FRESH AIR
Brian De Palma’s films include the horror classic Carrie, the crime epics Scarface and The Untouchables, and the first Mission: Impossible film. His latest release, Redacted, is a fictional take on a real incident — in which U.S. soldiers
who raped and murdered a 14-year-old girl in Iraq. It has strong echoes of his Vietnam War drama Casualties of War. Inspired, in part, by reports he saw on the Internet about the 2006 incident, De Palma takes a raw, cinema-verite approach what’s essentially a faux documentary, telling the story with the aid of soldiers’ blogs, video diaries and online testimonials — all invented for the film, but based on materials De Palma found online. ALSO, the job of a military chaplain serving in a war zone goes well beyond conducting religious rituals and offering spiritual counseling. Soldiers are beset by stress, exhaustion, fear, loneliness — and all too often the pain of losing friends in combat. A unit’s chaplain is frequently the person a young solider turns to for counseling and comfort. Our guest, Father John Barkemeyer, left a parish on Chicago’s South Side to become an Army chaplain in 2003, the year U.S. and coalition forces invaded Iraq. There’s a shortage of Catholic priests in the Army, and for much of his current tour in Iraq, Barkemeyer has been the service’s only Catholic chaplain in the province of Anbar. His Iraq journal — with entries about traveling to Mass in a Humvee, the impossibility of exercising in 145-degree heat, and more — has been published in the Daily Southtown, a newspaper serving his former parish in Chicago’s Morgan Park. We spoke to Father Barkemeyer recently when he was home in Chicago for a brief R&R break. He left for Iraq today to complete his 15-month tour of duty.
RADIO TIMES
In her new book, The Zookeeper’s Wife, writer DIANE ACKERMAN tells the true story of a Polish husband and wife who during the Holocaust saved save over 300 Jews by hiding them from the Nazis in the Warsaw zoo. Tune in but don’t call in as this is a rebroadcast. Listen to this show via Real Audio | mp3
THE WORLD CAFE
Friday November 16, 2007 Thurston Moore
Sonic Youth frontman, Thurston Moore, joins host David Dye on the World Café to discuss his second solo effort, Trees Outside the Academy, an album the artist describes as “meat and potatoes Sonic Thurston tuneage.” Pensive lyrics and beautiful melodies replete with acoustic guitar textures underscore his songwriting prowess and talent for crafting incredible soundscapes. In the second hour, Thurston acts as guest DJ, spinning some of his favorite tunes.
SONIC YOUTH: Superstar