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11pm Turner Classic Movies
The Flowers of St Francis (1950 ITA): Director Roberto Rossellini completed his transition from leftist neo-realist to atheist apologist for Catholicism in this cinematic tribute to the patron saint of animals. The filmmaker's next project after his abjectly miserable and deeply spiritual Stromboli, which primarily consists of two hours of Ingrid Bergman looking like she's ready to slit her wrists, The Flowers of St. Francis is much lighter and easily digestible fare. I consider it rather charming, but your mileage will depend on your tolerance for whimsical humor and religious silliness. Co-written by Federico Fellini, it's a film that exists a million miles from Rossellini's groundbreaking Open City.

Monday 09/28/09

6:20am Sundance
Secrecy (2008 USA): We are lied to every minute of every day by our government, regardless of whether Republicans or Democrats are in power. The government then conceals those lies by claiming that to reveal the truth to the unwashed masses would endanger national security. This brilliant documentary takes a look at the pernicious spread of the culture of secrecy, starting with the 1948 Waycross, Georgia, plane crash that led to the Supreme Court's decision establishing the state-secrets privilege. Now we are at the point where the Feds claim that entire court cases cannot proceed because of this so-called privilege. The Bush administration honed the use of the SSP to a fine art; unfortunately, the Obama administration shows no interest in reversing that policy. And why should they? As this film makes quite clear, once you cede power to the executive branch, why would the executive branch choose to surrender it? And why should we, the serfs of neo-liberal capitalism, expect any less from our wise masters? Every person who has any interest in constitutional government, democracy, and freedom needs to see this film.

8:45pm Turner Classic Movies
See No Evil (1971 GB): Willowy Mia Farrow is stalked by a killer in the English countryside in this excellent thriller from director Richard Fleischer. She plays Sarah, a blind young woman who returns to her manorial home only to discover her family seems to have left her to her own devices. Only they haven't; they've all been done in by a psychotic killer, who's quite eager to leave no witness behind, even if she can't see him. Written by Avengers scribe Brian Clemens, this is a taut and satisfying feature with an excellent Elmer Bernstein score. It's followed at 10:30pm by the delightfully titled yet disappointing thriller A Dandy in Aspic, in which Mia plays second fiddle to Laurence Harvey and Tom Courtenay.

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