Dominic Frisby has released another libertarian music video, this time about his dream libertarian homeland in Show Me the Way to Ancapistan. The closest thing to a libertarian homeland at the moment is, of course, New Hampshire, but no reason not to dream.
News
Sound Of Freedom | Film
UPDATE: Sound of Freedom will be released in theaters July 4th.
Tim Ballard, a former US Homeland Security agent, quits his job to fight the enslavement of children by sex traffickers and the governments that back them. Based on a true story. [ Sound of Freedom credits: Dir: Alejandro Monteverde/ Mira Sorvino, Jim Caviezel, Bill Camp/ Action-Adventure, Drama, Thriller/ Anti-Slavery/ 2023]
Variety reports that “Angel Studios has acquired worldwide distribution rights for the film and will release it theatrically in 2023.” It’s very odd that it took so long to get this on track for the public to view and that ultimately only a faith-based distributor would take it. By the trailer it looks fantastic. In March, 2022, even actor Tim Ballard expressed some confusion as to why it had not been released, saying “I don’t understand the marketing and politics behind when movies are supposed to come out…we are waiting as you are waiting.” Anyway, it’s now officially coming.
Per the Borgen Project, “The Sound of Freedom is an upcoming thriller directed by Alejandro Monteverde, based on the true story of former CIA agent Tim Ballard, who left the CIA to combat child sex trafficking. Jim Caviezel will be playing the role of Ballard…Timothy Ballard is the founder and CEO of Operation Underground Railroad. The former CIA agent spent 10 years working on the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. He also worked for the U.S. Child Sex Tourism Jump Team as an undercover operative. Ballard worked undercover in the U.S. and in many foreign countries, where he was able to rescue numerous children from sex slavery and bring traffickers to justice. In 2013, Ballard left his job to start Operation Underground Railroad.”
How to See It
In Theaters July 4th
Online Video Search
Links
Official Homepage
IMDB
Wikipedia
Wikipedia: Timothy Ballard
Book: Slave Stealers: True Accounts of Slave Rescues, Then And Now
Book: Operation Toussaint
Cambodian Day of Remembrance: Five Films to Honor the Dead
Pol Pot and his gang of Khmer Rouge socialist comrades murdered 25% of Cambodian citizens, in total somewhere around two million lives, in the span of just five years (1975-1979). Cambodia declared May 20th to be a day of remembrance to honor these dead.
Pol Pot was taught the wonders of agrarian socialism while attending college in France, and returned home with a determination to build that utopia — whatever the cost. Per Wikipedia, “[The Khmer Rouge] planned to create a form of agrarian socialism founded on the ideals of Stalinism and Maoism. The subsequent policies caused forced relocation of the population from urban centers, torture, mass executions, use of forced labor, malnutrition, and disease.”
The five films below are among the few to touch on this subject. The Killing Fields (1984) was the first major film to tell of this democide, and for many it was the first they had heard of it. It was followed two years later by the Disney film The Girl Who Spelled Freedom (1986), which told the true story of Linn Yann, a young Cambodian girl who impressed the nation by winning the US spelling bee championship just a few years after her arrival. Much later, two documentaries were made, Enemies of the People (2009) and Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten: Cambodia’s Lost Rock and Roll (2014). In 2017, Angeline Jolie released the documentary, First They Killed My Father.
Enemies of the People
“This is patient, persistent, probing and fearless journalism of the highest order and it shocks to the core. ”
–Time Out
“Enemies of the People is another disquieting testament to the fact that ordinary individuals under extreme pressure will carry out the most monstrous crimes.”
–New York Times
The Girl Who Spelled Freedom
This Disney film tells the true story of Linn Yann, a young girl who escaped the killing fields of Cambodia, immigrated to America, and four years later became the U.S. national spelling bee champion. For a film made 30 years ago, it’s remarkable how popular this film remains; it currently scores a 95% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes. More details here.
The Killing Fields
In The Killing Fields, a New York Times correspondent and his Cambodian guide brave the dangers of war and socialist atrocity to report the truth, and to protect each other. This true story was the first many had ever heard of the Cambodian democide. The film was nominated for Best Picture. More details here.
“Himself a survivor of the Khmer Rouge regime, lucky to have escaped with his life, Ngor subsumes himself in the role in a way that makes one wonder that he made it through filming without losing his mind.”
