A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide

A four-part essay-series by the director of I Am Not Your Negro, following the sentence that Conrad's Kurtz wrote on his report in Heart of Darkness. Peck narrates a history of colonialism, genocide and white supremacy from Columbus to the American West to the Congo, mixing archive footage, animation and staged scenes. It is the story the textbooks soften.

Why it’s here: The series connects things the curriculum keeps apart: colonial violence, slavery, the Holocaust, and the ideas that justified each. What's punk is the refusal of the neutral tone, and the fact that it names the thread. What's pedagogical is that it can be paused, discussed and argued with. Pairs with Discourse on Colonialism, Orientalism and King Leopold's Ghost. Note: it is long, essayistic and dense, and some critics call its sweep too broad.

Two childhood friends in Nablus are recruited as suicide bombers and given a day to say goodbye. The film follows them across the checkpoint and through the argument they have with each other, with a woman who objects to the plan, and with themselves. It was nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, and drew protests, including a call to withdraw the nomination.

Why it’s here: The film refuses to treat the bombers as monsters or as heroes, and it makes a viewer sit in the argument. What's punk is the willingness to take the most hated subject and still make it human without making it right. What's pedagogical is the question it leaves open about what an occupation does to a person, which is a thing a student can talk about for hours. Ties to the Palestine bundle. Pairs with No Other Land (suggested 10-28), Mornings in Jenin and 5 Broken Cameras. Note: it is contested, some viewers read it as sympathetic to violence and others as an argument against it; both are worth hearing.