RKS 2025 Film: “Jimmy in Saigon”: Who Jimmy Really Was

The McDowell family loses 24-year-old son Jimmy in Vietnam in 1972. His cause of death is not entirely clear to younger brother Peter McDowell fudged with shame and mystery. Despite a June 1972 telegram arriving to advise the family of his death is the cause of death on the death certificate the truth? The content of telegram seems never to have been openly shared amongst the family. Jimmy died as a civilian and not as a soldier.

Filmmaker brother Peter McDowell was 5 when Jimmy died and sets off on a journey of discovery throughout the United States, France and Vietnam to determine not only the cause of death but to discover who is older brother was.

On film discussions with family and friends do not reveal any glaring oddities pertaining to Jimmy’s childhood painting a picture of an ordinary suburban Illinois boy with some quirks here and there. We learn early on however that Peter is gay. Peter’s gayness is seemingly an awkward part of the documentary but assumes more relevance as the film progresses and his journey just might also be a discovery of himself.

Jimmy was drafted and completes a tour of duty in Vietnam in a clerical position but expresses a strong desire to return which he does in early 1971 “to express hedonistic pleasures like never before” and “lead a pleasantly decadent pseudo colonial lifestyle”. He works at a few jobs barely making ends meet and lives in a poor part of Saigon with a Vietnamese family in comfortable surroundings, In his homebound letters he hints at a relationship with the family’s daughter Ly Ly and becomes the best of friends with her brother Dung.

It is fair to say Peter’s journey to “shine a light on the situation” is successful. There are hints throughout the film of Jimmy’s drug use and sexuality suggesting Jimmy’s true character. Peter’s journey is fascinating as morsels are extracted piecemeal through conversations with Jimmy’s friends and acquaintances the true nature of brother Jimmy and his most likely cause of death.

Watch the trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9CbPHZC5g4

Theatrical release in New York on 25April2025 and 8May2025 in Los Angeles followed by a 13May2025 VOD release.

Directed and written by Peter McDowell.

RKS 2025 Film Rating 76/100.

Toronto 2025 Hot Docs: “The Last Ambassador”: No Hope for Afghanistan?

The misogynist cult men of the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan on 15August2021 aided by the “Doha Deal” with the United States ending the war in Afghanistan and lending a degree of informal legitimization to the Taliban.

The Taliban attempted to sell to the international community they had changed shallowly stating they respected women’s involvement within society and guaranteeing their rights “within the limits of Islam and within the context of the Sharia” of course all as interpreted by you know who. The falsity of this marketing hot air was exhibited with the banning by the Taliban of women from receiving any education causing an underground educational world to be created.

Manizha Bakhtari, Afghanistan’s ambassador to Austria, seemingly caught in a no man’s land (no pun intended), continued her ambassadorial duties despite being advised by the Human Resources Director of the Taliban her services were no longer required.

The embassy was closed and the Afghani diaspora in Vienna funded new premises far more modest than the previous one. Revenue, no longer flowing from Taliban Afghanistan, was derived from consular fees. Hand to mouth existence. Eventually the Taliban advised the embassy no longer were any documents issued by it valid.

Bakhtari continued the struggle in her belief the Taliban was a regressive, misogynist and genocidal force. She founded The Daughter Programme a campaign for the education of Afghani girls. She corresponded with video to a young lady Zakia in Kabul, giving the viewer a personal perspective of Taliban repression, recounting the fear, anxiety and bullying of the Taliban attempting to eradicate education for girls.

Death threats of the vilest misogynist brand from anonymous cowards on social media directed at Bakhtari caused security to be heightened at the Viennese embassy. Still Bakhtari persisted with no interim government in exile being formed. 

The background, family life and career of Bakhtari is briefly dealt with and some guilt is expressed by her regarding the secondary role she accorded her family in the service of the Afghani people.

Central to her struggle is preventing any international legitimacy to the Afghani Taliban and promoting the education of Afghani girls.

Bakhtari resides with her husband in Vancouver when she is not continuing her ambassadorial role.

Bakhtari has hope the Taliban will no longer rule Afghanistan. It is only a matter of time she believes.

She was awarded the OECD White Ribbon Award for her efforts in defending the rights of women in Afghanistan.

Her motto is, “peace is not the absence of war, but the presence of justice.”

The director of this Austrian documentary is Natalie Halla.

Screening 25/27April2025.

RKS 2025 Documentary Rating 76/100.

OPERATION 51st STATE: “The Necessity of Establishing a United States Governmental Structure to Manage Annexations”

The Senior Working Group (SWG) suggests a United States governmental structure be created to manage various annexations as they arise. The SWG realizes annexation is a complex process for which the purchase of Alaska and Louisiana by the United States offer insufficient precedents.

The SWG suggests the management structure be called The Bureau of Annexation Management with the following divisions be established:

  • Canada Division
  • Greenland Division
  • Gaza Division
  • El Salvador Division
  • Panama Division
  • Ukraine Division

Disputes shall be adjudicated by an administrative tribunal The Annexation Bureau Tribunal Commission its powers, composition and mandate to be set by Presidential Executive Order.

