'Refusenik'

3 stars = Good
Ratings explained

Of the countless documentaries about anti-Semitism and Jewish persecution, few have happy endings. How could they?

A rare exception is "Refusenik," the inspirational tale of an activist-vanguard's 30-year struggle to gain emigration rights for Soviet Jews.

Mixing archival footage with contemporary interviews, director Laura Bialis reconstructs the post-World War II movement that grew up in response to Jewish dissidents' determination to leave Russia for Israel and the United States.

For decades under Brezhnev, at the height of the Cold War, merely applying for an exit visa was a guaranteed "refusal," enough to land the cream of Russia's Jewish intellectual crop -- Vladimir Slepak, Natan Scharansky, Eduard Kuznetsov, Andrei Sakharov, Kirov ballet stars Valery and Galina Panev -- in a Siberian gulag, a psychiatric hospital or jail.

But slowly and painfully, their plight mobilized American and European students to take up their cause in large and small ways. Protest demonstrations were held in the U.S, while "tourists" slipped away from their Intourist guides in the U.S.S.R., dodging the ubiquitous KGB agents and smuggling messages to and from the refuseniks.

It was "a chance to retroactively fight the Holocaust," says one of the many Jewish Americans who helped bring the refuseniks to national and media attention. That, in turn, led to the linking of human rights to U.S.-Soviet trade and security treaties against the will of Richard Nixon ("they're just a few Jews stirring up trouble"), culminating in the Helsinki Accords.

Heroes of the story include Sen. "Scoop" Jackson, Ronald Reagan and, above all, a quiet humanist named Mikhail Gorbachev. The "evil empire" was always a house of cards, and when it fell, so did the forced captivity of Soviet Jews.

At two hours, this is an overlong old-and-new testament to Jewish resilience, to the heroism and sacrifice leading to a new exodus of 1.5 million people.

"You think those students and housewives abroad are stronger than the KGB?" an interrogator asked one of the refuseniks.

They didn't think it. They knew it.

Unrated but PG-13 in nature for political themes and content.

-- Barry Paris, Post-Gazette movie critic

'The Foot Fist Way'

1 1/2 stars = Bad
Ratings explained

It's a funny thing about movies shot in 19 days on credit cards. The theater employee taking your $7 or $10 doesn't give you a break because the comedy was made on the cheap, and no one discounts your popcorn, either.

And "Foot Fist Way" bears all the hallmarks of a limited budget (and appeal).

It might have been a ticklish tonic during the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, but in the sober light of day and summer 2008, it doesn't stack up to the other movies at the multiplex.

It's 85 minutes long and has enough material for half or a third of that. After all, you see one guy break a board or concrete slab with his hand or foot, you've seen 'em all.

The awkwardly titled "Foot Fist Way" stars Danny McBride (also a co-writer) as Fred Simmons, a tae kwon do instructor who trolls for students with parking-lot demonstrations with his teen apprentices.

He falls apart when his slatternly wife confesses to hanky-panky but gets the chance to redeem himself when he meets his idol, a low-rent movie star called Chuck "The Truck" Wallace (Ben Best).

McBride appears to be doing an impersonation of Will Ferrell, a fan who helped this movie get distributed and whose natural appeal might have elevated it a notch.

Despite a decent comic concept, "Foot Fist" feels like a prisoner of its low-budget, unpolished script and ensemble lacking the Judd Apatow magic.

Like a beginner years from a black belt, it seems like a starting point, not an ending one. And yes, I got it. Just didn't like it.

Rated R for strong language and some sexual content.

-- Barbara Vancheri, PG movie editor