmine Monette Prince) is walking down the road. She claims to be the dog’s owner but isn’t, and notices stains on Steph’s car. Tina’s (Tara Fitzgerald) the caretaker at the school where Steph teaches, is stranded as her car has broken down. Tara and Steph strongly deny they hit the dog and strangely, the three and develop a friendship; Ashley, a “vernacular” photographer collects vintage photos of dangerous women and women in dangerous situations. They bury the dog in the woods while Ashley searches for the dog’s owner. Doreen (Annette Badland) claims him and asks to see his grave; and she has a photo of women in dangerous moments on her mantlepiece! Richly drawn supporting characters give real body to this wonderful film. Odds of the fateful accident seem low but we buy it because the story’s carefully constructed, an engaging film that embraces life’s ironies, chances and nuances. The performances are lifelike, the writing and direction spot on. Streaming now on TVOD.
Detective Renée Ballard (Maggie Q) just may be the toughest nut in crime solving history – male or female. She’s so tough that she shows up for work the morning after a violent exchange of gunfire, alone one night alone, until help arrives; she’s fresh and ready to roll. Her search for the truth and keen intuition have given her the ability to spot holes in what people say, but she’s a bit much for the folks on the main floor of the police detachment. She’s a ssigned to the LAPD’s new, underfunded cold case division in the basement. A John Doe carrying a baby was murdered six years prior, and a teenager – a councilman’s daughter – is murdered the night before her Sadie Hawkins dance. Police long ago let these cases grow cold, but Ballard must honour the victims by bringing to justice those responsible. Another woman’s body is found in a motel, same MO, leading Ballard to believe a serial killer is still at large all these years later. Key documents are missing from police files, but her superiors have nothing to say. Aside from two young women assigned to assist her in the dank basement, the main floor unit is disinclined to help, so she hunts down a former officer who left the force, frustrated by police burying info she’d gathered. A coverup. Ballard’s former boss warns that she’s being traumatised by these cases and suggests she close the unit; she refuses, her intensity burns bright, but she’s getting nowhere. An intriguing character study, wrapped in a conspiracy thriller and a showcase for Maggie Q, as a wild card, a woman who talks back. Prime Video
OPERATION: Aunties a comedy drama about women vigilantes making the world safer! continues the theme of strong women. It’s great to see Tisha Campbell, a fixture in TV sitcoms like A Different World and Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is all grownup. She’s Sharon, a brilliant retired FBI detective whose skills are called upon by her bestie, Carol (Melissa De Sousa) a government blockchain expert, to investigate the a serial attacker, a rideshare driver who drugs, rapes and robs customers of their crypto accounts. His weapon is bottled water, laced with a knockout drug. Sharon moves into Carol’s, taking a pause from her ten-year open marriage. Carol’s niece, tech-genius Aminah (Amiyah Scott) who narrowly escaped an attempt to traffic her, joins them as they explore the Dark Web looking for the guy. Sharon, the ballsy one, has a more immediate solution. She goes to his hunting grounds posing as a drunk partygoer, he offers her water which she forces him to drink while tasering him and leaves, purposely tossing her wig in the back seat; a signature of her coming vigilante moves. The women find the guy’s home and deliver payback. Lots of Dark Web, assumed identities and action, but the heart of the series is the friendship between the three, and the ways they are able to put strategies in place to keep women safe. Streaming now exclusively on ALLBLK available on most TVOD platforms.
Netflix’ newest anti-heroine flees New York following a soul crushing breakup to create a new life in London. Jessica (Megan Stalter) is a big deal in marketing; she’s just managed a Jessica Alba shoot. And now in London she will manage a Christmas launch. She won’t admit it out loud, but has always fancied romantic British pastoral films and hopes she’ll meet her D’Arcy; she tells herself she’s going there to be alone, but clearly romance is on her agenda. Thing is she can be Too Much; she’s effervescent, determined and speaks the truth, damn the torpedoes and never learned to turn the volume down. She reckons the English will tolerate her because they put such strong females in their TV detective series! Jess is imaginative, envisioning people at the pub wearing Edwardian dress as in an Alan Rickman pastoral romance. Early days and she meet a handsome musician Felix (Will Sharpe), client of a dominatrix, and he falls for Jessica. The vibe is funny, modern, and exciting, powered by her personality; she’ll do anything at any time, to express herself. We feel protective but highly entertained. This is a good one. 10 episodes. The guest cast includes Rita Wilson as her mother, Rhea Perlman as her grandmother, Stephen Fry, Adèle Exarchopoulos and show creator Lena Dunham. Not to mention a phone screensaver of her heroine Angela Lansbury from Murder, She Wrote. Streaming now.
More Netflix. The series Trainwreck: The Real Project X continues today with a new installment, the true story of the 2012 Project X film -inspired riot in the Netherlands. A woman named Milena sent out a Facebook invitation to her 16th birthday party at her parents home in the posh, small town of Haren, forgetting to mark it “Private”. So, it was public. At least two men added their entire roster of friends to the invitation list and word spread. In all, an estimated 37,000 received the invitation and thousands showed up. Teenaged kids took over Haren; fires were set, property was destroyed and armed police in riot gear were summoned. Mayhem. Milena was fearful of the crowd that was to come to her parents’ home so she left for the night, and watched breaking news reports on television. She was nice and secure while her neighbourhood burned. An incredible, regrettable episode that now lives on as a cautionary tale and once again shows the power of film.