By My Lights: a January 25 surprise package

When I say “Give me some light!”, I’m saying “Gimme some truth!”

Wow—it’s hard to imagine this song ever feeling as vital as it does right now. Unless you’ve completly cut yourself off from the news this month, I don’t think I need to spell out for you why this song is blasting in my car almost every day of the week.

And if you haven’t heard Sam Phillips sing it in a version produced by T Bone Burnett, well… here you go:

Recent highlights of The Criterion Closet

Sometimes, though, when I say “Give me some light!”, I’m saying, “Bring me some joy.”

There’s something really joyful about the video series of filmmakers and other great artists walking into the Criterion Closet to celebrate their favorite titles in the collection. Their choices often go directly into my queue — but it’s also common that they affirm movies I’ve been geeking out about for decades.

This week was particularly delightful.

I let out an enthusiasitic “Whoop!” during the first 30 seconds of Denis Villeneuve’s visit to the closet, as he immediately celebrated what I consider the greatest treasure of the Collection. Great to see such discernment from the director of the Dune movies and Arrival. This is how I would begin my own Criterion Closet visit. Watch and learn!

And then, John David Washington and Malcolm Washington glow with the giddiness that you’d see from me if ever I stepped into this sacred space. And lo! Malcolm goes right for The Dekalog!

It’s time for an air show of American heroes

America, perhaps it’s time we took a title from the archives of the mid-’90s and gave it more attention. In 1995, a television movie called The Tuskegee Airmen arrived, directed by Robert Markowitz and starring Laurence Fishburne, Allen Payne, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Courtney B. Vance, Andre Braugher, Christopher McDonald, Daniel Hugh Kelly, Mekhi Phifer, John Lithgow, and Cuba Gooding Jr.

I’m not claiming it’s a lost classic, although it has high marks at Rotten Tomatoes. I’m feeling compelled to highlight it because it’s one of the only films representing an important event in our history — one that the Orange Antichrist wants to erase from our history books.

Or, if we cannot easily access The Tuskegee Airmen, we might have to settle for Lucasfilm’s critically maligned version: Red Tails.

Or maybe this isn’t a story meant for the movies. Instead, we can just read the incredible true story about how Black officers, condemned by some as lacking the intelligence necessary to pilot American aircraft, proved the obvious falsity and the despicable evil of such prejudice, and proved themselves braver and better than the fools who demeaned them.

Read all about it:

• here (The National WWII Museum, New Orleans), or
• here (Tuskegee University), or
• here (MIT Black History).

Why now?

Because our racist anti-American president is stripping this important history from the lessons being taught to Air Force recruits.

How much evidence do you need that the GOP is driven by white supremacists? The evil is right out in the open.

President Donald Trump’s assault on federal diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives has claimed a new victim – the Tuskegee Airmen.

A video describing the exploits of the groundbreaking African American airmen, whose combat service during World War II became the stuff of legend, has been removed from the instructional curriculum for new recruits at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, the hub of Air Force basic training.

Trump, in his inaugural address on Monday, vowed to "end the government policy of trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life." The same day, he signed an executive order dismantling federal DEI programs. On Tuesday, the new administration placed DEI officials on leave and ordered agencies to spike postings or advertisements promoting diversity, equity and inclusion.

The effects were felt almost immediately at Lackland. A memo circulated among Air Force personnel said that "in accordance with NEW DEIA Guidance," portions of the basic training curriculum were being revised "immediately." DEIA stands for diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility.

The memo said a video on the Tuskegee Airmen had been excised from a course on "airmindedness."

Also deleted were a second video titled "Breaking Barriers" and a third about the Women Airforce Service Pilots, an organization of civilian women who tested and delivered military aircraft during World War II, transported cargo and trained male pilots. Members of WASP were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 2009.

More reasons to avoid the movie Flight Risk

If you want a good reason to bury a story about pilots, here’s a reason to make Flight Risk a box office failure.

Mel Gibson fans tell me I’m too hard on him for his outbursts of antisemitism and his public support for Trump. Nope. I’m not.

Here he is reinforcing the idea that the ideal American president is one who treats Americans the way an abusive father beats children.

You know who needs to pay attention to Jesus’ teaching? The guy who made The Passion of the Christ. You know who needs to wake up to the reality of fascism? The guy who played William Wallace crying “Freedom!”

Guess who Trump has just appointed as an ambassador to bring some kind of “reform” to Hollywood? Not even The Onion writes such absurd stories as this.

My lastest moviegoing recommendations and a free-writing session!

Here, for you subscribers who are so generously supporting my work here, are my initial notes on two films I’ve seen this past week that I’d highly recommend for your attention. And then, you can join me for about 12 minutes of journaling together.