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Two very good movies opening today:

Miss Bala, by Gerardo Naranjo
...and Coriolanus, by my BF, Ralph Fiennes, and William Shakespeare. 

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Kenneth Lonergan's Margaret.

And on DVD, Miranda July's The Future.

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The Curse of the Blair Witch Project: The Devil Inside.

Bullies in the Name of God

People think that the Ultraorthodox gangs in Israel have finally gone too far, dressing their children as Holocaust victims, yellow star and everything. Appropriating persecution while being the actual menace. That is rich. It's like Nazis claiming victimhood. Problem is, they have always been too far. This sinister behavior should not surprise anybody. These roving bands of God-empowered hoodlums behave like a cult. Their Judaism is an ugly distorsion, an aberration that has little to do with anything civilizing and wise in our ancient religion. Like the Taliban, they take things literally; like other fanatical fundamentalist cults, they operate by coercion, and bullying. Problem is, in Israel, a state they hate, they are not only tolerated, but kept on welfare. Bullies that they are, they take every opportunity to abuse the system, both practically and psychologically. In any other democracy some of their harassment is considered illegal and punishable by law, but in Israel until now they've always gotten a free pass. And because of that, they keep upping the ante, to levels that no sane place on Earth would tolerate. These are the people who have met with that pustulent vantz, Ahmadinejad, who advocates for the destruction of Israel and denies the Holocaust. Why? Because they believe that Israel cannot exist until the Messiah shows up (don't hold your breath). These are the people who teach children to bully little girls, also ultra religious, because they are not wearing their equivalent of a burka, and who have the nerve to demand that other, not mentally insane women, sit at the back of a bus, among many other offenses to human reason. Now they are "upset" because they feel Israeli society is waging a campaign against them. Really. Israel should cut all welfare to them, as should any other clueless Jews who give them charity. Israel should demand they comply with the laws of the state. At stake is the essence and nature of a modern state, but also the opportunity to expose them for the cult and the fraud they are.

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The Best Movie of 2011: A Separation.