alec-guimness-films's - Rented List

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From Shekhar Kapur, BAFTA and Golden Globe nominated director of "Elizabeth", comes one of the most powerful and controversial portraits of a warrior, martyr and legend that cinema has ever produced.

Based on intimate, shattering prison diaries, Kapur's film tells the incredible true story of India's 'Bandit Queen'. Her name was Phoolan Devi (Seema Biswas), the Goddess of Flowers. She was India's most infamous outlaw; a kidnapper, murderer and scourge of the upper castes. Sold into marriage aged 11, she was beaten and humiliated, living for years in virtual slavery. Until one day, she found the strength to rise up, to unite a makeshift army of maltreated and neglected citizens and in a five-year reign of terror cut a swath of bloody vengeance against those responsible for the brutality of her past.

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Danish Academy Award Winner Ulrich Thomsen stars as Michael, a man who has everything under control; a successful military career, a beautiful wife and two loving daughters. His younger brother Jannik is a drifter, living on the edge of the law.

When Michael is sent to Afghanistan on a UN peacekeeping mission, it is not long before events turn dramatic and he is missing in action - presumed dead. Sarah is comforted by Jannik who against all the odds takes responsibility for himself and his brother's family. It soon becomes clear that Jannik and Sarah's feelings have developed beyond mutual sympathy - the fragility of their emotions is constantly under threat as the balance between husband and wife and the two brothers changes forever.

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Rome 1960s. Three young criminals, Lebanese (Pier Francesco Favino), Ice (Kim Rossi Stuart) and Dandy (Claudio Santameria), decide to take a step up from the streets of Rome in to the world of organised crime.

It's the birth of a smart and ruthless organization which soon crushes all its rivals assuming total control of the drugs trade. Their progress and changes in leadership take place over twenty-five years, from the 1970s into the '90s, and are inseparably intertwined with the dark history of modern Italy: terrorism, kidnappings and corruption at the highest levels of government. As the three friends head to the end of an era where all vendatas are executed and scores are settled only one question remains, who will be left standing?

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In this outstanding psychological and political thriller, we get a fascinating insight into the lengths and depths that the East European government went to in order to keep tabs on the lives of its population in 80's.

When cold and brutal official Wiesler (Ulrich Mühe) is given the task of spying on acclaimed playwright Dreyman (Sebastian Koch) and his actress girlfriend, he relishes the task, knowing that if he uncovers subversive behaviour he will gain favor with his boss. But the longer he listens in on the couple, their friendships, passions and ideas, the more he realises that his own life and the harsh political regime are lacking in color and joy in many respects. Slowly he begins to doubt morality of is job and politics. As the lines between orders and compassion become blurred, Wiesler becomes more involved with his subject, walking a dangerous path between his duty and his new found reality.

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Jacob Petersen (Mads Mikkelsen) has dedicated his life to helping street children in India. When the orphanage he heads is threatened by closure, he receives an unusual offer. A Danish businessman, Jorgen (Rolf Lassgård), offers him a donation of $4 million dollars.

There are, however, certain conditions...Not only must Jacob return to Denmark, he must also take part in the wedding of Jorgen's daughter. The wedding proves to be a critical juncture between past and future and catapults Jacob into the most intense dilemma of his life.

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Many years ago, Laura (Belén Rueda) left the orphanage where she had spent her childhood.

Now, thirty years later, she returns with her husband Carlos (Fernando Cayo) and her young son Simon (Roger Príncep), with a dream of restoring and reopening the long-abandoned orphanage as a home for disabled children. But the mysterious surroundings awaken Simon's imagination and the boy starts to spin a web of fantastic tales on not-so innocent games...As events take a sinister turn, Laura slowly becomes convinced that something long-hidden and terrible is lurking in the old house, something waiting to emerge and inflict appalling damage on her family.

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In "The Soloist," an emotionally soaring drama about the redemptive power of music, journalist Steve Lopez (Robert Downey Jr.) discovers Nathaniel Anthony Ayers (Jamie Foxx) a former classical music prodigy, playing his violin on the streets of L.A.

As Lopez endeavors to help the homeless man find his way back, a unique friendship is formed, one that transforms both their lives.

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Hailed as the British debut of the year, and the discovery of a major new talent, Joanna Hogg's film deals with Anna, a fortyish childless woman who, leaving her partner at home, joins the family of an old friend at a Tuscan villa.

Rather than the adults, she finds herself drawn to the company of the teenagers, but discovers she can never really be part of either group. Kathryn Worth gives a highly praised performance as the awkward outsider Anna, and rising new actor Tom Hiddleston also shines as the manipulative eldest son, Oakley.

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The new film from Paolo Sorrentino, the acclaimed director of The Consequences of Love and The Family Friend, is a riveting talk of political intrigue and organised crime, based n the extraordinary life of Guilio Andreotti.

Italian Prime Minister no less than seven times, Andreotti's long career was dogged by persistent accusations of conspiracy, Mafia connections and state-sponsored terror. Epic in scope and featuring a commanding performance from Toni Servillo (Gomorrah) as the chillingly enigmatic Andreotti, this compelling and visually dazzling film explores the labyrinthine political machinations and shady criminal underworld surrounding this fascinating and controversial figure.

Based on the incredible true story of Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg (Cruise) and his ingenious assassination plot targeting Adolph Hitler, this engrossing thriller reenacts the daring operation to eliminate one of the most evil tyrants the world has ever known.

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Detective Inspector Martineau (Stanley Baker) is tough, hardworking and one of Manchester's top policemen.

So when Martineau hears of a jailbreak involving ruthless criminal and jewel thief Don Starling (John Crawford), whom he helped to put away, he is convinced Starling will come back to Manchester for one last heist. But when a simple robbery turns to murder, Martineau is on the case, obsessed with catching Starling, his pursuit consumes all parts of his life. But Starling won't be caught easily, and will go to any lengths not to go back to jail, whatever the price...

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A little orphan boy Wheeler (Andrew Ray) who survives by scavenging on the River Thames, decides to walk to Windsor Castle to see Queen Victoria (Irene Dunne).

For many years, Queen Victoria has shut herself away in the castle, in mourning for her beloved husband Albert (Michael Brooke) - and England is suffering. Despite the best advice of Prime Minister Disraeli (Alec Guinness) and her close friend John Brown (Finlay Currie), the queen refuses to return to her people. Can one small and desperately lonely child change her heart when the highest in the land have failed?