–Eye for Film
“Few feature films have captured a nation’s agony more dramatically than Roland Joffé’s The Killing Fields.”
–Radio Times
Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten: Cambodia’s Lost Rock and Roll
“A film not just for the musically obsessed, Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten is a poignant and an important reminder that art matters, especially when one is facing the abyss.”
–Austin Chronicle
“This is eye-opening and frequently moving, elevated by sharp editing that imaginatively juxtaposes major events in government and entertainment history.”
–Chicago Reader
First They Killed My Father
Angelina Jolie produced a film for Netflix about the devastating Cambodian democide carried out by the Khmer Rouge (“Red Khmers,” followers of the Communist Party of Kampuchea in Cambodia), led by Pol Pot, who dreamed of remaking Cambodia into an agrarian socialist paradise. In the process of “remaking” Cambodia, Pol Pot deliberately massacred a quarter of the Cambodian population. The film will be based on the book by the same name and is available on Netflix.
James Stewart: Libertarian Film Hero
James Stewart — born May 20, 1908 — made many films over his long acting career. Included among these are seven films of interest to libertarians, likely the record to date for any individual actor, and a record not just in quantity but in depth of libertarian content: two of his films are ranked among the Top 25 Libertarian Films ever made. His films touch upon multiple libertarian themes, from government corruption, to social tolerance, to the importance of a free press, to gun rights, to opposition to the draft.
Stewart’s first libertarian film was Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, a now-classic from Hollywood’s Golden Age about an ordinary American appointed to the Senate who is nearly destroyed by a corrupt political machine. Think all hope for liberty is lost? Need some inspiration? This is the film to watch. This hero’s quixotic battle of one against the ill-informed many is an image with which many libertarians will identify. It’s a powerful film, which at its first opening was the subject of considerable controversy. When the Washington Press Club sponsored the film’s debut, inviting four thousand politicians, politicos, and other guests, the premiere backfired. Some of the guests were offended by the film’s criticism of Washington, arguing that it would hurt the country’s morale. Columbia Pictures was subsequently offered several million dollars to shelve the film but released it anyway.
A year later, in 1940, Stewart starred in The Mortal Storm, which follows the rise of National Socialism in prewar Germany as it divides family and friends, each choosing sides according to personal convictions. This is one of the first films to portray Nazism critically; up to this point, Hollywood had taken a neutral position or even a sometimes sympathetic attitude toward fascism. What makes The Mortal Storm particularly noteworthy is its dramatization of the social domino effect that takes place once authoritarian rule reaches a certain critical mass, as ordinary people align themselves with even the most malignant power for fear of incurring its wrath. In such an environment, tolerance and the truth are the first casualties. When this film was released in 1940, Hitler was so offended by it that he banned it in all territories occupied by Germany, rather a lot of territory at the time.
In 1948, James Stewart starred in Call Northside 777, based on a true story about a heroic reporter who cleared an erroneously convicted man. It’s a heartwarming tribute to a free press and a reminder of its importance as a check on government, as the reporter must lock horns with the justice system to free the man the courts unjustly put behind bars. Call Northside 777 is something of a film noir. Direction is at times inspired, particularly with regard to its use of cinematography that makes the most of its early docudrama style.
This was followed in 1950 with Harvey, about an eccentric man who believes he is constantly accompanied by a giant rabbit, which of course no one else can see. So his sister attempts to have him institutionalized. The theme here is social tolerance, and it’s expressed through one of the most charming comedies of confusion ever filmed. James Stewart plays his leading role to the hilt and is supported by many wonderful performances in smaller roles, including that of Josephine Hull, who spends the entire film in near hysterics to great comic effect. This is a well written story full of good will and humor that implicitly defends the freedom of eccentrics to be eccentric.
James Stewart had a lifelong interest in aircraft, and volunteered for the Air Force in WWII, serving heroically, taking great risks in missions over heavily-defended Axis territory. In No Highway in the Sky, he played an eccentric engineer who reveals a fatal flaw in the design of a commercial airliner. Unlike today’s shallow and unlikely portrayals of evil businessmen forever in conflict with creative genius, in this film all involved in the manufacturing process are of good will, but with conflicting perspectives derived from their different areas of knowledge. This is a good example of the creator-as-hero theme. It’s also a very enjoyable film, a drama with a light comedic touch and a positive view of the human character.
