Law and Order in Films and Documentaries

On April 19, 1995, Timothy McVeigh, a former soldier deeply influenced by the literature and ideas of the radical right, parked a Ryder truck with a five-ton fertilizer bomb in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal building in Oklahoma City. Moments later, 168 people were killed and 675 were injured in the blast. source: KANOPY database

This documentary profiles UCLA professor and political activist Angela Davis, who was accused and later acquitted of murder and kidnapping. source: SWANK database

Frontline explores the underground world of assisted suicide and takes viewers inside one of the most polarizing social issues of our time -- told not only by the people choosing to die, but also by their 'assisters,' individuals and right-to-die organizations that put themselves in legal jeopardy by helping others to die. source: Alexander Street streaming video

This documentary from director Marshall Curry examines the radical environmental group the Earth Liberation Front, which the FBI considers a domestic-terrorism threat due to numerous acts of property destruction. SOURCE: SWANK database

The issue of gay marriage has polarized the country. This even- handed film follows events in Massachusetts after the state supreme court ruled 4 to 3 in favor of allowing same sex marriage. It is at the same time a lesson in the turbulent political process as a compelling portrait of several responsible, loving, stable couples who yearn for recognition by the state and their community to validate their families. Central to the story are Ellen Wade and Maureen Brodoff, both attorneys, who met and fell in love twenty years ago in law school. They have a fifteen year-old daughter Kate who appears to thrive. Although they have a comfortable suburban life, they feel deeply that they have been deprived of marital status and are "second-class citizens" because they are not "man and wife." The film follows Ellen and Maureen through the filing of the original lawsuit to their historic wedding, supported along the way by gay and lesbian organizations. It also treats with respect the opposition, whose deeply held convictions mobilize them to political action. By examining the political, religious and psychological arguments involved in the heated gay marriage debate, the film demonstrates just how central our concept of marriage is to us as individuals and as members of society.source: Alexander Street Streaming Video

This documentary short by Alanis Obomsawin tells the story of Kahentiiosta, a young Kahnawake Mohawk woman arrested after the Oka Crisis' 78-day armed standoff in 1990. She was detained 4 days longer than the other women. Her crime? The prosecutor representing the Quebec government did not accept her aboriginal name. source: Academic Video Online (AVON) database

In the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in the Greenwich Village section of New York City. Such raids were not unusual in the late 1960s, an era when homosexual sex was illegal in every state but Illinois. That night, however, the street erupted into violent protests and demonstrations that lasted for the next six days.

The Stonewall riots, as they came to be known, marked a major turning point in the modern gay civil rights movement in the United States and around the world. source: KANOPY database

From Emmy®-winners Peter, George and Teddy Kunhardt (King in the Wilderness, John McCain: For Whom the Bell Tolls), this feature documentary follows Bryan Stevenson – lawyer and founder of the Equal Justice Initiative – through his experiences as a capital defense attorney and advocate for community-based reform. Interweaving watershed moments from Stevenson’s cases with insights from his clients, colleagues and members of his family, True Justice: Bryan Stevenson’s Fight for Equality focuses on Stevenson’s life and career – particularly his indictment of the U.S. criminal-justice system for its role in codifying modern systemic racism – and tracks the intertwined histories of slavery, lynching, segregation and mass incarceration. Offering intimate access to Stevenson as he reflects on the transformative moments in his career, the film chronicles his work in Alabama, the birthplace of the Civil Rights Movement and home to the Equal Justice Initiative, as well as the early influences that drove him to become an advocate for the poor and the incarcerated. Illuminating the power of memory in cultural change, True Justice instills hope of a brighter American future through the insights of this remarkable pioneer. source: SWANK database