Diversity e S pecial
dition
Page 2
July 17, 2019
President Trump’s latest racist tirade was against these four newly elected Democrats of Color in the U.S. House of
Representatives, Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and
Rashida Tlaib of Michigan.
Democrats Defend Congresswomen
Trump’s racism called worst in history
House Democrats introduced a resolu-
tion Monday condemning the president for
racist comments directed at a four newly
elected U.S. Representatives of color in
Congress, comments widely condemned
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by Democrats and civil rights activists and
historians.
Trump said Monday that — Reps. Il-
han Omar of Minnesota, Alexandria Oca-
sio-Cortez of New York, Ayanna Pressley
of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of
Michigan — hate the United States and Is-
rael and should leave the country if they
were not happy here. On Sunday, Trump
tweeted the Democratic lawmakers, all
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o pinionated
J udge
by
D arleen
o rtega
Diverse Films
Stand Out
In addition to the documentaries I re-
viewed last week, I saw 15 narrative features
at the Seattle International Film Festival in
May and June. Besides the fact that watch-
ing movies all day is my idea of heaven, see-
ing so many together functioned as a sort of
world tour of cinematic language, style, and
culture that set my brain humming. Here are
some of the best worth scouring for; I survey
the rest with enough info to help you decide
if they are worth that effort.
My favorite of everything I saw was
“Vai”—eight short films all directed by na-
tive women from different cultures in the
Pacific Islands. Each features a fictional girl
or woman with some variation of the name
“Vai” (which means “water” in several Island
languages, including Maori) and, though the
stories span different generations, they are
not meant to be about the same character.
Rather, they capture a sort of common en-
ergy, resiliency and spirit among women
in these indigenous and colonized cultures;
each of these women embodies a spark
of joy and wisdom and fight that suggests
something important about how these cul-
tures have managed to survive and also what
A common energy, resiliency and spirit among women of indigenous and colonized
cultures is captured in “Vai,”eight new short narrative films all directed by native
women. Photo courtesy Crucial 21st Century Cinema.
centuries have colonization have damaged
and in some cases destroyed. The segments
share a sense of beauty and movement and
language and ceremony that is rich and deep
and gorgeous—so much so that I would have
watched it again immediately after seeing it.
It was distributed theatrically in New Zea-
land and Australia; I hope it may enjoy an
online release even if theater distribution in
the U.S. is unlikely.
I feel just as enthusiastic about “After-
life,” the first feature film of Dutch writer-di-
rector Willem Bosch which, likewise, doesn’t
appear to have a U.S. release planned. For
whatever reason, Bosch has chosen as his
protagonist a 14-year-old mixed-race girl,
Sam, whose beloved black mother Vera has
tragically passed away. Serious, studious and
hyper-responsible, Sam devotes herself to
caring for her white father and two younger
brothers, until she herself dies in an accident
and encounters her mother in the afterlife.
Sam’s afterlife encounter—very ingenious-
ly conceived—leads to her return to earth
for a sort of do-over, which serves the film’s
inclination to wrestle cleverly with ultimate
questions. I mention the racial mix here be-
cause it is so unusual in films made in the
similarly white-dominated U.S. and because
it here serves the story well in a very non-
showy way; Sam and Vera especially emerge
as complex characters whose sadness feels
deep and isn’t minimized or completely ex-
plained, which struck me as very true. And
Sam’s guardian angel, played by a white
man, is not put into a savior role; Sam has
agency and intelligence to spare, and her
journey through grief and her search for the
truth of her mother feels grounded and real,
even while the film strikes a tone of whimsy.
This lovely and original film deserves a wid-
er audience, and I genuinely hope it finds one
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