A cult, a term widely utilized within popular culture and American society to describe contemporary, arguably, religious groups has garnered an extremely negative stigma. These media portrayed, ‘dangerous’ groups have over time been accumulating and growing amongst other religions. It is definite that though, historically, these ‘cults’ have been victims of marginalization, invalidation of their beliefs and media/government harassment, many of these organizations are minimally nothing of the demonized ameliorated image, that is enveloped by American society. Hence, from this point forward, within the ‘briefing piece’, it is only with a deep understanding/a religious study interpretation to acknowledge these groups as ‘new religious movements’ (NRMs). As a standoff between the FBI and the religious organization is inevitable, considering illegal acts may be occurring within the NRM, it is with a better approach to look at the film ‘Waco-Rules of Engagement”, directed by Amy Sommer, to avoid any unlawful procedures that could possible occur with the group. Additionally, by gaining insight with the help of Catherine L. Wessinger’s article, “How the Millennium Comes Violent” the agency could better handle the situation and avoid the effects of acting too hostile against the organization. Apparent through watching the entirety of the film, “Waco-Rules of Engagement”, extreme measures were enacted upon ‘The Branch Davidians’ – religious followers of David Koresh, by the ATF. By
In the 1940’s a series of propaganda films titled Why We Fight were produced for the purpose of defining the enemies of World War 2 to justify the necessity of America’s involvement in war. Hitler needed to be defeated, Nazism had to be destroyed, and tyranny had to be stopped for the sake of the American way of life by any means necessary. How could society argue against America’s role in the world war when freedom was being threatened? As Martin Luther King Jr. said “Injustice anywhere is a threat to everywhere.” No questions asked, Americans mobilized in the name of liberty and freedom. However the 2005 documentary film Why We Fight directed by Eugene Jarecki is not a sequel or war propaganda. The film informs the audience and questions America 's military industrial complex that has since dictated policy since the victory of World War 2. With the help of narration, soundbites, and credible speakers Jarecki shines light on the pernicious impact of the armed industry on our government, army, and citizens.
Prompt action through prosecution may be taken against anyone encouraging violence and jihad, through hate speech against different sects and the spread of jihadi or hate literature.
Television reviews in the 1990s showed the deaths of more than 86 members of a religious group in Waco, Texas, known as the Branch Davidian. Texas served as a symbol of the then Attorney General Janet Reno’s bravery and heroic efforts after taking responsibility for the deaths. Most members of the Texas Parliament reaffirmed the notion that the leader of the religious sect, David Koresh, was mentally unstable and his followers willingly allowed themselves to be misled. However, was it necessary for the law enforcement agencies in Texas to massacre the members of the Branch Davidian cult? Was there another alternative for solving the issue?
The Patriot. A person who is willing to fight for their country against enemies. The Patriot begins in the year 1776 in the colony of South Carolina. Mel Gibson plays a planation farmer who fought in the French-Indian war named Benjamin Martin. A War was about to begin and Benjamin wanted no share partaking in the soon-to-be American Revolutionary War. He was more concerned about his two eldest sons who wanted to fight under General George Washington. The beginning of the movie starts out with Benjamin Martin peacefully living with his kids whom no longer have a living mother. Benjamin’s oldest son, Gabriel, joins the war without permission from his father. As the rest of the family are at home one afternoon, Colonel William Travington burns the Martin Plantation to the ground and his second oldest son was killed immediately for interrupting Travington’s plan. Benjamin finds a way to seek revenge because of the rage he experiences after his family is hurt. He begins to realize that he needs to fight for his children and he will not do it alone. Both Benjamin and his oldest son, Gabriel, decide to join the militia as a way of showing what they are capable of. Throughout the film, Benjamin Martin becomes a soldier whom others respect and admire. He shows the militia what it means to truly care for not only his men, but also for his family. As the film progresses, a turn of events take place that show Benjamin’s continued want of revenge against General Charles Cornwallis. The Continentals and the militia soon commence the battle at Cowpens. This is when Benjamin Martin meets his enemy, Travington, who murdered his two eldest sons. After a drawn-out battle, Benjamin stabs Travington in the neck and kills him for the sake of his children. It is then that General Cornwallis retreats his forces and the rest celebrate. Even though some portions of The Patriot aren’t as accurate as we perceive, it is a film full of war and despair, but also a film that contributes to the importance of dignity and the love for one’s family.
