Roundup: Pop Culture & the Arts ... Movies, Documentaries and Museum Exhibits

Robert Burns 'was a republican who sympathised with the French revolution'

In a biography to mark the 250th anniversary of Burns's birth this month, Professor Robert Crawford, of St Andrews University, has unearthed new evidence which he believes shows the poet was a democrat. At the time, the British aristocracy was extremely worried about the risks of radical ideas spreading in Britain following the French revolution and of threats to George III's life. But Prof Crawford has discovered a private journal, written by a contemporary of Burns, w

Holocaust movie based on phony memoir will go forward

Berkley Books, a unit of Penguin Books, has canceled the planned February publication of “Angel at the Fence,” a memoir by Herman Rosenblat, a man who said he met his wife while a prisoner at a concentration camp during the Holocaust.... ... Atlantic Overseas Pictures, which is making a movie based on Mr. Rosenblat’s story, said it would proceed with production and “portray the fictional elements of the love story.” Atlantic said that Mr. Rosenblat had “agreed to donate all monies f

What a new German movie can teach America about confronting its history with domestic radicals

There is an ungainly German word, Vergangenheitsbewältigung, that has no equivalent in the English language. It means "coming to terms with past," and it was coined to refer to the efforts of German intellectuals, journalists, and even some politicians who, over the past half century, insisted that facing unpleasant truths about their country's history was both a moral and political necessity. As a result of these efforts, Vergangenheitsbewältigung has become part of the core political

Iraq to replace martial monuments with peace art

Nearly six years after Iraqis and U.S. soldiers toppled grandiose monuments erected by Saddam Hussein, Iraq plans to put up 100 new art works it hopes will stand as affirmations of a new era of peace. Before the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, all statues and monuments in public squares made reference to Saddam's Baath party or told a story about its military victories against Iraq's numerous enemies. Along with the giant Saddam statue that U.S. troops pulled down from Bag

Cities battle to claim Poe

The 200th birthday celebration next month for Edgar Allan Poe has resulted in a friendly tussle among major East Coast cities about which has the strongest ties to the American author. Poe - author of "The Raven," "The Tell-Tale Heart" and other poems and tales of the macabre - was born in Boston on Jan. 19, 1809. He was raised largely in Richmond. As an adult, he migrated between Richmond, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York. Befitting his difficul

Gay school's students get a history lesson with 'Milk'

Gay students who attend this cozy third-floor Greenwich Village high school did not live through the launch of the national gay rights movement, which unfolded a few blocks away, and until recently many knew little about the man their school was named after: Harvey Milk. But the new movie "Milk," on the life of one of the first openly gay politicians to hold office in the United States, has given students at the nation's first public school dedicated to teaching gay, lesb

Four Finalists Vie to Design Eisenhower Memorial

After almost a decade of development, officials behind a Washington, D.C. memorial to former President Dwight Eisenhower are close to picking a designer. The selection among four finalists -- Gehry Partners, Los Angeles; Krueck and Sexton, Chicago; Rogers Marvel Architects, New York; and PWP Landscape Architecture, Berkley, Calif. -- is expected in March. "Eisenhower is overdue," said Carl Reddel, executive director of the Eisenhower Memorial Commission. "

The Last Confession of Alexander Pearce: Australia's cannibal convict

It's an historical episode that Australians don’t talk about much – after all, cannibalism by one’s ancestors is not the stuff of dinner party conversation. But now the story of Alexander Pearce, an Irish convict who ate his comrades while on the run, is being retold in a new film that has stirred debate in both Australia and Ireland. The Last Confession of Alexander Pearce, made in Australia and starring two Northern Irish actors, opened in Tasmania recently and was shown on

History attractions prepare for inaugural in DC

... Some unique sites are in the middle of Washington yet off the beaten path for most tourists. One example, the Decatur House museum, was the first neighbor of the White House built on Lafayette Square in 1818. The house, once an unofficial residence for secretaries of state, includes slave quarters within steps of the White House - though they usually go unnoticed amid the hustle of the city. "It's a sensitive subject. It's an important subject, though," museum director

The Good Germans (Re: Valkyrie)

"Why didn't I know about that?" a man asked his buddy as they left a screening of Valkyrie, the World War II conspiracy drama starring Tom Cruise as Count Claus von Stauffenberg, the dashing aristocratic German army officer who came closest to killing Hitler. Why, indeed? It's a great, even inspiring story that anyone interested in World War II history should know. However, it's also a story that the Allied forces occupying Europe had as little interest in telling

