CONSCIOUS CINEMA
by corporate pressures ; and “ The Burning Season ” ( 1994 ), a made-for-cable movie about the life of Brazilian environmental activist Chico Mendes ( Raul Julia ) in his attempts to rein in reckless rainforest clearing by land developers .
make hard choices balancing self-interest and the greater good . Similar circumstances arise in “ The King ’ s Speech ” ( 2010 ), in which a shy , stuttering prince ( Colin Firth ) is thrust into the role of monarch when his older brother ( Guy Pearce ) abdicates , a position the younger royal neither seeks nor wants , especially now that his beloved England is on the brink of war , a time when his subjects demand a leader with a strong voice to represent the interests of their country .
As noted earlier , battling foes on two fronts is especially challenging , as evidenced in a trio of 2005 releases , including “ The Constant Gardener ,” in which a dutiful British foreign service officer ( Ralph Fiennes ) and his outspoken activist wife ( Rachel Weisz ) take on government officials and a powerful pharmaceutical company over questionable but officially sanctioned vaccine testing practices conducted on innocent Africans ; “ Syriana ,” the multifaceted saga of a courageous CIA agent ( George Clooney ), a reform-oriented emir ( Alexander Siddig ), an influential corporate lawyer ( Geoffrey Wright ) and a progressively minded commodities dealer ( Matt Damon ) in wrangling with the politics of oil and the corrupt , self-serving practices of those who profit from them ; and “ Good Night , and Good Luck ,” the biography of famed CBS journalist Edward R . Murrow ( David Strathairn ) in which he and his producer ( George Clooney ) endeavor to air a scathing report on the dubious government hearings conducted by Sen . Joseph McCarthy during the 1950s “ Red Scare ,” an undertaking resisted by their corporate bosses .
In some instances , facing fears and living courageously involves staring down the challenges posed by both public pressures and personal demons . Such is the case in “ Casablanca ” ( 1942 ), in which a crusty café and casino owner ( Humphrey Bogart ) wrestles with ghosts of his past under the scrutiny of Nazi occupying forces , pushing him to
Sometimes our beliefs can become our own worst enemies , keeping us from becoming who we would like to be . The challenge of allowing ourselves to embrace intents that empower our hopes and dreams surfaces in a number of films . For example , in “ Defending Your Life ” ( 1991 ), a recently departed advertising executive ( Albert Brooks ) reviews his most recent incarnation before a court-like afterlife tribunal to determine whether he ’ s worthy of moving on to the next step of his personal evolution , especially with regard to his generosity to himself . A similar theme arises in “ Romancing the Stone ” ( 1984 ), in which a lonely romance novelist ( Kathleen Turner ) perpetually seeks the man of her dreams ( not unlike the heroic swashbucklers she writes about ) but to no avail – that is , until she
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