Hump day recommendations 11/08/2022

Watch: “Fail Safe.” Imagine a film with a story eerily similar to Stanley Kubrick’s “Dr. Strangelove” … that is definitely not a comedy. “Fail Safe,” starring Henry Fonda and a resolutely unfunny Walter Matthau, directed by the great Sidney Lumet, had the bad luck of hitting the big screen in the same year (1964) as the iconic Strangelove. It’s still worth a look in this new era of nuclear paranoia and hotly contested presidential leadership. — Willis

Watch: The Stranger. When I was studying journalism in Melbourne, Australia, I interviewed a generous couple whose grandson, Daniel Morcombe, was tragically abducted and murdered in 2002 in Queensland. We pored over old letters and family albums, which gave me a sense for all that they’d lost. The story of the undercover police investigation to pin down Daniel’s killer has been turned into The Stranger, a new film streaming on Netflix. The film’s understated Aussie flair makes it that much more impactful. – Gabrielle

Listen: Foreign Desk’s Historical Series. For three weeks, Monocle’s podcast team is exploring big historical events, reporting them as if they were happening today. Rather than seeing with hindsight the significance of the USSR’s launch of Sputnik 1, reporters share only the information that was available at the time. Episode 2 takes us to the streets of Dublin for the 1916 Easter Rising, and this coming weekend Episode 3 heads all the way back to the Sack of Troy, wooden horse and all. — Tracy

Watch: "Becoming Champions." Did you know only eight countries — all from Europe and South America — have won the men's soccer World Cup? Check out this Netflix docu-series to learn more about the players and teams that made history while you count the days to kickoff in Qatar. — Carlos

More from GZERO Media

Listen: In 2019, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin met at a summit and described their “friendship without limits.” But how close is that friendship, really? Should the US be worried about their growing military and economic cooperation? On the GZERO World Podcast, Ian Bremmer sits down with Pulitzer prize-winning national security correspondent for The New York Times David Sanger to talk about China, Russia, the US, and the 21st century struggle for global dominance.

Members of the armed wing of Nelson Mandela's African National Congress line up waiting to vote in a military base north of Pretoria, on April 26, 1994.
REUTERS/Corinne Dufka

On April 27, 1994, Black South Africans went to the polls, marking an end to years of white minority rule and the institutionalized racial segregation known as apartheid. But the “rainbow nation” still faces many challenges, with racial equality and economic development remaining out of reach.

"Patriots" on Broadway: The story of Putin's rise to power | GZERO Reports

Putin was my mistake. Getting rid of him is my responsibility.” It’s clear by the time the character Boris Berezovsky utters that chilling line in the new Broadway play “Patriots” that any attempt to stop Russian President Vladimir Putin’s rise would be futile, perhaps even fatal. The show opened for a limited run in New York on April 22.

TITLE PLACEHOLDER | GZERO US Politics

Campus protests are a major story this week over the Israeli operation in Gaza and the Biden administration's support for it. These are leading to accusations of anti-Semitism on college campuses, and things like canceling college graduation ceremonies at several schools. Will this be an issue of the November elections?

The view Thursday night from inside the Columbia University campus gate at 116th Street and Amsterdam in New York City.
Alex Kliment

An agreement late Thursday night to continue talking, disagreeing, and protesting – without divesting or policing – came in stark contrast to the images of hundreds of students and professors being arrested on several other US college campuses on Thursday.

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks with Judge Amy Coney Barrett after she was sworn in as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, U.S. October 26, 2020.
REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Some of the conservative justices (three of whom were appointed by Trump) expressed concern that allowing former presidents to be criminally prosecuted could present a burden to future commanders-in-chief.

A Palestinian woman inspects a house that was destroyed after an Israeli airstrike in Rafah, April 24, 2024.
Abed Rahim Khatib/Reuters

“We are afraid of what will happen in Rafah. The level of alert is very high,” Ibrahim Khraishi, the Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations, said Thursday.

Haiti's new interim Prime Minister Michel Patrick Boisvert holds a glass with a drink after a transitional council took power with the aim of returning stability to the country, where gang violence has caused chaos and misery, on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince, Haiti April 25, 2024.
REUTERS/Pedro Valtierra

Haiti’s Prime Minister Ariel Henry formally resigned on Thursday as a new transitional body charged with forming the country’s next government was sworn in.