Che Guevara: First he took Havana, now he's conquered Hollywood

Before the jungles of Bolivia swallowed him up, Che Guevara had enjoyed a run of success as a doctor, a revolutionary and, especially in his late career, as a student dormitory poster."Che lives!" we of the great unwashed cried in the Sixties, and, more than 40 years after his death, it seems only right that he remains insistently among us – as an idea, a global brand, and, in these times of capitalism's crisis, a useful provocation. His old pal, Fidel Castro, is still in business

Angels uncovered in 350-year-old painting

Secret details, including hidden angels, have been revealed in a 350-year-old British painting following a painstaking investigation by gallery staff. Little was known about A Portrait of a Lady and a Boy with Pan by John Hayls, the Baroque painter, when it was aquired by the Tate in 1995. But a stencilled lot number on the canvas was found to refer to a Christie's sale in 1929, when the artwork - dated 1655-9 - had been described as"Portrait of Mrs Dobson, of West Peckham, Ke

Rare Holbein work bought for a few thousand could fetch millions

The painting was thought to be a reproduction of the Renaissance artist's work and bought for just £1,900 at an auction in France. But, after cleaning and expert analysis, it emerged the work is a genuine Holbein and as such is worth millions. The unnamed Swiss collector, who owns the work, discovered the painting at a sale of heirlooms and bric-a-brac. The sale was linked to the once-stately Lamoignon family, who had connections to Holbein through another painting, Th

English kings and St John the Evangelist

On the right, past the Crown inn, stands the Jacobean brick-built church of St John. It is one of the most charmingly preserved 17th-century ensembles in the county. Today is the feast of St John's church, for it is dedicated to St John the Evangelist (although Frances Arnold-Forster, in her learned volumes on English church dedications, curiously claims that it is dedicated to both St John the Evangelist and St John the Baptist). The little church, from 1623 but stil

Beatles legend John Lennon makes charity television commercial 28 years after death

The Imagine singer was brought back to life using digital technology. He is seen urging people across the United States to support a campaign by charity One Laptop per Child to deliver tough, solar-powered laptop computers to the world's poorest children. Lennon's voice and video image tells viewers: "Imagine every child no matter where in the world they were could access a universe of knowledge. "They would have a chance to learn, to dream, to

Angels uncovered in 350-year-old painting

Little was known about A Portrait of a Lady and a Boy with Pan by John Hayls, the Baroque painter, when it was aquired by the Tate in 1995. But a stencilled lot number on the canvas was found to refer to a Christie's sale in 1929, when the artwork - dated 1655-9 - had been described as "Portrait of Mrs Dobson, of West Peckham, Kent, and her son, Thomas Dobson, in a landscape with Satyr and Cupids". Yet there was nothing cherub-like visible on the canvas. The

US Critic Slams New Cruise Film as Soft on Nazism

The movie, which opened in the US on Thursday, Dec. 25, features superstar Cruise as Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, an aristocratic German who headed a group of top officers who hatched a plot to kill Hitler late in the war. Roger Friedman, film critic for Fox News, said the movie appeared to intentionally minimize the impact of Nazism. "I'm concerned that Valkyrie could represent a new trend in filmmaking: Nazi apologia. Not once in Valkyrie do any of the 'heroes

Technology Helps Humans Work Miracles on a Renaissance Treasure (Wash DC)

"Madonna and Child With Saint Anthony Abbot and Saint Sigismund" arrived at the National Gallery of Art conservation lab 18 months ago with standard symptoms: darkened skin, lost pigment and damaged gilding. Most 500-year-olds suffer such complaints, so senior conservator Carol Christensen wasn't alarmed. Taking the patient's history proved a greater challenge. The Renaissance altarpiece doesn't turn up in the record books until about 1850, at a church in suburban Siena, I

NYT derides Valkyrie movie

There are no discernibly nasty Nazis in “Valkyrie,” though Hitler and Goebbels skulk about in a few scenes, shooting dark, ominous looks at the heroic German Army officer played by Tom Cruise. Perhaps they’re wondering what this Hollywood megastar is doing in their midst, a sentiment that you may come to share while watching Mr. Cruise — who gives a fine, typically energetic performance in a film that requires nothing more of him than a profile and vigor — strut about as one of history’s more en

'Frost/Nixon' tries to rewrite history

... Comes now "Frost/Nixon" the movie. It is well crafted and wonderfully acted. The Great Mentioners of Glitterati are mentioning it for multiple Academy Awards. Still, what you see on the silver screen is to accuracy what a fun house mirror is to true reflection. It distorts history. Magnifying some things, minimizing others. Also, inventing and omitting with dramatic license. Mainly, in the film's climactic moment, the cinematic Frost (Michael Sheen) is seen rising to t