Number 6 - "The Godmother" The Griselda Blanco story. Most people don't know that is was Griselda and not Pablo Escobar who created the modern narco-traffic empire between North and South America - in fact she was the one who put him in business and may have been behind his death as well. There have been several somewhat goofy documentaries made which feature her story, but no one has made the movie. This is remarkable considering she was nearly single-handedly irresponsible for the drug wars in Miami that inspired the series Miami Vice. The Godmother was responsible for more murders perhaps even than Al Capone, was the first Cocaine Millionaire then Billionaire and is still on the loose (now in her native Colombia). The kicker is still around and out of jail!
The Godmother - This is another case where life is
more remarkable than fiction...
Number 8 - The Dirty War: There have been one or two movies set during Argentina's dirty war which lasted from the late 1970's to the early 1980's (finally ending when the ruling military Junta was overthrown after the Falklands / Malvinas war with Britain). Somewhere between 30,000 to 50,000 people, mainly younger folks or students were tortured and disappeared by the Right Wing government there. The story took on a unique human face through the tireless efforts of the Madres de la Plaza (Mother's of the Plaza) who protested for at least a decade and helped to bring down a corrupt and bloodthirsty regime. Our editor was in Buenos Aires in 1987, although the Junta was gone the Madres de la Plaza were still there seeking justice. A number of men were brought to justice and many children (who were stolen from people who were disappeared) were re-united with their families, but as in most nightmares like this, justice is rare and bittersweet when it does finally arrive.
more remarkable than fiction...
Number 7 - The Real Annie Oakley Story: Yes, there have been a lot of very superficial movies made featuring Annie Oakley, but none of them came close to telling her real story. A story that included a ten year running battle with William Randolph Hearst, a story that included making and losing a fortune and of course the story of how an Ohio farm girl (from near here in Greenville, Ohio) could become one of the most important women of her time. Our editor is a distant relation to Annie Oakley, so we're a little bit biased on this, but we still think it is a great movie waiting to happen. Here is a documentary about her on PBS...
One of the first films ever made - Annie Oakley hits the mark...Number 8 - The Dirty War: There have been one or two movies set during Argentina's dirty war which lasted from the late 1970's to the early 1980's (finally ending when the ruling military Junta was overthrown after the Falklands / Malvinas war with Britain). Somewhere between 30,000 to 50,000 people, mainly younger folks or students were tortured and disappeared by the Right Wing government there. The story took on a unique human face through the tireless efforts of the Madres de la Plaza (Mother's of the Plaza) who protested for at least a decade and helped to bring down a corrupt and bloodthirsty regime. Our editor was in Buenos Aires in 1987, although the Junta was gone the Madres de la Plaza were still there seeking justice. A number of men were brought to justice and many children (who were stolen from people who were disappeared) were re-united with their families, but as in most nightmares like this, justice is rare and bittersweet when it does finally arrive.
Someday we may live in a world where violence and murder aren't state sanctioned, but until that day we will depend on the
courage of people like these to fight for us all...
courage of people like these to fight for us all...
Number 9 - The Trail of Tears: This was America's version of the Bataan death march - it happened in 1838-39 as greedy white settlers sought to remove a thriving Cherokee nation from its land in order to claim it for themselves. First the Cherokees were placed in concentration camps and then forced to march 1,000 miles on foot in the middle of Winter, at least 4,000 of them died. The Cherokees weren't the only Indian nations forced off of their land in the Southeast United States around that time, however this is perhaps the most tragic of those events. Telling this story forces us to take a hard look at American history and even some of our current policies and viewpoints.
There are some things we definitely shouldn't be proud of...
Number 10 - The Balkan Holocaust: Most of us have forgotten how bad things really got in Yugoslavia in the 1990's. Nearly 200,000 were killed in Bosnia alone as the Serbs practiced "ethic cleansing" on their Muslim neighbors. There have been a few movies on the topic, most notably the uneven "Welcome to Sarajevo" starring Ohio native Woody Harrleson. No one has yet properly addressed the topic which is even more relevant now given the growing global intolerance of the Muslim community. An interesting arc for the movie would be to view the events through the lens of the Dayton Accords - a peace process that brought the Balkins back from the edge of the abyss. Of course, embedded within this story is the story of the siege of Sarajevo - which lasted nearly a year.
Intolerance always leads to something much worse...
Sarajevo, home of the 1984 Winter Olympics
was plunged into Hell 10 years later...
was plunged into Hell 10 years later...
Copyright 2010, Raving Reviews
