It certainly took its time reaching national headlines---but as today's celebrity-fueled media should remind us, the most important stories are rarely front and center. The event in question, of course, is the chaos stemming from a racially-charged incident during late summer 2006 in Jena, Louisiana, where nooses were hanged at a school (from the tree seen above, which was later cut down), a fire was set, several students were threatened and at least one wound up in the hospital. Additionally, six black students (dubbed "The Jena 6"), who physically assaulted a white student in December 2006, were charged with conspiracy, second-degree battery and attempted murder...even though the victim was treated and released from the hospital hours later. Those who hung the nooses months before were not punished. Since th...Read the entire review

Democracy is alive and well in Venezuela, or so it seems from Clifton Ross's intriguing feature-length documentary Venezuela: Revolution from the Inside Out. Ross explores Hugo Chávez's rise to power, and the subsequent experiment in 21st century Bolivarian Revolution through interviews with American and Venezuelan academics, and Venezuelan government officials, community activists and educators, and co-op farmers and merchants.

The first third of Venezuela: Revolution from the Inside Out consists of historical background on Chávez's rise to power. This introduction is elementary enough that it can be followed by viewers with no prior knowledge, but lively enough that it can sustain the interest of viewers already knowledgeable about this material. Through archival footage and interviews, Ross lays the groundwork for the more interesting subject of the Bolivarian Revolut...Read the entire review