Movies have a powerful ability to emphasize parts of the world that may not get the most attention. Following this directive, Jackie takes one of the most infamous events in American history and puts a spotlight on an often overlooked figure in the story. Jackie Kennedy was famous for her youth, looks, breathy accent, and seemingly inherent put-togetherness.

Director Pablo Larrain‘s film shows a far more vulnerable humanity that was never seen in the First Lady during her numerous historic television appearances. Natalie Portman, the vehicle through which we experience this contemporary version of Jackie Kennedy, gives a performance that proves to one-up her gonzo effort in Black Swan.

Jackie begins one week after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Jackie Kennedy is giving an interview to a reporter, albeit what she ensures will be a carefully edited one so as to protect both her and her late husband’s public image. The movie switches back and forth between the tense discussion between the two and the events of the tragedy as they relate to Jackie herself.

The film pays due diligence in terms of American iconography; shots include a surprisingly kinetic view of the assassination, little John John during the funeral procession, and of course Jackie’s pink suit. The only difference is we see these in a far more personal light.

We see Kennedy’s injury in grisly detail, we witness the conversation where the children learn about where their father is, the suit is scored with blood marks. Larrain knows the strength of his film lies in showing these recognizable images and casting the stark light of Jackie’s reality over them.

Natalie Portman portrays her character’s struggle with believable agony while the actions she takes to ensure her husband’s legacy elevate the character to near-mythic proportions. We are shown that the First Lady was far more complex than the restrained elegance she was often limited to in her public interactions.

While attempting to ensure her husband will be remembered for more than just being killed, we see Jackie struggle with what even constitutes a legacy. In a moment of bitterness she asks strangers if the names Garfield or McKinley mean anything, referencing previous presidents who were assassinated.

Jackie finds her own legacy in searching for her husband’s. The movie goes to great lengths to ensure our understanding that her efforts to elevate the White House in terms of cultural relevance and style were more than just mere vanity projects.

The film occasionally gets heavy-handed in its delivery with select moments that seem to preach directly at the audience. Those segments do not detract from Portman though, as she is the vehicle through which we experience this affecting struggle for remembrance. While the role certainly delivers some showy moments, Portman shines in the less flashy sections; her portrayal tops mere imitation and seeks to create a wholly new character that had not been discovered until now. The late John Hurt also makes an appearance as a priest close to the family, and it is in their discussions we see Jackie wrestle with many of the the opaque conflicts crashing through her mind.

The film is worth it simply for Portman, who has a legitimate shot at a second Oscar. Its import in strengthened further given that it follows the trend of recent movies that provide insight into lesser seen or understood facets of well-known stories. This is especially important in an America that is finally giving credence to many points of view that were previously ignored, misunderstood, or forgotten entirely.

In Iowa City, Jackie is playing only at Film Scene.

The Movie Dude reviews limited release movies, independent films, and smaller theatrical films. 

The post The Movie Dude: Jackie appeared first on KRUI Radio.

*This article contains language that may not be appropriate for minors*

In this actually insane, ridiculously controversial ride of an election season, a few candidates have made themselves known more than others. On one side of the table we have the former First Lady, Hillary Clinton, who was a household name before she made her second presidential bid. Perhaps the former FL has become even more spoken of in recent months because of the unprecedented challenger to her campaign, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who has made his own name widely known.

On the other side, the notorious Donald Trump is all most people see (much to the fault of the TV news media). Trump sucks up the majority of the spotlight with the uncouth statements that he makes every few moments. Turning on the morning news often yields the same results– an update on Trump’s ravings from the last 24 hours.

Trump was up against Texas Senator Ted Cruz and the Governor of Ohio, John Kasich. His two contenders often fell into obscurity in his wake, though Cruz appeared to be a real contender for the Republican nomination. Despite his decision to drop out of the 2016 presidential race, it is important that we think about what might have been– many considered Cruz the “next best option.”

Multiple well-known figures have come out with statements recently telling America not to vote for Cruz. This includes former Speaker of the House, John Boehner, a member of Cruz’s own party. To be specific, Boehner reportedly called Ted Cruz “Lucifer in the flesh.” Boehner went on to say the following:

“I have Democrat friends and Republican friends. I get along with almost everyone, but I have never worked with a more miserable son of a bitch in my life.”

On a more humorous note, Ted Cruz’s college roommate, Craig Mazin, has also made a number of statements about Cruz via Twitter. These comments sometimes discuss Mazin’s college experience with Cruz, but also speak of Cruz’s character.

While none of these statements are explicitly about Cruz’s policies, this is where the Senator becomes more problematic. Just for clarification, here are some of Ted Cruz’s most staunch proposed policies:

In recent months, Cruz has made it very clear that he opposes all abortion– including abortions in the case of rape or incest.

Cruz has also said that if he were to become the President of the United States, he would attempt to abolish the Department of Education, along with four other major federal agencies, including the Department of Energy, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the IRS.

On the topic of American Muslims, Cruz has said that he supports increased policing of neighborhoods with large populations of Muslim citizens. “We need to empower law enforcement to patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods before they become radicalized,” Cruz has explicitly claimed. Apparently Cruz is under the misconception that the only population that can become radicalized is a Muslim population.

Ted Cruz is also a large proponent of ending the era of “political correctness,” or in other words, being a decent human being. Cruz claims that political correctness is “killing people.”

These are just a few of Cruz’s stunning policies. The list of ideological thought processes and fundamental principles gone awry goes on and on. While we now have Trump as the de facto Republican nominee and this seems entirely horrible, America just might have a dodged a Ted Cruz bullet.

And while it may seem as though Ted Cruz is effectively waging a war against himself with his undesirable social thought, the internet is waging a war that is much more fierce.

If you’re looking for a laugh, just Google “Ted Cruz Zodiac Killer.” Let the Internet tell you itself. But here is a final piece of beauty provided for you to feast your eyes on:

Shut Up and Listen is a politically-based opinion column in which you, the reader, shut up and listen to what I have to say and then formulate opinions and come to your own conclusions. 

The post Shut Up and Listen: Ted Cruz is the Zodiac Killer appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this piece are those of the writer, not KRUI.

“They’re bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime. They’re rapists and some, I assume, are good people.” These words were used to describe an entire ethnicity. They weren’t spoken by some random person on the street, they were spoken by someone who wants to be the President of the United States: Donald Trump, a reality TV Show host and a real estate tycoon.

In 15 words, he devalued every single hardworking Mexican. He spoke these words in the speech he used to announce his candidacy. In that same speech, Trump talked about how immigrants have no place here.

Since his birth, Trump has been surrounded by immigrants. Trump was born to the son of a German immigrant, and to a Scottish immigrant. Two of his wives are immigrants from the Czech Republic and Slovenia. Trump was born in the U.S., so upon his birth, he was automatically a citizen.

However, apparently that’s not important, because his mother’s skin was white. If immigration had shown up on her doorstep, the minute they saw her white face they would apologize and walk away. The lady with a brown face sitting on a bench? They would instantly walk up to her and assume she was illegal.

People say Trump is full anti-immigration, but I think he’s pro-immigration; ONLY if the immigrants look white. The reason being that he has a whole plan set up for immigration, but only for immigrants that come from Mexico.

His main points include building a wall and having Mexico pay for it and ending birthright citizenship. His flaw with ending birthright citizenship? Not only would I pack my bags and head to Mexico but Trump would have to buy a plane ticket and head to either Scotland or Germany. (Oh, and birthright citizenship is written into a little piece of paper called the Constitution.)

He says he wants to deport all illegal immigrants from the country. However, not all immigrants: just Mexicans. According to Trump,

“When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people. The U.S. has become a dumping ground for everybody else’s problems. But I speak to border guards and they tell us what we’re getting. And it only makes common sense. It only makes common sense. They’re sending us not the right people.”