“OPERATION 51st STATE: “Managing Canadian Opposition to Canada’s Annexation by the United States of America: Give Them Bread and Circus: Sports”

Canadians love their hockey. True narcotics for the Canadian masses despite the fact Americans are a more powerful hockey nation and American National Hockey League teams far outnumber Canadian teams. If only they would recognize the greatness of American beer and drink more of it.

The SWG recommends all international sports teams operating as a Canadian national team be disbanded.

Canadians have a hunger for more Major League Baseball Teams and National Basketball Association teams. The Senior Working Group (SWG) recommends Halifax, Winnipeg, Quebec City, Calgary and Vancouver be granted membership into MLB baseball and NBA basketball with all franchise fees and operating expenses paid for a period of five years through revenue generated by the American Ukrainian Rare Earth Consortium and Gaza Resorts Unlimited LLC.

The SWG recommends the renaming of the Stanley Cup to the Reagan Cup.

The SWG recommends the disbanding of all Canadian Olympic teams.

The SWG recommends the disbanding of the Canadian Football League.

The SWG recommends all Canadian sports stadiums and arenas be renamed after American historical figures.

OPERATION 51st STATE: “Managing Canadian Opposition to Canada’s Annexation by the United States of America: Centres of Influence: Politicos and Top Level Federal and Provincial Bureaucrats”

The Senior Working Group (SWG) concludes political and state bureaucratic centres of influence of the Canadian population must be neutralized/managed.

The Governor of Canada (Canada to be replaced by its state name) will have established a state bureaucracy to manage the new state and implemented a new political structure. This state engineering will result in the permanent retirement of all Canadian provincial (including municipal) and political parties. The SWG recommends all members of legislative assemblies should be transported to secluded locations in the United States for “education” where Pol Pot and Mao Tse Tung methods of re-education will be rejected in favour of a gentler approach of repetition and persuasion with the goal being absolute familiarity and acceptance of the Golden Age of America doctrine.

All top-level governmental bureaucrats and ministers will be transferred to United States military facilities at the Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay for more rigorous processing. Oaths of loyalty to the President of the United States and its constitution will be administered. Refusal to sign the oath will lead to criminal prosecution by executive order of the President bypassing the cumbersome and untrustworthy judicial system.

Eager Golden Age of America enthusiasts revealed in the management process should be encouraged to actively support the new statehood and be rewarded accordingly with insertion into positions of influence in the new political structure of our 51st state.

Hard core resistors shall, by Presidential executive order, be relocated to penal institutions in El Salvador and Albania to serve sentences as determined by Presidential executive order.

OPERATION 51st STATE: Who Should the First Governor of the 51st State Be?

The SWG will make recommendations as to the political structure and governance of the 51st state further on in this top-secret document.

The first Governor shall be chosen by Executive Order of the President as after all this annexation is a national emergency as is all the business of the United States government these days.

The Governor should in all circumstances be Canadian to avoid any sentiment our 51st state feels as if it is being “taken over”.

The President trusts his dear fund raiser friend and golfing buddy Wayne Gretzky “The Great One” as he is known to hockey loving Canadians. Mr. Gretzky lives in the United States promoting the Gretzky brand. The future of his family and their success rests in the United States and not Canada. The SWG notes however Canadians have reacted negatively to Mr. Gretzky’s cozy relationship with the President and a statue of him has been vandalized including a big smear with human feces. His loyalty to the President is not questioned but his Canadian popularity is dubious. It is quite clear the success of his brand is in the United States and not in Canada.

The SWG recommends a Canadian, as they were once known, be appointed by the President as the first Governor of the 51st state. Malleability and loyalty to the United States are essential.

OPERATION 51st STATE: What Should the 51st State be Named? What Should the State Flag Be?

The Senior Working Group (SWG) recommends Canada not be the name of our 51st state. Our research has revealed Canada has not always been the name of our 51st state. At one point its name was Lower Canada and Upper Canada.

“Canada” must be eradicated in the name of our 51st state. Our recommendation is to have a contest for American elementary school children to decide the new name. A name decided by darling innocents may follow the saying that you catch more bees with honey. How can the citizens of our new state object to our youth renaming their state!

The American flag will have another star added to it to denote the admission of our new state into the Union. The SWG rejected the addition of a maple leaf instead of a star as citizens of our new state must recognize their loss of independence.

The SWG recommends the state flag of our new state be a moose holding a Tim Horton’s coffee cup in one hand and a hockey stick in the other.

RKS 2025 CANADIAN Film: “Self Driver”: Riveting, Stylistic, Trippy and Mystical

D (Nathanael Chadwick) is a Toronto taxi driver pressed to the edge of an economic cliff driving a taxi ruled by his Vrmr app picking up a variety of passengers in all manner of human and mental disarray. His taxi is littered with food wrappers and garbage. His in-car diet is an express pass to a cardiac ward admission. His vehicle is on its last legs with its interior and engine in critical condition.

