INDEPENDENT LENS: HOME FROM SCHOOL: THE CHILDREN OF CARLISLE 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings). The filmmakers Geoffrey O’Gara and Sophie Barksdale bring to light the stories of Arapaho children who, in the 1800s, were taken from their homes and brought to a federal boarding school in Carlisle, Pa. There, they were stripped of their culture. The filmmakers follow a group of Northern Arapaho tribal members who traveled to the school grounds in 2017 to seek answers for their people, who have spent generations fighting to bring the remains of their lost children home. In July, the children who died at Carlisle Indian Boarding School were laid to rest in their ancestral home land. While many tribes, including the Ute and Navajo, are still uncovering their own truths about similar violent histories, this documentary follows this Arapaho journey in 2017, sharing true accounts of loss, love and healing.
LEADBELLY (1976) 9:45 p.m. on TCM. In this biopic, Gordon Parks, the director of “Shaft” (1971), explores a true story of Black history and exploitation, one that occurred many years before the fictional private eye John Shaft ran through the streets of Harlem. “Leadbelly” follows the life of the titular folk singer (played by Roger E. Mosley), who was known for his mastery of the 12-string guitar — and for singing a song for a Texas governor that led to his pardon from prison, or so the story goes. “He was always refining his music, which provided the order in a life that was in every other respect chaotic,” Vincent Canby wrote in his 1976 Times review of the film. (Parks’s own life was recently examined in the director John Maggio’s “A Choice of Weapons: Inspired by Gordon Parks,” a film that, in its own way, also captures a Black artist’s journey through America.)
Wednesday
SPACE JAM (1996) 5 p.m. on VH1. Michael Jordan stars alongside Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and the rest of the Looney Tunes entourage in this comedic amalgamation of mid-’90s live action and animation. Classic cartoon shenanigans ensue as Jordan is (literally) sucked into the world of Looney Tunes through a sand trap and called upon by the Tune Squad to help save the day (by playing a basketball game, naturally). The battle royale pins the Nerdlucks, an alien team led by the Tunes’s arch nemesis, Swackhammer (voiced by Danny DeVito), against Jordan and the Tune Squad. The good guys are assisted by Bill Murray, who looks slightly out of place but very ready to rumble in a Tune Squad jersey. Can the Tune Squad defend their home? Is that all, folks? (The gang reappeared in “Space Jam: A New Legacy,” starring LeBron James, this year.)
Thursday
BACK TO THE FUTURE (1985) 7:30 p.m. on Syfy. This blast from the past — to the future — takes us for a ride with the high schooler Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) in his DeLorean turned time machine, built by the witty and unconventional scientist Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd). After a shocking encounter in an abandoned mall parking lot, McFly puts the pedal to the time-flying metal. He lands in a 1955 brimming with wiseguys and high school ne’er-do-wells.
Discussion about this post