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The Crossing (2000)
Did Washington really make those remarks?
First of all I do like the film, for a TV movie it's more than decent. However I do take issue with the way the hessian "mercenaries" are depicted, especially Washington's monologue on how he can't comprehend men willing to help in the suppression of the American people merely to make money. I don't know if that's an authentic quote and Washington didn't know better, but the fact remains that those "mercenaries" were conscripts from German principalities, especially Hessen-Kassel, whose monarch Landgraf Friedrich II. financed his lavish court life imitating that of Versaillles by selling his troops regiment-wise to the English.
While properly trained, none of these soldiers were mercenaries. They were mostly the sons of peasants and artisans that were pressed into service and sent overseas to fight for a foreign king in a hostile country. With the exception of a few high ranking officers who spoke french or English they were mostly unable to communicate with the locals. Later on however, as the hessians eventually got a better understanding of the conflict, more than a third of them deserted their regiments, joined the American forces and stayed after the end of the war. Also part of the American force that won the final victory over the British in Yorktown was an all-volunteer German regiment under the command of General von Steuben.
The Hunger Games (2012)
For once a good Hollywood remake
Usually I tend to be annoyed with Hollywood's way of treating foreign cinema productions as little more than rough drafts or mock-up models, a worthy few of which are honored by being properly re-staged as Hollywood blockbusters. However in this case I have to admit that "The Hunger Games" manage to take a scenario that seemed outlandish, tacky and lacked context in the original film ("Battle Royal") and provided it not only with a plausible background story, but with real depth. What appeared as cheap and almost pornographic in the Japanese adaption is turned into what amounts to valid social commentary on how authoritarian societies manipulate the masses by instilling just enough hope to foster initiative yet enough fear to keep them in their proper place, promoting simplistic mantras as eternal truths and endorsing all sorts of escapism and infighting to keep people from questioning assumed authority.
Why, and I used to actually suspect Hollywood as part of such a machinery...