Like much of the world he has been “downsized” from an office job and forced to drive and live an Uberish existence. A new father and a persistent landlord pressuring him to pay overdue rent he picks up two party girls one of whom pukes in his cab. In desperation he phones Nic (Adam Goldhammer) a passenger who offered him a job in a new start up that pays extremely well. All he must do is follow the instructions of a Tonomo app to pick up passengers and other things as he quickly learns. Failure to follow the instructions leads to deductions from his earnings. Tonomo takes over his life on his first night.

The passengers become increasingly strange going to strange destinations, leaving behind guns and bags the app instructs him to dump in the garbage. He is instructed to smash a passenger in the face repeatedly receiving a bonus from the app with each blow.

The last pick up of a man and lady friend descends into bizarreness if not chilling evil not solely attributable to the “pick me up” cube left by a passenger he ingests that sends him on a bizarre trip that has his air vent with the googly eyes speaking to him.

D is perhaps like Travis Bickel that we know from “Taxi Driver” or Ernest Borgnine the taxi driver in “Escape From New York” as they are all victims of circumstances.

The film enveloped in a brilliant soundtrack by Antonio Naranjo is riveting, stylistic, trippy and mystical and that is sufficient to propel the film into a weird new Canadian classic despite lacking a complex plot who cares as enjoy not being a fly on the wall but the heavy dose of surrealism and the seamy underbelly of endless and perpetual road construction in Toronto.

Watch the trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FIi4zmmgoA

Written and directed by Michael Pierro. It will be available on DVD 8May2025.

RKS 2025 CANADIAN Film Rating 95/100.

RKS Throwback CANADIAN Documentary: “Bombay Calling”: Up Close and Personal with Those You’d Prefer to Hang Up On

The 2006 National Film Board of Canada documentary, “Bombay Calling” takes you up close and personal with callers operating in a Mumbai call centre you really would prefer not to converse with and perhaps have hung up on in the past.

Indian call centres selling legitimate products and services proliferated for some time in the early 2000’s selling services and products to populations in the developed world. I recall receiving many Indian call centre calls attempting to close a sale often with heavily accented salespeople on horrifically poor telephone lines trying to sell me Bell Canada services. Even the names of the callers were westernized. It was far cheaper to outsource to India than to use domestic labour forces.

Call display coupled with widespread aversion to answering calls from a number you don’t recognize, the call centre selling practice has morphed into scam calls threatening your ruin if you don’t fork over dough. A popular scam call in Canada is purportedly from The Canada Revenue Agency threatening dire consequences unless you immediately pay amounts owing for taxes.

Call centres also currently exist for product and services support and in addition to India on the line it could be the Philippines, El Salvador or Mexico.

The Mumbai call centre featured in the documentary was targeting British Telecom customers attempting to woo them to switch to a competitor. Highly educated university graduates lured by generous salaries work in organized teams with managers and quality control staff to sell. Culture training and accent training are part of the curriculum. Team building exercises, prizes, competitions amongst employees and threats are used to “motivate”. We watch employees at the call centre saying the call centre rocks but after work for drinks it is the call centre sucks!

Instead of that voice on the phone one watches the actual people behind the voices, what their background is, their aspirations and fears and a glimpse at the modernization of India. A humanizing experience.

Perhaps in 2006, when the documentary was filmed, call centres were selling legitimate products and services and one might classify then as annoying but of late they are viewed with distrust as peddlers of scams a far more menacing product line than telecommunications products.

This 70-minute documentary is by Ben Addelman and Sami Mallal.

RKS Throwback CANADIAN Documentary Rating 89/100.

RKS 2025 CANADIAN Wine: Leaning Post Cuvée Winona

There are glitzy and glorious wineries in Niagara, Ontario looking more akin to castles and grand estates than a down-home winery where wine is the only show in town and no $36 truffle pizza is available. Leaning Post is one of those down-home wineries where great wine is about the only game going on.

We try a Cuvée Winona Red which is a blend of Merlot (61%) and Cabernet Franc (39%). Rested in French oak barrels for 18 months. Unfiltered. 620 cases produced.

Aroma: Bright red cherry, raspberry, blackberry, red currant and milk chocolate.

Palate: Grippy tannins. Firm and cloistered fruit requiring decanting and preferably another year in the bottle to relax. Black currant, blackberry with a thin wisp of raspberry jam. Short austere finish.

Personality: I am from a non pretentious winery where the effort is expended on the wine as opposed to the show. I am simply good and solid not flashy and quickly forgettable.

Food Match:  Baked cod in a rich tomato sauce with roast potatoes and a Greek Salad on the side.

Cellarbility: Will really click in 2026 but don’t go beyond that point.

Price: $29 CDN.

RKS 2025 CANADIAN Wine Rating: 90/100. Rick VanSickle 91.

(Cuvée Winona 2020, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Leaning Post Wines, Stoney Creek, 750 mL, 14%).