In 1952, Stewart played the lead in Carbine Williams, a biopic about Marsh “Carbine” Williams, the ingenious self-made inventor who ultimately earned seventy patents for weapons design, including one for the M-1 Carbine. This light, short-barreled rifle, adopted by the U.S. in World War II for troops previously armed with pistols, saved the lives of countless GIs. Marsh was also a strong-willed man who believed deeply in his own freedom, so much so that he openly defied Prohibition and its enforcers and was incarcerated as a result. It was while in prison that he developed some of his most important inventions. Stewart is ideal in his portrayal of Williams, projecting a character of great determination and toughness through subtleties of expression, speech, and even posture. It’s a satisfying film that Second Amendment fans in particular will not want to miss.
In 1965, in the middle of the Vietnam War, James Stewart made an anti-draft film, Shenandoah, about a Virginia farmer who defies both the Confederate and Union armies to steer a neutral course for his family through the American Civil War. The anti-draft and antiwar elements are prominent, very satisfying, and must have struck a chord with many when the film was released. The story is alternately humorous and moving, with a first-rate performance by James Stewart, who steals the show as the cantankerous but caring father, a tough man with a deep love for his wife and children. It was the runner up for “Best Libertarian Picture” at the 1994 First International Libertarian Film Festival.
Stewart was a staunch Republican, with sometimes libertarian instincts. Per Wikipedia, he once had a political argument with arch-leftist Henry Fonda, ending in a fistfight, and he campaigned for libertarianish presidential candidate Barry Goldwater and for Ronald Reagan. His choice in film roles says much about him — no other actor to date has contributed so much to libertarian film. He died in 1997. President Bill Clinton commented at the time that the country had lost a “national treasure … a great actor, a gentleman and a patriot.” He got that right.
Links
R. J. Mitchell: Happy Angel Birthday!
British aeronautical engineer R. J. Mitchell was born on May 20th, 1895. He is little known today, but as the inventor of the Spitfire fighter plane, he is said to have done more to turn back the Nazi menace than anyone other than Churchill. What makes his story all the more remarkable is that his heroism was largely single-handed and alone, occurring in the mid-1930s before the governments of England and the US were fully awake to the dangers of Nazi Germany.
Alarmed at rapid German rearmament, and without government funding or support, he decided on his own to prepare for German aggression by designing the most deadly fighter plane of his time. However, in the midst of his work, he was diagnosed with cancer before he’d even finished the plans. He nonetheless persevered in completing his remarkable design, literally spending the last cancer-ridden months of his life putting the final touches on his “impregnable wall against the barbarians.” When the Spitfire was finally built, it surpassed even his own expectations for agility and deadliness. It was such an effective fighter, it was the only Allied warplane that was kept in production for the entire duration of the war, and was a key factor in saving the free world from National Socialism. He is celebrated in the film Spitfire.
Vindicated: Amanda Milius ‘Plot’ Film Was Right
Film director Amanda Milius has just been vindicated.
In 2020, Milius released The Plot Against the President, a documentary that alleged Hillary Clinton’s campaign had colluded with intelligence agencies to falsely smear the Trump administration with links to Russia. The political left treated the film’s narrative as a right-wing conspiracy theory of the lowest order. Facebook wouldn’t allow the filmmaker advertise the film. Amazon put it under review for two weeks mulling over whether to allow it. Mainstream reviewers refused to review it.
Well, they can start writing their apologies now. Special Counsel John Durham just released the final findings of his multi-year investigation into the basis for the FBI’s surveillance of the Trump presidential campaign before, during, and after the 2016 election — and it turns out they had no legal justification for that surveillance and subsequent legal harassment against him. They did it simply because the Obama administration didn’t like Trump. A straight up soft coup. It was, as Amanda Milius suggested, quite literally a plot against the President.
Per the Federalist, “The Obama administration possessed no real evidence that then-candidate Donald Trump colluded with Russian government officials when it launched its investigation into the Trump campaign leading up to the 2016 election, according to a new bombshell report…Despite the agency’s claims that the inquiry — commonly referred to as Crossfire Hurricane — was predicated on the belief that Trump’s campaign was colluding with Russian officials leading up to the election, Durham’s report found the FBI had no evidence to warrant such an investigation.”
This is Watergate times ten, because this plot involved not just a handful of corrupt officials but entire agencies of the US government. Milius is more than vindicated.
If you haven’t seen The Plot Against the President, I strongly recommend it.
