Movies in 2026 46

 

Prelude to War (Why We Fight), (Frank Capra, 1942)

And since we're talking about World War II propaganda films that I'm using in my Images of Fascism class, last night we watched Prelude to War, the first installment in Frank Capra's Why We Fight series. In World War I the US government discovered that a series of dry lectures given after an exhausting day of training was not a good system to explain to the soldiers the point of their sacrifice. Two decades later they turned to Frank Capra - yes, that Frank Capra (It's a Wonderful Life, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, It Happened One Night, You Can't Take It with You, etc.) - to provide a more entertaining cinematic explanation. Walt Disney provided the animation. Janet, who had never seen the series, kept turning to me in amazement. It's more than a bit jarring to watch a previous US government laying out the beliefs and actions that define Fascism and how they match the beliefs and actions of a present US government.

Movies in 2026 45

 

The Eternal Jew, (Fritz Hippler, 1940)

Not every film I'll watch this year is a happy experience, obviously, not simply because it may be a film that I'm excited to watch and in the end I didn't like it - or it might be a film that I know in advance is not going to provide any joy but I need to watch it anyway. Fritz Hippler's 1940 Nazi propaganda film The Eternal Jew definitely fits into the latter category. It's a film that I'm, not surprisingly, showing in my Images of Fascism class, and it's also a movie that I had not watched in its entirety in decades. Before the advent of Youtube it was a film that was hard to find, and I remember plaguing graduate school connections to track down a copy back when I taught my old World War II & Film class. For my class purposes, I want my students to see how authoritarian regimes define and describe the minority group that they demonize and use to justify their grossly unconstitutional and inhumane actions. 

Movies in 2026 44

 

The Great Dictator, (Charlie Chaplin, 1940)

There are some films that make me cry every time I watch them, and one of them is Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator. His impassioned speech at the end, when the Jewish barber is mistaken for the dictator, and he takes the opportunity - essentially breaking away from both characters to speak directly to the audience as Chaplin, trying to convince the world to not embark on this madness, simply breaks me. I'm showing it in my Images of Fascism class. Every time I watch it I'm reminded that while I always focus on that speech, there are so many great moments in the film. Obviously very highly recommended, especially now. One final note: it's interesting how it's often the comedians who are the only ones brave enough to provide actual critique in the face of authoritarianism.

CFL Attendance or Pre-Retirement

 I don't think you can be more thoroughly in a pre-retirement mode than taking time out from grading and writing to update the CFL map outside your office by sticking in little pins to celebrate the number of people that you have taken to games over the years. I just focused on number of people, not total visits, which would have been much harder to calculate. Again, this process is essentially retired.

I've dragged 19 different people to Alouettes games, 1 person to an Ottawa game, 2 people to Toronto games, and 2 people to Hamilton games (my cousin Nick is already excited about being the third to attend a Tiger-Cats games, one of our plans for the summer).

And 1 to an Edmonton game and 1 to a Calgary game. Kevin is the leader with five CFL cities visited (doubtless, he'll have to be a part of an Ottawa game this summer so that we can be tied at six) and Andy is second at three.

Movies in 2026 43

 

Peter Hujar's Day, (Ira Sachs, 2025)

Now here's a movie that I simply didn't like very much, or at least I simply don't like very much so far. The Criterion Channel is currently premiering Ira Sachs's Peter Hujar's Day. It tells the story of Linda Rosenkrantz's interview with her friend, the photographer Peter Hujar. It was beautifully filmed, and Ben Whitshaw and Rebecca Hall are very good in it. I loved the audacity of the entire film being the two friends simply talking about, as Hujar walks her through his day. If the point was to put the viewer into that time and place, I simply don't know if it succeeded. I think that if you knew Peter Hujar or Linda Rosenkrantz or Susan Sontag or Fran Lebowitz (who are friends of his who come up in his story of his day) you'd say, "Wow, that brings me back," or "I could just see them saying that," but instead it simply left me cold, and felt more like name-dropping than a deeper reflection on the nature of art or the struggles of the artist. The inverse of even the more ordinary, non-famous person sometimes having the most extraordinary day would be the most talented talented, famous person having the most boring, uneventful days. I've talked before about the notion of liking the idea of some artist or some film more than liking it, and I think this definitely fits into the category. It could well be that I'll have a very different take the next time I watch it. Hopefully it lingers on the Criterion Channel so that I can revisit it in a few months. 

22

 OK, the countdown goes on. I have eleven weeks left, and two classes every week. It's still too early to get too emotional about the passing of it all, but maybe it will start to hit me as I approach single digits.

This is an extra meaningful day because for the picture I chose Joe Kapp, shown here during his time with the BC Lions. He led them to their first Grey Cup win and is enshrined in the CFL Hall of Fame. He led the Vikings to their only championship, the 1969 NFL Championship. He's definitely one of those guys who was more than a leader than he was a truly great quarterback, and his NFL passing stats are pretty dreadful, for his career throwing 40 touchdowns and 64 interceptions - however, he's tied for the all-time record for passing touchdowns in a single game with seven. His CFL stats are much better, happily.

Movies in 2026 42

 

A Woman's Face, (Gustaf Molander, 1938)

You never know what you're going to find in the Criterion Channel back alleys. I was searching for something, but came across a collection of early (pre-Hollywood) Ingrid Bergman films. This led me to Gustaf Molander's A Woman's Face. I didn't know anything about Molander, although I guess he directed the original Swedish version of Intermezzo, which inspired the later Hollywood version. It was an odd film, with Ingrid Bergman starting as cruel blackmailer with a horribly scarred face, who, after having her face operated by a kind surgeon, turned into a very nice, self-sacrificing person who ends up saving a boy's life (even though she had initially been involved in a plan to kill him). In the end it's somewhat redeemed by avoiding the temptation of staying in Sweden to be with the man she loves and instead travelling to China with the surgeon to do more helpful things in the world. Apparently, Ingmar Bergman co-wrote the script, which is strange because it certainly didn't feel like an Ingmar Bergman film, but we all have to start somewhere. At a certain point, after her facial scars were cleaned up, it occurred to me that she had been transformed into Ingrid Bergman, that is, impossibly beautiful (her character would have benefitted from a few lingering minor scars). I don't know if I would necessarily recommend it, but I also don't think that I'm any worse off for watching it - plus, well, you get to watch Ingrid Bergman, FFS.