The Waco Siege was the attack of the Branch Davidians compound that belonged to the religious group the “Branch Davidians” who followed David
The film The War Room is a documentary about Bill Clinton that has very little to do with Bill Clinton himself. The primary focus of the film is devoted to the team of campaign strategists that got Clinton to the presidency. The two main players the film focuses on are James Carville--the Lead Strategist for the Clinton campaign and George Stephanopoulos the Communications Director. The film follows them and their team of campaign strategists and experts as they try to get Arkansas Governor, Bill Clinton, to the presidency. The documentary highlights many key moments in Clinton’s campaign, for example the Gennifer Flowers scandal. However, the film showcases what was happening behind closed doors in the War Room, where Clinton’s
When the Branch Davidian cult compound burned during an FBI raid after a 51-day standoff in Waco, it enraged a madness in McVeigh. When this event took place, he had one goal in mind and this was to extract revenge against the government. He wanted to send a message to the increasingly hostile government by bombing one of their own buildings and the government employees who embodied them inside that building. In a letter he wrote roughly a year before the attack, to an old friend, Steve Hodge, McVeigh confessed his thoughts: "I have sworn to uphold and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and I will....I have come to peace with myself, my God, and my cause. Blood will flow in the streets, Steve, Good vs Evil. Free men vs. Socialist Wannabe Slaves. Pray it is not your blood, my
The Alamo is a 2004 American war film about the Battle of the Alamo amid the Texas Revolution; it is a motion picture that catches the dejection and fear of men sitting tight for two weeks for what they hope to be sure passing, and it some way or another succeeds in taking those popular society brand names like Davy Crockett and James Bowie and giving them human structure. The film was coordinated by Texan John Lee Hancock, delivered by Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, and Mark Johnson, dispersed by Touchstone Pictures, and featuring Dennis Quaid as Sam Houston, Billy Bob Thornton as Davy Crockett, and Jason Patric as James Bowie. The film relates to history, the Alamo looks exact, and, in reality, we find that San Antonio de Béxar was deliberately re-made with small saving of cost. In any case, a feeling of the way the occasions at the Alamo are joined with the national story of slavery, development, and the evacuation of Native American from the eastern United States in the 1830s and 1840s is missing. On the off chance that we incorporate this bigger story, we can maybe figure out the more extensive point of view that at first created enthusiasm for the venture.
U.S. Navy SEAL ,Chris Kyle was just the average die hard Texan. He aspired to become a cowboy, but it wasn’t working out in his favor. After seeing the horrors of terrorism on 9/11 he was ready to fight for his country and enlisted into the military. He goes on to fight in four tours and becomes the deadliest sniper in American history. After each tour, he felt that he had to go back. He had two goals that he couldn’t give up on; protecting his team and taking out the deadliest enemy sniper, Mustafa. Chris would not stop until he achieved his goals, when he finally did, he faced a new battle. He struggled with normal daily life, but even then he persevered and found a new passion to aid him. Throughout this film, Clint Eastwood portrays the theme of perseverance through the use of setting, camera angles, and the main character Chris Kyle.
The Waco siege ended 22 years ago in a colossal fire that ended up killed 76 people including two pregnant women and over 20 children. The siege began on February 28, 1993, when the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) attempted to execute a search warrant at Mount Carmel Center ranch, a property held by religious group Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas (leppard, 2013). The government suspected a radical religious leader David Koresh of stock piling firearms and manufacturing drugs. The raid rose into an intense gun fight that last lasted two hours with the result four agents and six Davidians killed in action. The FBI then launched a long-term assault while attempting to negotiate with Koresh and force him to surrender the ranch. The siege ended on April 19, 50 days after the primary raid, when the FBI sprung a final assault against Koresh. Three fires broke out in the building, killing 76 men, women, and children, including sect leader Koresh. A total of 82 people died as a result of the Waco siege (Leppard, 2013).
“Charlie Wilson’s War” directed by Mike Nicholas is based on a true story of the early 1980s. This politically themed movie was released in the year 2007. The main components of the movie are politics, stubborn politicians, national leaders, war, international policies, national security and most importantly, funds. The movie depicts how funds are gathered through which Afghanis people acquired the weapons and required training to fight against the Russians. It is a story of a liberal democrat, a beautiful socialite, and a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agent, who made a pact to conquer the Russians in the Afghanistan. The main characters were played by Tom Hanks as a Congressperson Charlie Wilson, Julia Roberts as Texas socialite Joanne Herring and Philip Seymour Hoffman as CIA Agent Gust Avrakotos. All three of them played an extraordinary role in shaping the history of Afghanistan.
Bordertown by Gregory Nava is about the brave story of a journalist, Lauren Adrian who risks her life to save Eva’s life and investigates the murders of young women in Juarez, who are in a modern type of slavery, which makes people work long periods of time without proper remuneration. The director brings to the screen the immorality and inhumanity occurring in Mexico to these young women. In addition, his message illustrates how democracy in Mexico is not being taken as serious as in other democratic nations and how the American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has disadvantages. For instance, rich and powerful families exploit poor individuals with the government’s consent and with the help of United States through NAFTA. From what I have seen in Nava’s movie, I agree with his message.
Enemy of the State (1998) is a dramatic movie set in the American context, which critically analyzes the notion, and potential implication, of unrestricted state surveillance. The synopsis of this film is that a man named Robert Clayton (played by Will Smith) is a lawyer who had a chance run-in at a lingerie store with a former college colleague named Jason. Jason is in the midst of attempting to escape from some National Security Agency (NSA) agents. His home was raided shortly before this encounter, because Jason was in possession of a video recording that showed the identity of a congressman’s assassin, and the killer also happened to be a high ranking federal agent named Reynolds. Unbeknownst to Robert, Jason slips this tape into a bag that Robert is holding. The information on that tape could be very damaging to the NSA and so, as the title would suggest, Robert then becomes an enemy of the state.
Defiance is a movie written, directed and produced by Edward Zwick. This movie’s setting is in Nazi occupied territory in Belarus during World War II. The storyline follows the Bielski brothers as they attempt to evade capture and fight for their lives, and over the course of the movie, the lives of twelve hundred other Jewish survivors on their quest for life, liberty and the new promised land. The film features Daniel Craig as Tuvia Bielski, Liev Schreiber as Zus Bielski, Jamie Bell as Asael Bielski and George MacKay as Aron Bielski. The film is based upon the novel Defiance: The Bielski Partisans written by Nechama Tec and is a true story s of survival during the Nazi occupation of eastern Europe. This is a gripping movie full of
The movie The Patriot takes place in South Carolina in 1776. The colonies were tired of paying taxes and all of this from England. They decided to go to war and fight for independence. This movie is mainly about how a farmer named Benjamin Franklin lived in South Carolina and the British brutally murdered his second oldest son right in front of his family then later the same person Col. Travingston kills Benjamin’s oldest son Gabriel. Due to this he joins the militia in order for justice of his sons. At first he wants nothing to do with it but once his sons were murdered he wanted revenge. The Patriot was about the American Revolution, the Patriot militia fighting against loyalists in the south. The film was mainly about Benjamin Martin’s family and fighting for liberty against England. They did show us about the war and them fighting in it but it was mainly about Martins’ life. They did show us them fighting in the war and how they would line up and fight in the war but they didn’t show us enough.