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| What an incredible film this is. It took courage to make this film. Injustice and persecution are a fact of life in this evil world. |
RED CORNER
(1997)
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Review By David Bruce |
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This movie represents the injustice
that goes on every day world wide.
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Jack Moore: Richard Gere,
Shen Yuelin: Bai Ling,
Bob Ghery: Bradley Whitford,
Lin Dan: Byron Mann,
David McAndrews: Peter Donat,
Ed Pratt: Robert Stanton.
Directed by Jon Avnet.
Written by Robert King.
Running time: 119 minutes.
Rated R (for some violence and a scene of sexuality). |
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| The movie opens in Tianamen Square in Communist China. What a powerful symbol! How well we remember the blood bath that happened there. But, now, all seems ..well, ...okay. There is a big brother video camera monitoring everyone. There is a sense of repression. But, Jack Moore (Gere) is in China to do business. Why worry? This is a new day in China, and they are open to trade with the West. Just cut a business deal and go home. Simple. Or is it? |
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| As a sharp businessman he does make a deal to import into China his syndicated television show. Everything seems to be going smoothly. He is good at cutting deals. He performs magnificently. |
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| Within 24 hours, however, everything changes. He is framed for the murder of a Chinese woman he slept with the night before. Poor moral sense here, to be sure. But, an innocent man, never the less. He is dragged out of bed and off to prison in his underwear. |
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| He finds himself in a legal system that is completely different than the one he is used to in the United States. Everything seems backwards and upside down. |
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| He is abused, beaten, tortured, and humiliated. This is a well-done and brilliant film. I will not reveal the process he must go through to fight the injustice done to him. But, I will say that he comes out of it a changed person for the experience. He is transformed from a sleazy self-serving merchant to a person of integrity willing to die for the cause of justice. This is an important adult film. Yes, yes I know critics did not like the movie generally. And, yes it is a showcase for Richard Gere. Yea, yea, and so what? The fact is there are too few films about injustice and the realities of human rights abuses. So, yes, an important film.
This movie represents the injustice that goes on every day worldwide. Certain ethnic and political groups suffer enormously. Dictators imprison and torture "political enemies." Entire people groups are made homeless, killed off or forced into refugee camps. And, Christians, by the way, are the most persecuted group in the world. Communist China is a major persecutor of Christians.
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WORLDWIDE INTOLERANCE AND PERSECUTION
ARE VERY REAL.
Here are some very recent news reports from just 2 weeks in August 1998. |
Aug 20, 1998. The rapid growth of the Nepali church in the 1990s will bring more persecution, a Christian leader said. "Persecution is coming from three different sources -- Hindu fundamentalists, Maoist revolutionaries, and government bureaucrats -- all of whom have reasons to persecute Christians," said Loknath Manaen, former head of the Bible Society. Each group is alarmed by the growth of the Nepali church, which has increased by at least 200,000 since 1991, Compass Direct News said. There are an estimated 300,000-400,000 believers in the Hindu state of 17.1 million. Foreign funding of new churches has been one reason for the growth. Many young people are becoming Christians, Compass said.
Aug 19, 1998. A former Muslim sheik who converted to Christianity in 1995 is in jail in Sudan. Al-Faki Kuku Hassan was arrested in March and charged with apostasy, a capital offense, Compass Direct News said. A Sudan newspaper first mentioned the case publicly on June 24. The paper reported that an unnamed Sudanese man faced execution for deserting the Muslim religion unless he "repented" and returned to Islam within two months. Sudan's minister of justice ordered a review of Hassan's court file in late July and Khartoum Christians speculate that someone at a high level may be intervening on his behalf. "The church here is kneeling down and praying very hard for this man," a source in Khartoum told Compass. "They have nothing to judge him for, but they are just trying to take their time, because they don't want to release him."
Aug 17, 1998. A harsh religion law went into effect in Uzbekistan Aug. 15. The law makes it illegal for anyone except a government-certified clergyman to talk about religion, bans private religious instruction in Sunday schools, summer camps, and homes, and outlaws any church with fewer than 100 members, Compass Direct News said. Church leaders who fail to comply will be subject to criminal charges, starting with heavy fines and leading to sentencing to labor camp, jail, and eventual confiscation of church property.
...Every church and religious organization must have submitted to the government by Aug. 15 a complex set of documents in order to be granted formal registration status by the Ministry of Justice -- or be ruled illegal and forbidden to exist. Registered churches are forbidden to proselytize or do missionary work and must submit detailed quarterly and annual accounts verifying their activities and plans. "This law is very discriminatory, and it is against all Protestant Christians," one pastor said. "I think we'll have a hard time."
Aug 17, 1998. There are approximately 6,500 Catholics in southwestern Tibet, a Buddhist nation. The Catholic community is poor, nomadic, and made up of 70% young people, Lawrence Lu Rendi, 28, said in the July edition of Faith, a Catholic publication. The community has had a church since 1986 and the people's "knowledge of the faith is not strong," he said, Compass Direct News reported. In Yunnan Province there are 3,000 Tibetan Catholics meeting in 10 gathering places, Lu Rendi said. Protestant statistics are not available because of persecution by the Chinese Army, Compass said. Several Christian evangelists have been arrested in the region and some Christians call Tibet "Satan's fort at the top of the world," Compass said. Tibetan Buddhists are staunchly resistant to the message of Christ.
Aug 14, 1998. Three Coptic Christians were killed by suspected Islamists 125 miles south of Cairo Aug. 12. Gunmen attacked a farm and killed three family members, the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem said. Egyptian security police said Islamic militants trying to overthrow the government have waged a campaign of terror in the region for more than five years. More than 1,000 people have been killed, they said.