Trump only said Mexico, so it’s okay people from Central and South America. You can stay in the United States! You’re not from Mexico!

Right now, Mexico is still trying to get over the national embarrassment of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the drug lord who escaped from maximum security prison. Again. After his escape, Trump decided to give his opinion.

Trump is threatening a man who is feared by an entire country. Very smart. That’s what I want in a president. For him to provoke a drug lord and mass murderer. Trump is right in one thing: Mexico has drugs and drug cartels. It is precisely because of these drug cartels that people flee to the United States. They control Mexico’s government at the local and federal level.

On September 26th 2014, 43 college students were attacked by local police ordered by the local drug cartel. What has Mexico done? They covered it up and are still covering it up. (Geez, I wonder why people are fleeing.)

Ever since his speech in the summer, Trump has gone on to say even more ridiculous stuff. However, his supporters are just like him. Ignorant and aggressive. In fact, a Honduran man went with fellow Latinos to a Trump rally. His experience was captured.

His feelings at the Trump rally are what many immigrants feel in their own home country. Fear. Not only did Trump’s supporters get his home country wrong, one man spit on him because of the color of his skin. Ronald is from Honduras, which is separated from Mexico by an entire country. This man is not Mexican, he is Honduran. But to Trump’s supporters and to Trump this doesn’t matter. He is brown, therefore he is Mexican.

Our parents and our peers come to America not to steal jobs, not to make the economy worse, they come to escape. They are scared of stepping out into their street. They come so they don’t have to feel that emotion anymore.

I put out a study on Facebook and asked my peers to answer three simple questions: What their ethnicity was, the chances of them voting for Trump, and why they would or wouldn’t vote for him. I got 35 responses. Out of the 35 only 9 said they were either Hispanic or Latino. That didn’t surprise me. I was raised with the phrase, “Don’t say or do anything that will get you in trouble. Stay out of it.” The parents of Hispanic/Latino children are raised to avoid trouble, to not stick their neck out. This comes from their own fears of their childhood.

In the survey, 23 people said they were white. When I looked at the stats of their chances of voting for Trump I was definitely surprised.

Eighteen said there was no chance of them voting for Trump. Some of my favorite responses included:

“Garbage shouldn’t run for president.”

“This country would be a complete joke if Donald Trump became president.”

“Because he is insane and doesn’t actually have a solid plan for the nation and he’s racist and impulsive. He’d jump us into a nuclear holocaust 5 mins after being swore in.”

“Several reasons: 1. He’s racist af. 2. He’s sexist af. 3. He will single handedly burn this country to the ground. 4. Those creepy comments he made about his daughter. 5. I don’t trust his face. He looks like Peter Pettigrew, if Peter Pettigrew had become a billionaire running a rat mafia. 6. I made a vow that if Trump were to become president I was legitimately going to move out of the country and I’m currently a broke college student and I guarantee I will not have my life together enough to move out of Iowa let alone the US by 2016. 7. #Bernie2k16.”

“He’s a racist motherfucker that would ruin literally fucking everything.”

The rest of the reasons that people wrote went along these same lines. Not only do they think that Trump is racist, but they also consider him a joke. Some didn’t even mention his racist comments, they just don’t want him as president.

The Hispanics and Latinos that filled out the response all had similar thoughts. They wouldn’t vote for him because of what he said about us. “Us,” as in the entire ethnicity of both Hispanics and Latinos.

One Latino wrote, “He’s disrespectful. A leader doesn’t need to offend anyone, more importantly make anyone else seem like less to be a president. A president cares about every human. Doesn’t think of the innocent kids that he also puts down or most importantly, probably even scares. We’re all human. We all deserve respect.” The rest also wrote how they had no respect for him.

One thing that I found more surprising than anything else was that not one single Hispanic or Latino wrote a cuss word when writing their response. Their responses talked about being disrespected and how Trump was rude and condescending.

