Churchill, water at Circle Cinema

Winston Churchill: Walking with Destiny, a documentary on the life and legacy of the greatest man of the 20th Century, continues its run at Circle Cinema in Tulsa's Whittier Square through April 21, 2011.

The newest production from the Moriah Films Division of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, focuses on the years 1940 and 1941, when the Swastika flew over continental Europe. Only England with her back to the wall, under Winston Churchill, remained defiant.

Walking With Destiny highlights Churchill's years in the political wilderness, his early opposition to Adolf Hitler and Nazism, and his support for Jews under threat by the Nazi regime. As historian John Lukacs explains, Churchill may not have won the War in 1940, but without him, the War most certainly would have been lost.

Sir Martin Gilbert, historical consultant for the film and Churchill's official biographer, adds that had Churchill's warnings about Nazi Germany's racial policies towards Jews been heeded in the early 1930's, the Holocaust may never have occurred.

The film examines why Winston Churchill's legacy continues to be relevant in the 21st Century and explores why his leadership remains inspirational to current day political leaders and diplomats.

Showtimes:

Fri, 4/15/2011, 1:30 pm
Sat, 4/16/2011, 9:30 am & 3:30 pm
Sun, 4/17/2011, 4:00 pm
Mon, 4/18/2011, 1:30 pm
Tues, 4/19/2011, 4:00 pm
Wed, 4/20/2011, 2:00 pm
Thurs, 4/21/2011, 11:30 am & 8:00 pm

The H2O Film Festival begins Sunday, April 17, 2011, at the Circle Cinema and runs through Saturday, a series of eight films dealing with the water we drink. Of special note:

GASLAND (Sunday, 4/17/2011, 6 pm): An Oscar-nominated documentary feature on the effects of natural gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing ("fracking"). During my time in San Antonio last fall, there was much talk and concern about the impact of fracking on the Edwards Aquifer, the natural underground reservoir that sustains Austin, San Antonio, and the Texas Hill Country.

RIVER OF WASTE: The Hazardous Truth about Factory Farms (Monday, 4/18/2011, 6 pm): Shortly after his unsuccessful 2006 mayoral campaign, former Tulsa State Rep. Don McCorkell took some film courses and set out to make this film on the impact of factory farming on Oklahoma rivers and lakes, an issue that affects Tulsans every time we turn a tap.

CHINATOWN (Saturday, 4/23/2011, 9:30 pm): 1974's Best Picture, Chinatown is a fictional account of the controversy, corruption, and violence involved in bringing water from the Owens Valley in the Sierra Nevada to Los Angeles to facilitate the development of the San Fernando Valley and to set LA on course to become one of the nation's largest cities. City infrastructure sounds boring, but there are fortunes at stake and plenty of incentive for corruption when planners decide where the next waterline, expressway exit, or transit stop will go.

(For a great non-fiction account of the Owens Valley Aqueduct, the collapse of the St. Francis Dam, and the development of the San Fernando Valley, read Rivers in the Desert: William Mulholland and the Inventing of Los Angeles. A film based on this book is reportedly under development by Phoenix Films with director Frank Darabont.)

(Churchill portrait by British Government [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons)