Reviews
The Shield (2002)
Powerful, gripping and addictive
Contrary to what a previous commenter wrote, the show does not glorify police brutality. The viewer is alternately horrified, attracted and repulsed by the lead character on this show, as are the people in his world.
The program is certainly envelope pushing and periodically ridiculous in its melodrama, but as a latecomer via DVD, I find it utterly enthralling. My wife and I watched the first two seasons in about a week!
The casting is phenomenal, the acting consistently great, and the direction is very, very good, done in the style of a slick indie film. Eminently watchable.
If you like The Sopranos and/or Oz, you will enjoy this program. If those are too brutal for you, then pass.
Frontline: A Class Divided (1985)
Powerful
Despite the comments of another poster, this documentary and the experiment contained therein was not sadistic. Had the teacher implemented the brown eyes/blue eyes hierarchy in the classroom and then done nothing to debrief -- that would be sick. Instead the students in her classroom understood discrimination in a way that I, as a fellow teacher, have no ability to do regardless of the number of days I show "Eyes on the Prize" or devise ways of comprehending the evil underlying the Holocaust. The film's follow-up with her old students demonstrates the lasting effect her teaching had.
Although modern ethics -- and a lawsuit happy public -- preclude a teacher from doing this kind of thing these days, we can still screen the film for our students and discuss the issues. Not quite as effective, but still powerful.
Bob Roberts (1992)
Unfair and unbalanced... but hilarious
Contrary to what one viewer in ultra-conservative Orange County might think, BOB ROBERTS is a masterful indictment of the political system, the media, and voter apathy. Of course it's ridiculously one-sided: unlike Robbins' DEAD MAN WALKING, he doesn't attempt to provide any balance here, and the result is a devastating invective against the right wing in America.
People of the left end of the political spectrum will be cheering. Conservatives, if they have a sense of humor about themselves, will laugh... perhaps they'll even like the malevolent main character.