Arts and Culture

Film promotion graphic for Babi Yar Context
Arts and Culture

Film Review: Babi Yar. Context Examines Ukraine’s Past as It Fights for Its Future

Wes Hopper
 March 30, 2022
In Sergie Loznitsa’s new documentary film, Babi Yar. Context, the decade spanning the Nazi invasion of Ukraine through the ensuing war crimes trial is explored using only archival footage and the occasional title card. Babi Yar (Babyn Yar) is a ravine outside the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv where on September 29-30, 1941, the Nazi Regime massacred an estimated 33,771 Jewish people. The result is a stark, uncompromising exploration of war and genocide that enlists the viewer in bearing witness to one of history’s most notorious atrocities. 
Prayer for the French Republic play
Arts and Culture

Prayer for the French Republic

Wes Hopper
 February 28, 2022
On the face of things, Prayer for the French Republic, a new play by Joshua Harmon, is about several generations of a French-Jewish family living in Paris and contemplating whether they're still safe in the country they call home. In actuality, it is a discomfiting examination of the state of the Jewish diaspora.
Young woman in a red velvet hat and a pink overcoat flings her arm above her head as though singing an expressive song in front of an old fashioned butcher shop
Arts and Culture

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Returns Sharper and Funnier Than Ever

Wes Hopper
 February 16, 2022
The first episode of the new season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel starts out with a single word, "Revenge!" As the show slowly makes clear, this isn't just revenge against Shy Baldwin, the singer and entertainer who left Midge (Rachel Brosnahan) stranded on the tarmac as he took flight to Europe without her.
The Garden of the Finzi-Continis opera two people singing on stage
Arts and Culture

The Garden of the Finzi-Continis

Wes Hopper
 February 4, 2022
First published as a novel in 1962 and adapted into a film by the same name released in 1970, The Garden of the Finzi-Continis has had remarkable staying power. Its author, the late Giorgio Bassani, has two archives and study centers dedicated to him in Italy and major new English translations of his work have come out in recent years.