Going back to what I said before, Hispanics and Latinos are raised to stay out of it, avoid conflict, mind their own business. It is our greatest flaw. We don’t get involved. We don’t push. We keep our heads down, and do what we need to do. And yet we still get discriminated against. The vast majority of us are workers, doctors, teachers, lawyers, actors, singers, and students with no criminal record, but when just one Hispanic or Latino breaks the law, our entire race feels the repercussions. Suddenly, we are all criminals and need to go back from where we came from.

On November 7th, Donald Trump hosted Saturday Night Live. The live comedy show is known for making fun of things that normally wouldn’t be made fun of. While most of their shows laugh at politicians and celebrities and how they act, this one made fun of something else. It made fun of an ethnicity.

Leading up to the show, protesters began popping up. These protesters were Latinos. They weren’t happy that offensive comments made about them were about to be taken as a joke. They were about to be made of fun of on national television. They held up signs that read “Stop the Hate”, “#RacismIsntFunny”, and “#DumpTrump”.  They protested because the show wouldn’t be one rich white man hurling insults. . . It would be an entire cast of rich white people.

Trump’s monologue was the first thing that started off the show after the cold open. In it, he states that he can take a joke, makes fun of Rosie O’Donnell, and says hes rich, full of talent, and handsome.

The Latino protesters had said before the show that they would give $5,000 to anybody that called Trump a racist on the show. They weren’t joking and will give Larry David the money. While everybody considered it a joke, the Latino protesters did not. Trump called Mexicans criminals, but when the Latinos protested against him, they did nothing violent or criminal. They didn’t burn things, destroy things, or vandalize anything. It was a just a group of Latinos asking for respect. Latinos and Hispanics stay out of political issues and other things but when they do decide to stand up for themselves and ask for respect, they are taken as a joke.

This is important because Latinos and Hispanics are never taken seriously and in the words of John Leguizamo, a Colombian-born actor and producer, “This is celebrating somebody who, if he’d said those things about any other ethnic group, he would not be on SNL.” Sure, SNL is a comedy show and they can make fun of things that many wouldn’t, but I didn’t realize that that meant supporting racism.

This hurts because being Mexican isn’t just the color of your skin, or the place where you or your parents were born. Being Mexican is our identity. It is who we are. The reason the insults affect us so much is because we know we aren’t those things. We know that we are not rapists, drug dealers, or criminals. We are human beings.

I was born in America to Mexican parents. My entire life I have told people I am a Mexican-American. Mexican because of the blood that flows through my veins and American because this country is the only one I call home.

If Trump devaluing an entire ethnicity isn’t enough to convince you not to vote for him, then think of all the other communities he’s insulted. Women, other ethnic groups, and people with disabilities have also been insulted by a man who wants to be president and currently leading in the polls.

Donald Trump is a bully. He is not the type of man who we should have or want as president. All he has done so far is insult practically everyone expect for white supremacists. The only good thing that has come out of this is that Latinos and Hispanics have realized that they don’t want to be insulted anymore. They have decided it’s time they were given respect.

President Trump wouldn’t make America great. America isn’t perfect and she probably will never be, but it is our duty to get her as close to perfect as we can. Getting rid of racism would be a step in the right direction, and we can’t do that if our president is a racist. So please, DUMP TRUMP.

To read the first article of Living in White America click here.

This is the second article of the column titled “Living in White America.” Every month there will be a new article discussing how one immigrant group, Hispanics/Latinos, live in America. This column will have articles dealing with anything and everything that concerns Hispanics/Latinos, this could include political and social talks. Some articles may discuss a culture of a different Hispanic or Latino group and interviews with a variety of Hispanics/Latinos will be added as well as interviews with non-Hispanics/non-Latinos asking for their opinion. Discrimination against Hispanics and Latinos has gone on long enough and now it’s time people get a look into a world they dislike so much.

The post Living in White America: Dump Trump appeared first on KRUI Radio.