

They’ve become the human face of inhuman barbarity. Leaders like Hitler, Idi Amin Dada, Stalin, Kim Jong Il, Saddam Hussein, Nicolae Ceausescu, Bokassa, Muammar Kadhafi, Khomeini, Mussolini and Franco governed their countries completely cut off from reality. These paranoid leaders were driven to abuse their power by the pathology of power itself. Dictators are driven by a relentless, thought-out determination to impose themselves as infallible, all-knowing and all-powerful beings. But they are also men ruled by their caprices, uncontrollable impulses, and reckless fits of frenzy, which paradoxically render them as human as anyone else. The abuses they committed were clearly atrocious, yet some of them were as outlandish as the characters portrayed in the film The Dictator. They sunk to depths worthy of Kafka: so incredibly absurd, they are outrageously funny.





Self
Self
Self
Self (archive footage)

They’ve become the human face of inhuman barbarity. Leaders like Hitler, Idi Amin Dada, Stalin, Kim Jong Il, Saddam Hussein, Nicolae Ceausescu, Bokassa, Muammar Kadhafi, Khomeini, Mussolini and Franco governed their countries completely cut off from reality. These paranoid leaders were driven to abuse their power by the pathology of power itself. Dictators are driven by a relentless, thought-out determination to impose themselves as infallible, all-knowing and all-powerful beings. But they are also men ruled by their caprices, uncontrollable impulses, and reckless fits of frenzy, which paradoxically render them as human as anyone else. The abuses they committed were clearly atrocious, yet some of them were as outlandish as the characters portrayed in the film The Dictator. They sunk to depths worthy of Kafka: so incredibly absurd, they are outrageously funny.
2013-06-12
6.5
6.0A parody of the French Revolution, on Arabian Nights background. Bagdad Calif is in Paris in 1789, where he decides to visit the Executionner equipment exhibition.
6.7A mysterious extraterrestrial being resembling Godzilla rapidly approaches Earth. The monster, dubbed SpaceGodzilla, lands to challenge the King of the Monsters.
7.7The Jews of Jerusalem are driven out by their Syrian rulers. They gather their forces, and return to drive out their oppressors.
7.3The U.N.G.C.C. (United Nations Godzilla Countermeasure Center) recovers the remains of Mecha-King Ghidorah and construct Mechagodzilla as a countermeasure against Godzilla. Meanwhile, a giant egg is discovered along with a new monster called Rodan. The egg is soon found to be none other than an infant Godzillasaurus.
5.3The family is pleasantly surprised and puzzled when Beethoven suddenly becomes obedient. Turns out it's a prince and the pauper scenario, with the real Beethoven now living with a pompous rich family.
5.5Barbara is a filmmaker who has been working in the prison environment for a few years now. She is preparing a film written and directed by long-term inmates in a prison in the projects around Paris. Twice a week, Barbara goes to the prison where she shoots interviews with the inmates which will serve as a basis for the writing of their screenplay.
7.7The first rule is that there are no rules. For the bare-knuckle combatants competing in Musangwe fights, anything goes - you can even put a curse on him. The sport, which dates back centuries, has become a South African institution. Any male from the age of nine to ninety can compete. We follow a group of fighters as they slug it out in the ring. Who will be this year's champion?
6.7Julia Ross secures employment with a wealthy widow and goes to live at her house. Two days later, she awakens in a different house in different clothes and with a new identity.
7.4Bus driver Stan Butler agrees to marry Suzy, much to the anguish of Mum, her son-in-law, Arthur, and daughter Olive. How, they wonder, will they ever manage without Stan's money coming in? Then Arthur is sacked, and Stan agrees to delay the wedding. Meanwhile, he hits on an idea: Arthur should learn to drive a bus. Somehow he does just that, and even gets a job. Stan then blackmails the Depot Manager into giving him the job of driver on the new money-making Special Tours Bus. A great idea ...if only the inspector hadn't taken Stan on his trial run to the Windsor Safari Park
6.4Four friends head off to Bombay and get involved in the mother and father of all gang wars.
7.5Europe will re-release their 2015 War of Kings album later this month, across a number of formats, featuring video of a complete 2015 live performance. The band’s 10th studio album was issued back in March to very positive reviews and the hard rocking Swedes appeared at Northern Germany’s 25th Wacken Air Festival in early August. This performance will feature on the bonus disc blu-ray or DVD and the package is available as CD+DVD, CD+Blu-ray and a deluxe CD+Blu-ray+DVD photo book edition.
6.7Early morning silence is broken by screeching tires as a helicopter bears down on a speeding vehicle. Taking a quick corner, the team tumbles out into the woods as their car pulls away. Now they must make their way through the thick of nature and thick gunfire to accomplish their mission. Not a single word of dialogue is spoken throughout the entire film. Instead, the music, sounds, images and deeply truthful acting turn a simple plot into an intense experience. Passion and intrigue keep building to the very end.
6.3Heather bumps into Carla, having not spoken to her in years, and presents her with a very unexpected proposition that could change both of their lives forever.
8.0Nina is an elderly woman who lives alone and feels distressed by the increasing violence in her neighborhood. Amidst conflicts with her neighbors, she decides to film the movement of drug traffickers from her window, hoping to assist the police. After months of recording suspicious activities, her initiative attracts the attention of a journalist, who approaches Nina and offers to support her in her mission.
6.1Lepetit, an ambitious and determined man, is named the new CEO of a department store. His mission is to improve the store's financial position. He decides that the human factor will be his catchword and introduces new methods, which he also applied to himself. But tensions slowly arise between members of the staff.
4.5A gang of Spanish pickpockets decide to send one of them to Chicago to learn how to be a gangster...
6.9A community is under siege as three Belmont Highschool coed students go missing with no trace of their whereabouts. The pressure is on the police to capture the culprits responsible. Scouring the school hallways in search of clues, undercover female detective Maggie Rawdon (Jessica Sonnerborn) enters Belmont High as a transfer student in an attempt to solve the hideous disappearance of the students. Maggie makes a few new friends, and gets invited to a private rave in the country. Just as the group begins to suspect that they've taken a wrong turn, however, the trap is sprung and Maggie finds out firsthand what fate has befallen the missing girls.
6.9Charley Thompson, a teenager living with his single father, gets a summer job working for horse trainer Del Montgomery. Bonding with an aging racehorse named Lean on Pete, Charley is horrified to learn he is bound for slaughter, and so he steals the horse, and the duo embark on an odyssey across the new American frontier.
6.8Errol Morris examines the incidents of abuse and torture of suspected terrorists at the hands of U.S. forces at the Abu Ghraib prison.
8.0Iran, January 16th, 1979. Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi flees after being overthrown. Ayatollah Khomeini returns to Tehran and proclaims the Islamic Republic on April 1st, 1979. In the same year, Saddam Hussein seizes power in Iraq and, after several border skirmishes, attacks Iran on September 22nd, 1980, initiating a cruel war that will last eight years. Since its outbreak, correspondent Saeid Sadeghi documented it from its beginning to its bitter end.
0.0A unique record of the life and work of eminent Australian photographer, Olive Cotton.
Street art, creativity and revolution collide in this beautifully shot film about art’s ability to create change. The story opens on the politically charged Thailand/Burma border at the first school teaching street art as a form of non-violent struggle. The film follows two young girls (Romi & Yi-Yi) who have escaped 50 years of civil war in Burma to pursue an arts education in Thailand. Under the threat of imprisonment and torture, the girls use spray paint and stencils to create images in public spaces to let people know the truth behind Burma's transition toward "artificial democracy." Eighty-two hundred miles away, artist Shepard Fairey is painting a 30’ mural of a Burmese monk for the same reasons and in support of the students' struggle in Burma. As these stories are inter-cut, the film connects these seemingly unrelated characters around the concept of using art as a weapon for change.
