Singer & McQuarie , You’re Filmmaking Talents are Needed!

Sophie Scholl, 21 a German Citizen Murdered Under color of law by The Nazis

Los, Angeles, CA—One of my favorite films is Valkyrie with Tom Cruise playing would be Hitler assassin, Colonel Claus Von Stauffenberg.  It was filmed in many authentic locations with a terrific cast and crew.  The finished product film told the exciting and heroic story very well.  It was made by boyhood pals, Director Brian Singer and Co-Writer and Producer Christopher McQuarie.  

When the Blu-Ray disk came out the extras were really exceptional.  It contained a compelling documentary where actual resistance members and their families told the history of brave Germans trying to bring down the Nazi regime.   It’s a part of World War Two history that has been largely ignored especially here in America.  

At Berlin’s Bendlerblock Resistance Museum there is a never-ending well-documented supply of stories fit for many riveting films. That Bendlerblock location happens to be where the Valkyrie conspirators actually worked and where they were executed on July 20. 1944.  One such story that stands out the most to me is that of 21 year-old Sophie Scholl and the White Rose.

Several young men and women associated with the University in Munich belonged to a peaceful resistance group, The White Rose.  They mailed and passed out newsletter leaflets that exposed the agenda and atrocities of the Nazi government.

One day, Sophie Scholl, her brother Hans Scholl and a friend Christoph Probst were caught distributing leaflets at the University.  They were arrested and a Gestapo investigation was launched.   A very high profile Nazi show trial was held and the trio were convicted and beheaded at the Stadlehiem Prison within four days of their arrest.

A terrific German language film was made but unfortunately subtitled foreign films are usually never well received in America.  I guess people don’t like reading films.

The leading roles are that of Sophie Scholl, Gestapo Inspector Mohr and People’s Court President, Judge Roland Frisler.  I’d love to see this staring English speaking German actors like Christian Berkel, Sebastian Koch and a yet to be discovered 21 year-old leading lady.

Yes, I’m a SAG-AFTRA member and want a small part in the film however I also want to help produce it on location in Munich.  I know Germany very well. 

As Valkyrie was being negotiated in Germany as a project there was a very unfortunate flap over lead actor Tom Cruise’s Scientology faith.  It nearly derailed the entire film.  That left some wounds with the people that worked so hard in bringing that great story to light.  The question I must ask is their skin thick enough to make yet another excellent film there.  I really hope so. 

On a side note, my having spent my adult life in courtrooms I have particular disdain for despot judges like Roland Frisler. Yes they are everywhere and only restrained by our form of government. 

When Adolph Hitler sought to plan the Holocaust he entrusted 15 high Ranking Nazis to work out the details at a lakeside Villa in Wannsee just outside of Berlin over a two-hour luncheon meeting.  Frisler was one of the several lawyers there making sure it was all legal.  They call that meeting the Wansee Conference.

Had Frisler not been killed in an Allied bombing raid he surly would have been in the first wave of war criminals executed at Nuremberg.

I only hope that Singer and McQuarie read this and consider making the film.  If they pass on it, surely another filmmaker should step in.  There would be a generous German film grant waiting for the producer.

The official trailer for the German production of several years ago is below:

Prison Inmate Media Interviews and Government

Phoenix, AZ—It should be obvious that with changes in laws, technology and court rules we have become a Police State. If you don’t think that’s the case look at those thousands of surveillance cameras or try to bring your own into a Federal building.

A genuine sign of this is how accused people and the media is obstructed from communication with each other.

We arrest and imprison people and sequester them from the prying eyes of the media. What it’s really about is preventing inmates from telling their troubles to the media. Government bureaucrats have clearly facilitated and enabled cover-ups by preventing the media from interviewing prisoners face to face.

The bureaucrats know that television won’t do a telephone interview because that media can only operate effectively with video. With a ban of face-to-face interviews the public will only see what these penal institutions want them to see.

From a simple human rights and fairness issue prisoners should be allowed access to the media to, express remorse, ask for forgiveness or to challenge the accusations made against them. In death penalty cases those condemned to die should have the ability to fight for their lives through video interviews.

Arizona and California precludes television interviews however Texas does not.

It’s really not much to ask for and claims that there is a security risk are purely bogus. If they were that concerned they could facilitate Skype.com interviews. The bureaucrats are afraid of exposure for their own deeds and nothing more.

The last issue here concerns crime victims. Not every crime victim is a victim. Many people are designated as victims simply because they successfully misled authorities and gave false testimony against people they accused. The claim of protecting victims from reliving their bad experiences watching prison inmates in news programing is pathetic to say the least.

Is anyone somehow damaged if we allow some condemned soul to beg for their life in a broadcast video interview? Must we be void of any humanity?

All prison and jail inmates deserve the right to have total voluntary access to journalists of every medium.

Things I Learned From the Geneva Human Rights Film Festival

Geneva, Switzerland—-It was indeed a thrill to be invited to attend this event where a documentary film I worked on was being premiered. It was my second visit here in little more than a year.

Geneva is a Swiss city that does the impossible job of sounding the alarm when governments violate basic human rights. The film festival delivered 45 films that show the darkest side of criminal political regimes in the world.

Reporters, producers and photographers risk their lives in order to expose kidnapping, robbery, rape and murders committed by governments and their agents. One undeniable fact emerges from this event, governments are prolific serial killers.

There is no shortage of criminals with big smiles, firm handshakes and convincing oratory that prey upon every nation’s citizenry. They lust after the unlimited wealth, power and rock star status as a government ruler. For the most part these people are pretenders, wolves in sheep’s clothing. Once in power they will torture and kill to maintain that power.

The film makers too often are a naive lot. They want to expose a ruthless despot's violation of human rights as they urgently support rebel groups trying to overthrow these regimes.

The best example of this was the Cuban Revolution more than 50 years ago. Fulgencio Batista was a dictator in this mafia infested playground for wealthy Americans. Batista was a typical ruler found in the Banana Republics of Latin America. He lived lavishly in a poor country where anyone who dared criticize or challenge his authority was jailed or even murdered.

Fidel Castro and his pal Che Guevara set their sights on his power, wealth and status billing themselves as, “freedom fighters.” The world’s media organizations portrayed these fellows as romantic and dedicated heroes that would bring freedom and human rights to this troubled paradise.

Castro was able to overthrow Batista, replacing him and his government with something far worse. The deadly purges that followed became just another Socialist nightmare gone wrong. Castro has ruled this bankrupt nation with an iron fist as he stole whatever he wanted in the nation’s treasury. Socialist dictators like Castro always somehow manage because of their talent to fill the tax coffers through extortionate methods that go back further than Nero’s.

The film makers that specialize in human rights documentaries are always scrambling for funds to facilitate their work. Often these funds come from sources as evil as the people they seek to expose. Human rights film makers must fight the efforts of revolutionaries seeking to turn them into propaganda machines. It’s not easy.

The film makers I met in Geneva have exposed one despot after another. They will never run out of work because there is no shortage of fresh mass graves that can be dug up and investigated around the world.

I suspect without the watchful eye of Geneva we’d be in a more dangerous world.

The proliferation of cheap cameras and computers to edit video has become a powerful tool to expose criminal conduct by government everywhere. That, as more laws are being made to restrict their use accordingly. Governments seek a sort of one way street where they can photograph us as they forbid us the ability to photograph them. That’s no coincidence.

Every law-abiding American needs a gun and the training to use it. Likewise every law-abiding American needs a video camera and the training to use it. Document government abuse whenever or wherever you can.

What was Geneva’s Human Rights Film Festival’s strongest message? Never trust government.