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Genius of the Modern World (2016)
The remarkable relevance of Marx, Nietzsche and Freud
Bettany Hughes, a historian and author, takes viewers on a journey into the tumultuous times of late 19th century, when 3 particular intellectuals perfected their mind-boggling ideas. Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche and Sigmund Freud are examples of those larger-than-life thinkers who, through their penetrating insights into human condition, crystallized their ideas and ended up transforming the world and ushering in the 20th century. The world was never the same.
As a huge fan of factually accurate and documentaries (e.g., Sir Ken Clark and Carl Sagan) with an educational as well as reflective bent, I loved this 3-part series. Interspersed with beautiful visuals of visits of Ms. Hughes to many of the actual places of interest in the lives of these gentlemen, the narrator also interviews several leading scholars on the various aspects of their intellectual and personal life. I can't recommend it enough.
Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
The Burden of Responsibility
Are you responsible for heinous acts sanctioned by you even when you were "just following orders"? How true is the mantra "My country, right or wrong"? The movie delves deeply into this issues, while touching on topics of justice, race, eugenics, feeble-mindedness (WTF?), forced sterilizations, and other horrors of Nazi Germany. Also, a particularly poignant moment in the movie was the infamous Feldenstein Case, where a German woman was to testify. Just imagine the wrath of neighbors and fellow countrymen that person has to tolerate to contemplate doing this. This is just one nugget, the movie is chock full with these. Performances of Spencer Tracy (Chief Judge Dan Haywood) and Maximilian Schell (Hans Rolfe) were particularly good, the latter netting an Oscar for his stellar work.
A classic movie with highly relevant lessons for today on so many issues. Can't recommend it enough.