Country Time Trivia Quiz

Answer: Brazil

"The Boys from Brazil" is a 1978 film based on an Ira Levin ("Rosemary's Baby") novel. The plot describes how the German "angel of death", Dr. Josef Mengele, clones a bunch of Hitlers. He duplicates Hitler's childhood in the hope that they will all grow up to finish the job Hitler began, forming the Fourth Reich. If that's not scary, I don't know what is.

But wait...you'll never guess who plays the part of Mengele (unless of course you've seen the movie). It's Atticus Finch himself, i.e., Gregory Peck!

Answer: China

Kurt Russell sheds his Snake Plissken skin to become Jack Burton, a 'regular-guy' trucker who gets caught up in a centuries-old mystical battle in San Francisco's Chinatown. The 1986 movie's plot revolves around an ancient Chinese prince and crime lord who kidnaps the beautiful green-eyed Miao Yin who has just arrived from China (the big one). Now Miao Yin just happens to be the fiancee of Wang Chi who is best friends with...Jack Burton. Get it? Why she was kidnapped, and what they must do to save her, I will leave you to discover.

Answer: Egypt

The 1998 animated movie "The Prince of Egypt" is based on the Book of Exodus. The protagonist is Moses, voiced by Val Kilmer ("Top Gun"), an Egyptian Prince who finds out he was born a Jewish slave. His heritage revealed, he goes to his brother, the Pharaoh Ramses, to free his people from bondage, but he is denied.

Then come the ten plagues, Moses parting the Red Sea and the Ten Commandments. You may have heard this story before?!

Answer: India

"A Passage to India" is a 1984 movie based on the E.M. Forster novel published in 1924. It is set in India at the time of the movement for Indian independence in the 1920s. The protagonist is Aziz Ahmed, a doctor born and raised in India but who has adopted the Western language and style.

He agrees to guide an old Englishwoman and her companion around the Marabar caves. The companion, who happens to be engaged to a city magistrate, accuses him of rape. It is then that Ahmed learns of the unfairness of the British judicial system and their concept toward native Indians of "guilty until proven innocent".

Answer: Jamaica

Welshman Richard Hughes wrote the novel "A High Wind In Jamaica", published in 1929; the original title of the book was "The Innocent Voyage". Some 36 years later, i.e., in 1965, it was turned into a movie for 20th Century Fox. The parents of five children decide it is time to send their children from Jamaica to England to receive a civilized upbringing. During the voyage, pirates board the ship and take the children captive.

The pirate captain (played by Anthony Quinn) takes a liking to the kids and tries to arrange for their safety, but things do not go as planned leading to betrayal and death.

Answer: Kazakhstan

Ah! Sacha Baron Cohen is one of his many alter-egos, this time as journalist Borat from Kazakhstan in "Borat: Cultural Learnings for Make Benefit of Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" (2006); this title, by the way, is only the 10th longest, right behind "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb". Anyway, Borat comes to the United States to find out what makes it such a great nation, all the while offending everyone and trying to marry Pamela Anderson.

Answer: Vietnam

The bad news: we lost Robin Williams way too soon. The good news: we can still get to experience his great talent in films like "Good Morning, Vietnam". This 1998 movie features the manic Williams as radio D.J. Adrian Cronauer who is sent to Saigon in 1965 to help brighten the lives of the fighting men over there.

His humor and irreverence shock his superiors who try to censor his shows. Mixed in with the comedy, director Barry Levinson does not let us forget about the horrors of war.

Answer: Rwanda

"Hotel Rwanda" (2004) is a serious, solemn and poignant story that involves us in the horrors and genocide which took place in Rwanda in 1994. The film does this by exploring the personal side, i.e, from the point of view of Paul Rusesabagina, a Hutu and a hotel manager happily married to Tatiana, a Tutsi, both living with their three children.

In a manner similar to Oskar Schindler, in an astonishing act of courage, with the violence continuing to escalate, Paul allows refugees to take shelter in his hotel.

His actions saved the lives of thousands who would otherwise have been slaughtered.

Answer: Mexico

Robert Rodriguez brings us the third film of his trilogy, 2003's "Once Upon a Time in Mexico". This time, the guitar-toting, gun-slinging El Mariachi is back for the final installment. Played by Antonio Banderas (no 'puss-in-boots' here), our hitman is dealing with international espionage, a cartel kingpin, a corrupt general and a psychotic CIA agent. All the while, El Mariachi is trying to get both revenge and justice.

Answer: Morocco

I decided to end the quiz with the iconic Hope and Crosby 'Road' movies. Hmmm, which to pick? Let's see: Rio is not a country; Zanzibar is no longer a country; Bali never was a country; Hong Kong was not a country at the time; Singapore may be a country or a city, and Utopia is really a state of mind. So here we are on the "Road to Morocco", a 1942 comedy where Jeff (Crosby) sells Orville (Hope) into slavery in Morocco so he can buy food. Guilt-stricken, Jeff searches for Orville, finds him with Princess Shalmar (Dorothy Lamour) and the situation gets very complicated.