6.9Carne Ross was a government highflyer. A career diplomat who believed Western Democracy could save us all. But working inside the system he came to see its failures, deceits and ulterior motives. He felt at first hand the corruption of power. After the Iraq war Carne became disillusioned, quit his job and started searching for answers.
8.5In this special Clarkson, Hammond and May don’t just buy three knackered old lorries and drive miles through the beautiful landscapes of Burma. Oh dear no. They actually have to use their lorries to do something useful. They have to build a real, use able bridge over the River Kwai. On their way to the river they almost bring down Burma’s power supply, encounter the world’s least relaxing truck stop, race around the streets of a deserted capital, saddle up a trio of unhelpful horses and attend a completely deranged party.
3.0Now a famous talk show host, Martin Mull takes his crew and cameras to Hawkins Falls, Ohio with the intent to give his erratic career a fresh start by shooting a special. While the residents are only concerned with taking advantage of his celebrity status, Mull falls for former subject and number one fan Joyce Harrison, who's still very much devoted to her husband Hal.
6.0In Maija Blåfield’s documentary, eight former North Koreans talk about what it was like to watch illegal films in a closed society. In addition to the 'waste videos', South Korean films were also smuggled into the country via China.
6.7Sirkka-Liisa died alone with no one left to miss her. Elina happened to buy her home after her death and ended up with all Sirkka-Liisa's possessions from books to photos. What would happen If Elina threw all her things away?
7.8Chronological look at the fiasco in Iraq, especially decisions made in the spring of 2003 - and the backgrounds of those making decisions - immediately following the overthrow of Saddam: no occupation plan, an inadequate team to run the country, insufficient troops to keep order, and three edicts from the White House announced by Bremmer when he took over.
2.7Claire Laurent is a New Orleans lingerie manufacturer accused of murder, who falls in love with the detective hired to investigate her.
7.6This unique documentary dramatically re-enacts the crime scene and investigation of a police officer's murder in Dallas.
8.4Compulsive Twitterer, Elon Musk bought himself his favorite social network in 2022, and brutally shaped it according to his desires. This punchy investigation relates the stormy relations between the platform and the billionaire, and their impact on the public debate.
5.4The army of the Marauders, led by King Terak and the witch Charal, attack the Ewoks village, killing Cindel's family. Cindel and the Ewok Wicket escape and meet Teek in the forest, a naughty and very fast animal. Teek takes them to a house in which an old man, Noa, lives. Like Cindel, he also crashed with his Starcruiser on Endor. Together they fight Terak and Charal.
5.6A new case for "The Model Boys": The two Cologne commissioners Docker and Dretzke to take the next 14 days a journalist to their missions.
6.2Black Box BRD steps back into German history, showing the Federal Republic of Germany of the 70s and 80s. The country is polarized due to the power struggle of the German state and the "Red Army Faction". Society is torn, the fronts are irreconcilable. The life stories of both Wolfgang Grams and Alfred Herrhausen are tragically linked to this era. Grams is the one who takes up arms for moral rigor; Herrhausen however seizes power and dies when powerful.
7.3A documentary that exposes the shocking truths behind industrial food production and food wastage, focusing on fishing, livestock and crop farming. A must-see for anyone interested in the true cost of the food on their plate.
4.9Do you prefer to wax on or wax off? Preacher won't let you dance? Well then, put Baby in the corner and come on down, 'cause VH1 is bringing back more of the '80s you love in this feature-length film, Totally Awesome. The Gundersons have just moved across the country and the kids - Charlie, Lori, and Max - are trying their best to acclimate themselves into a new school and all kinds of dilemmas therein: the need to dance, the pitfalls of young love, the quest for popularity, scientific genius and of course the quirky but loveable Japanese gardener. Totally Awesome takes all your favorite '80s-flick mainstays and weaves them into the biggest and baddest plotline ever conceived. Tot say it is radical would be an understatement.
4.5An assassin working for the CIA decides to take one final job before quitting only to find out that he is the target of his CIA boss.