Currently film critic at the
Chicago Reader, Jonathan Rosenbaum has written for a variety of film journals for more than 20 years. Collected in
Movies as Politics are more than three dozen essays focusing on political statements of modern film. Covered are such topics as racial stereotyping in the movies, the emergence of films and filmmakers from the Third World, and the cinematic treatment of historical events, such as the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, and the Holocaust. It's not all heavy going, either. Rosenbaum's essays on
Forest Gump,
Ace Ventura, and the influence of Miramax are both informative and entertaining, if at times scathing.