Aug 14, 1998. A Maldivian newspaper confirmed that Christians are imprisoned despite denials by government officials. "Some Maldivians are now imprisoned" because they have converted to Christianity, an article in the July 29 edition of the national newspaper, Haveeru, said. "It has now been proven that various foreign groups have been active in the spread of other religions" resulting in the expulsion of missionaries and the imprisonment of believers, the article said, journalist Art Moore reported. The Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka has charged that at least 50 Christians, possibly the total number of believers in the archipelago nation off the coast of India, are in jail and are suffering physical and emotional harassment and torture. "Nobody has been arrested for professing any belief in the Maldives," the country's high commissioner in Sri Lanka said. Islam is the state religion in the nation of 300,000 people.
August 11, 1998. Seventh-day Adventist missionaries in the Congo are cleared to leave the country if the violence in Kinshasa worsens. One member of an SDA church has been killed in the fighting between the government and resisting forces. President Kabila took power with the help of Rwandan militia last year. He sparked a conflict last month when he ordered those troops to leave the country. Missionaries in the country are in danger, Adventist News Network said. "The unrest impedes the work of missionary personnel and raises security concerns. The Africa-Indian Ocean Division office has advised expatriate personnel regarding safety measures and possible evacuation procedures," SDA spokesman Lowell Cooper said. At least one missionary family has left the country, ANN said.
August 11, 1998. Bandits killed a missionary to Nigeria Aug. 8. Robert E. Wandersee was killed during a robbery on a highway outside Jos, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America said. Two indigenous evangelists traveling with Wandersee are missing. Wandersee, 46, had served as a missionary to many countries, ELCA News said.
August 11, 1998. Christians in Pakistan are asking the government to protect them from false charges of blasphemy against Islam. "We are asking the government to install curbs and safeguards" to keep a draconian blasphemy law from being abused, Bishop Anthony Lobo of the Pakistan Catholic Bishop's Conference said. The law mandates the death penalty for those found guilty of blasphemy against Islam or the prophet Mohammed. The law is vague and "practically anyone can be charged with disrespect to the Prophet," Lobo said. People often falsely accuse their enemies of blasphemy to settle grudges, Catholic World News said. Christians have called for the law's repeal but that is unlikely to happen, Lobo said. A Catholic bishop publicly committed suicide earlier this year to protest the law. Islamic fundamentalists are likely to violently protest any changes, Lobo said. He noted that former Prime Minster Benazir Bhutto promised to rescind the law but had to retract her statement under pressure.
August 10, 1998. An Egyptian convert from Islam who led many people to Christ is safe in the United States. Ibrahim Hamdy, an army colonel and Koranic scholar, suffered persecution because he became a Christian. He was forced to flee his country several months ago because he convinced 35 others to believe in Jesus, Advance newsletter said. He helped lead another 21 Muslims to Christ in Germany before moving to the United States recently. He is now active in a ministry to Muslims.
August 10, 1998. Taleban officials will establish Islamic Sharia law in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan. The northern city that had been the capital for opposition forces fell to Taleban militia Aug. 8. "Teams from different ministries will be sent for rearranging the executive, judiciary, and administration and to replace them with our system," a Taleban leader said. The Islamic movement has captured most of the country and plans to establish the world's purest Islamic state, Reuters said. Sharia law calls for punishments such as amputation for stealing. Converting from Islam is a crime that can be punished by death.
August 7, 1998. Foreign religious workers in Russia face more burdens. A new government regulation mandates that they renew their visas four times a year, the Associated Press said. The law requires them to travel to a Russian embassy or consulate outside the country to have the document renewed. Other foreigners must renew yearly without leaving the country. The regulation is time-consuming, expensive, and interferes with work, religious groups said. "It will make it all much more expensive," said Donald Jarvis, a Mormon missionary in central Russia.
...The regulation stems from Russia's restrictive 1997 religion law. It grants special status to the Russian Orthodox Church but severely limits the work of Protestant groups and foreign missions organizations. "This step has been indirectly inspired by the new law," Parliament member Mikhail Osadchev said. It is "another move against religious rights and freedoms and another unfriendly act in relation to foreign religious organizations."
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HUMAN RIGHTS
ON THE WORLD WIDE WEB.
Amnesty International
http://www.amnesty.org/
Fair Trials Abroad
http://www.webstar.nl/FTA/
Human Rights Watch
http://www.webstar.nl/FTA/
PeaceNet
http://www.igc.org/igc/peacenet/
International Service Agencies
http://www.charity.org/
Human Rights Web
http://www.hrweb.org/
Human Rights in China
http://www.igc.org/hric/
The United Nations Human Rights page
http://www.un.org/rights/
Refugees International
http://www.refintl.org/
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| JUST AS A WOMAN WAS A DRIVING FORCE IN THE MOVIE, SO WOMEN ARE A DRIVING FORCE IN THE UNDERGROUND CHURCH IN CHINA.
July 18, 1998.
Women play a dynamic role in the underground church in China, a missionary said. "A house church of 10 people grew to 600 in nine years," through the work of a female evangelist, Hans Wilhelm told the DAWN Fridayfax. The woman, known as Sun, was a devout Buddhist but became an outspoken witness of the gospel after becoming a Christian. "Despite only being a new believer herself, she knew what to do: after visiting another church early in the morning, she repeated what she learned to those who gathered in her home," Wilhelm said. Another woman is the driving force behind a church that has grown from 13 to 1,000 people in a few years, he said. |
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