History Discussion Group

On the 1823 American frontier, a trapper (Leonardo Di Caprio) gets mauled by a bear and left for dead. But he survives alone...

Alejandro G. Inarritu directed this 2015 release from a Mark L. Smith-script based on Michael Punke's novel, itself based on the true story of Hugh Glass. (A 1972 version, Man in the Wilderness, starred Richard Harris.) It won Oscars for Inarritu, Di Caprio and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki.

A watch party for historical movies on Friday nights.

Punk rocker Sid Vicious (Gary Oldman in his first major role) has a destructive relationship with Nancy Spungeon (Chloe Webb).

Alex Cox directed this 1986 release from an Abbe Wool script. The tragic true story gets turned into a very black comedy. (It was originally titled Love Kills, with a rumor that Rupert Everett and Madonna were being considered for the leads!) It's developed something of a cult following.

A watch party for historical movies on Friday nights.

After World War II, as India approached independence from British rule, the Muslim League led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah agitated for their own independent state in the sub-continent's northwest and northeast. India's Congress Party reluctantly agreed, and the British effected a hasty partition, leading to panic and violence. (Lord Mountbatten, the last Viceroy, worsened the situation by "preponing" Britain's departure from 1948 to 1947.) The result was as many as 2 million deaths, and 10 or 20 million refugees from one of history's greatest forced migrations. (Jinnah himself died less than a year later.)

Pakistan's 1956 constitution declared an Islamic democracy, but in practice the nation's armed forces held outsized power. In 1958 military Commander-in-Chief Mohammad Ayub Khan overthrew President Iskander Mirza and led the nation, as President under the 1962 constitution, until being deposed himself in 1969. (The capital, formerly the port city of Karachi, was moved in 1966 to the new city of Islamabad, not far from the military headquarters at Rawalpindi.)

East Pakistan chafed under a government dominated by the West, leading to rebellion in 1971. The West's brutal crackdown was ended by Indian intervention, leading to the independent nation of Bangladesh. (That nation, an economic basket case in its first years, has since made surprising economic progress.) Pakistan's military rulers were left discredited.

Now Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, leader of the Pakistan People's Party, took over as President of West Pakistan alone, becoming Prime Minister under a 1973 constitution. But after a controversial election he too was deposed (and later executed) by General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, leading to another decade of military rule. After Zia's 1988 death in a plane crash, democracy was restored and government alternated between the PPP under Bhutto's daughter Benazir and the Pakistan Muslim League under Nawaz Sharif. A 1999 coup left Pervez Musharraf in charge until he resigned in 2008 to escape impeachment. Recent prime ministers have included Nawaz' brother Shehbaz Sharif and cricketer Imran Khan.

For background reading, you can try James Wynbrandt's A Brief History of Pakistan.

A watch party for historical movies on Friday nights.