See this, says Amnesty

OneWorld UK

By Daniel Nelson

The relevance of films even mainstream films to struggles for equity and justice is reflected in the opening and closing star-studded Hollywood offerings at the forthcoming London Film Festival.

Opening the 375-film fiesta on October 19 is The Constant Gardener, based on a John Le Carre novel about corporate greed and conspiracy in the pharmaceutical industry.

Plot twists include a drug company running trials of a new drug on Kenyans. The film has already sparked controversy, with an article in The Independent newspaper this week saying that the multinational pharmaceutical industry is bracing itself for an uncomfortable autumn and that the behaviour of Big Pharma will come under renewed scrutiny thanks to The Constant Gardener.

The writer, health reporter Jeremy Laurance, gives an indication of the criticisms to come when he says that the crimes of the pharmaceutical industry from the price protection of Aids drugs which have denied life-saving medicines to millions, to the cover up of lethal side-effects to protect profits are well-documented.

A cast that includes Ralph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz and Bill Nighy guarantees maximum publicity and impact.

When the film opened in the US, Amnesty International spokesperson Bonnie Abaunza said that although the corporation in the film is fictitious and the human rights abuses depicted are dramatised, many multinational corporations operate in complex human rights environments. Amnesty International calls on corporations and businesses across the globe to promote, protect and uphold human rights in every aspect of their operations. As an organisation that has been defending human rights for over four decades.

Amnesty International believes that socially relevant films are important in educating people about human rights and mobilising activists to work for the cause. This is why we encourage our members to see this film

The closing night gala, the George Clooney-directed Good Night, And Good Luck, also tackles a vital theme: the news medias responsibility to speak the truth about the powers of the day. It is a reconstruction of the 1950s clash in the US between newscaster Edward R. Murrow and Reds-under-the-bed hunter Senator Joe McCarthy. Cold war paranoia is the backdrop, but many will draw comparisons with the current Administrations attempt to cow the media over coverage of the invasion of Iraq.

Between these two films bookending the annual festival are plenty of others dealing with justice themes, including several in the 50-strong category designated World Cinema that is, countries beyond the pale, outside Europe and North America.

They include 15 Park Avenue, an exploration of the impact of schizophrenia on a young Calcutta woman; Almost Brothers, on social and racial divides in Rio; and If You Were Me, an anthology of shorts made for South Koreas Human Rights Commission.

African cinema makes a disappointingly weak showing, though Keith Shiri, who advises the Festival on Africa films, says that representation will improve next year because a number of films are currently nearing completion. The South African film industry which Shiri says is blossoming thanks to the encouragement of the post-apartheid government is represented by Boy Called Twist and The Flyer, both featuring pickpockets. The sole West African contribution this year is Delwende, about a woman branded a witch;

The number of documentaries looks relatively small considering the extraordinarily vigorous revival in this powerful and entertaining medium in the West in the past couple of years. But the range and quality promise to be good quite apart from March of the Penguins, finally making it to these shores after its surprise hit in the US. Estamira focuses on a schizophrenic mother of three in a Brazilian slum, while Not Really Ours is based on an interview with an Argentinian veteran from the Falkands war. (Argentina, Brazil and Mexico dominate the Latin American offerings, as China, India, Japan and South Korea dominate Asia, South Africa leads African participation, and Israeli and Palestinian filmmakers pretty well have the Middle East section to themselves.)

A fascinating study of three court cases in Cameroon and the way they are handled by a woman judge and a prosecutor, Sisters in Law gets a showing under the rubric New British Cinema. (The film presumably slipped into the Festival, which is supposed to be for films premiering in England, because it was screened in London earlier this year under a different title.) This category also headlines Love + Hate, a take on a fraught love affair across religious and racial lines in northern England.

* Sisters in Law

* The Constant Gardener: Serious Cinema

* The Times 49th London Film Festival, 19 October-3 November