The Boy in Striped Pajamas (Check title for availability)
2008
94 Minutes

From Amazon.com
The innocence of childhood savagely collides with the Holocaust in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. Bruno (Asa Butterfield) knows that his father is a soldier and that they have to move to a new house in the country… a house near what he thinks is a farm. But his father isn’t just a soldier; he’s a high-ranking officer in Hitler’s elite SS troops who’s just been placed in command of Auschwitz. As Bruno explores the woods around the house, he discovers the concentration camp’s perimeter fence. On the other side sits a boy his own age, with whom Bruno strikes up a friendship–a friendship that will have tragic consequences. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is most powerful in the details: The casual brutality of a Nazi lieutenant; the uncomfortable juxtaposition of the family’s domestic life with glimpses of the treatment of the imprisoned Jews; a ghastly propaganda film suggesting that life at Auschwitz was like a holiday. But more than anything else, Butterfield’s performance makes this film compelling. The young actor perfectly conveys Bruno’s limited perspective even as the film carefully unveils the larger, darker reality. The movie’s ending will undoubtedly spark arguments, but only because of the emotional complexity of what happens–The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is made with great skill and compassion. Also featuring David Thewlis (Naked) and Vera Farmiga (The Departed) as Bruno’s parents. –Bret Fetzer

Persepolis (Check title for availability)
2007
96 Minutes

From Amazon.com
A fascinating and wholly unexpected take on Iran’s Islamic revolution beginning in the 1970s, Persepolis is an enthralling, animated feature about a spirited young woman who spends her life trying to deal with the consequences of her nation’s history. Based on an autobiographical comic book by Marjane Satrapi, the story concerns Marji (voiced as a teenager and woman by Chiara Mastroianni), whose natural fire and precociousness are slowly dampened by the rise of religious extremists. Marji grieves over the imprisonment and execution of a beloved uncle, then begrudgingly adapts to ever-tightening rules about dress, social mores, education for women, and expectations about marriage and divorce. Along the way, her grandmother (Danielle Darrieux) and mother (Catherine Deneuve) help keep Marji grounded during her rebellious teens and encourage her to find life beyond Iran’s borders, a decision that proves both a blessing and curse. An unique window onto a crucial chapter of 20th century history, Persepolis is graphically engaging with its black-and-white, bold lines and feeling of repressed energy, fit to burst. The emotional content is so strong that after awhile, one almost forgets the film is a cartoon. Satrapi co-wrote the screenplay and co-directed the film along with animator Vincent Paronnaud. –Tom Keogh

Documenting the Face of America (Check title for availability)
2008
60 Minutes

A dramatic story of how an unlikely group worked together for social change and ended up creating one of the most astonishing portraits of America ever compiled. The Farm Security Administration /Office of War Information photographic archive chronicled the heartbreak of the Dust Bowl era through the forced relocation of Japanese-Americans at the outset of WWII. This vast collection of photographs remains hauntingly relevant to our lives today.

Human All Too Human: Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Sartre  (Check title for availability)
1999
150 Minutes on 3 Discs

From its roots in the 19th century to its full flowering in the 20th, existentialism has made a profound impression on the course of modern history. This powerful three-part series profiles the lives and critically examines the contributions of proto-existentialist Friedrich Nietzsche; Martin Heidegger; and Jean-Paul Sartre, under whom it ripened to its fullest expression.