Howl
Posted on October 14, 2010 at 6:00 pm
B| Lowest Recommended Age: | High School |
| MPAA Rating: | NR |
| Profanity: | Very strong and explicit language with sexual references, some crude |
| Alcohol/ Drugs: | Drinking, smoking |
| Violence/ Scariness: | None |
| Diversity Issues: | A theme of the movie |
| Date Released to Theaters: | October 15, 2010 |
In the post-WWII era of peace and prosperity — and the Cold War and the blacklist and conformity — a small group of writers found much to terrify and infuriate them. “I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked,” one of them wrote, the beginning of a barbaric yawp of a poem of fury and protest called “Howl.” His name was Allen Ginsberg.
This movie is not the story of Ginsberg (smoothly played by James Franco), who would go on to become one of the 20th century’s most acclaimed and influential poets, though he is affecting, even at times electric. It is the story of the poem itself, taking us back and forth between three key moments. First is Ginsberg’s own performance, reading the poem aloud in a small, smoky club. Second is an interview two years later with a now-bearded Ginsberg in his apartment. And third is a courtroom, where the obscenity charges brought not against Ginsberg but against his publisher, fellow poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti
“Experts” (Mary-Louise Parker, Alessandro Nivola, Jeff Daniels) debate the literary merit and destructively prurient content of Ginsberg’s work on the witness stand. The prosecution (David Straithairn) argues that the poem is so detrimental to the minds of Americans that it should not even be seen. For the defense, Jake Ehrlich (“Man Men’s” Jon Hamm), with a natty four-cornered pocket square handkerchief, who shows the court that far more important than any expert’s opinion on the value of Howl
And for me at least, that is where the real poetry is.
tells the story. 
and 
. The creators of “Sesame Street” produce this series with Israel’s Channel HOP! to bring the vitality of Jewish culture and tradition and the diversity of Israeli life to American children and their families. The “Sesame Street” characters and guest stars like Debra Messing and Jake Gyllenhaal introduce children to Hebrew letters and words and Jewish values, mitzvot (good deeds), and holidays. The DVDs are supported with