This weekend, I was feeling a little under the weather, so after I returned from my class at Menagesha on Saturday, I spent the rest of the weekend recuperating at home. To this end, I rented a number of movies to tide me over. I watched Unfaithful starring Richard Gere and Diane Lane. Diane Lane was nominated for an Oscar for her performance in this movie. I also watched North Country starring Charlize Theron in a turn that also netted her an Oscar nomination. This movie was about the first class-action sexual harassment lawsuit in the United States and dealt with a miner who as the representative plaintiff commenced an action against a huge mining company after enduring brutal harassment in the workplace and failing to get any assistance from management to stop the harassment. The movie was really interesting and it was directed by Nikki Caro who also directed Whale Rider starring Keisha Castle-Hughes. If any of you have not seen Whale Rider or North Country – I really recommend both. Nikki Caro is a visionary.
Finally, I saw the movie Akeelah and the Bee starring Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne in their first movie together since What’s Love Got to Do with It? This was such a great movie. For those of you who do not know, I am a huge fan of the Scripps National Spelling Bee (yes – I know I am a geek and I am proud of it) and the documentary they made chronicling the lives of 7 different child prodigy spellers who were vying for the top prize at the national competition. The documentary is called Spellbound (I highly recommend it). This movie, unlike the documentary Spellbound, was a fictional depiction of one little girl’s journey through the competition. It was really good – one of those movies you can watch with your parents and they will love it too!
