It’s amazing what a minor surgery and the flu will do for catching up on those DVDs and videos! I’ve seen quite a few of them recently.

“Finding Forrester,” directed by Gus van Sant, was an excellent exploration of the relationship between a bright black teenager who is an aspiring writer and an older white novelist.

“Higher Education” is a scary film about the depths of racism on a college campus.

“The Quiet American” provides an interesting perspective on French colonialism in Vietnam and early steps toward the entry of the U.S. into the struggle.

“The Mystic Masseur” wasn’t all that great a portrayal of the life of an ordinary man who becomes a mystic and then a politician.

There were several others that I can’t remember right now. That flu haze is settling in again.