captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> schifrin: good evening, i'm nick schifrin. jue woodruff is away for th holiday. onashe newshour this christm eve... rcaves crashing) ...indonesia seas for hundreds of missing people, following the deadly tsunami that struck without warning.ve then, ment in limbo. negotiations between the white nsuse and congress continue, as the shutdown threao extend into the new year. we look back at this year's major moments in movies, and which films are leading theca race. and a newshour holiday tradition: u.s. troops around rld sing a christmas classic.nd all that aore on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs nehour has been provided b

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>> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your vbs station frwers like you. thank you. >> schifrin: the official casualty count in this weekend's indonesian tsunami, ke rising. today officials confirmed at least 373 dead, and they said the number will likely increase.

in serang, indonesia tonight, the christmas eve mass was traditional, but heavy with tragedy. parishoners prayed for those swept away by the weekend tsunami. >> ( translated ): some of our imurch members are also vi of this tragedy. even now, some of them are in the process of burials outside the town. schifrin: it was saturday night when the tsunami hit sunda strait, between the islands of java a sumatra, with no warning. a local pop band was performing at the moment the waves arrived. meltiple band members died, and ers of the crowd were swept away. >> ( translated ): when i saw water come in, about knee-high, i tried to run, but suddenly the current dragged me and i was drifting away. >> schrin: today, that beach resort is destroyed, as are local villages. ofd searcheams fanned out looking for sign life. they are getting better organize says the

international red cross' steve mcandrew. >> so it's getting better every minute as debris is being cleared. the government and the indonesian armed forces are responding there in the area sort of making access better every minute every hour. >> schifrin: and that's allowed those who fled the tsunami, to return today. but they say they've had to clean up, themselves. >> ( translated ): we're'r grateful that safe now, and aid is coming in from communities and the city w central, bhaven't received any from the government yet. >> schifrin: in all, some 1500 were injured. ild health clinics are overwhelmed, famy members line up outside, anxiously checking patient lists. it's been just three months since another tsunami caused by an earthquake killed more than 2,000 people. saturday's tsumi is thought to have been triggered by underwater landslides caused by the eruptiak of the anak oa volcano. that means child of krakatoa volcano, which erupted in the

1880s and killed 36,000 people. today president joko widodoe visited unami zone, and acknowledged there is no system to detect a tsunami triggered by a volcano. >> ( translated ): in the, futue government will provide detection equipment, warning systems that can give warning to everyone. >> schifrin: but for now, people on these islands, are living in fear of another tsunami, dapecially after the volcano erupted again yest >> the government has recommended people to stay away from the coast at least until 8:00 a.m. on the morning of the 26th, so another t days. >> schifrin: some will spend that time ieving lost loved ones. the lead singer of the band that was hit, is apparently its only surviving member. on instagram, he asked people pray for his bandmates and wife, all washed away by the waters. a government spokesman today admitted the country's network of buoys, designed to detect tsunamis, haven't worked since 2012 because of vandalism, and budget shortfalls.

of a partiald d government shutdown, and there's no end in sight. our white house correspondent yamiche alcindor is here with an update. >> schifrin: okay, yamiche, where do things stand with in the prtiess. >> negots have stalled and looking like theñi shutdown is going to last with into 2019, incoming chief of staff nick mulvaney doesn't expect this to be resved quickly, the white house is 0 willing to come off the $5 billion amount which is what the president was with asking for the border wall, but there is no specific number in a sight and the about at least two to $3 billion apart when it comes to democrats andñi republicans on this, and i want to read to you a statement that the democratic leaders, senator presentatimer andñi re nancy pelosi put out today, doesn't people from the same white house aresaying different things about what the president would accept or not accept to end his trumpng shutdown mait impossible to know where he, we withstand at any moment so we are at a stalemate. >> schifrin: so president trump a couple of weeks ago said i will take the blame f this shutdown but more recently he has blamed the democrats. we are on day three right now,

what is he sa >> the president is saying a lot. there was a tweet storm going on, i want to red to you one specific tweet i think encapsulate what the president >> he said at about, he said thisorning on chrtmas eve i am all alone, poor me in the white house waiting for the democrats to come back and makeo a deal on desperately needed border security, at some point the democrats not wanting to make a deal will costur country more money than the blb about. crazy. so the president is in fact alone in the white house, the first lady an his son barohn are going to be flown or flying back from florida to be with him for christmas, but there is, therein was a today where he was sitting in the white house, while the lawmakers in the senate and house were out, he did meet with secretary of homeland security today, but as of right now, the presidentñi is still waiting for shutto end. >> schifrin: and you mentioned the law makers are out.as in thewe saw law make enters absolutely urgent about responding to the shutdown, why aren't we seeing that urgency

this time? >> well it is only 25 percent of the government being affected, the other thing is that the government workers have been out of work since the shutdown began, it began on midnight on saturday, today which is christmas e was a federal holiday, that is trump created by executive order, christmas i also an executive order or federal holiday, and then youay have wednehere furloughed workers will start feeling the pain, the other thing is th the white house, they are saying the incoming chief of staff is saying that what is going to be impacted isçó january 11, also, museums around the country and in dc are stilopen so people are able to do that, so i it isa little different thahe past. >> schifrin: it looks like the shut down may last to 2019. >> yes. >> schifrin: yamiche alcndor, thanks so much. >> thank you s >> schifrin: in the days other >> schifrin: in the day's other news, wall street crashed into christmas with another big sell- off, driven in part by presidenn trump's weattacks on the federal reserve. the dow jones industrial average lost 653 points to close at 21,792.

the nasdaq fell 140 points, and the s&p 500 shed 65. we'll have a full analysis after the news summary. today, israeli prime minister n benjamanyahu agreed to dissolve parliament and call for early elections, in april.un his anment came amid mounting divisions within his right-wing coalition, includings last month'snation of his defense minister. netanyahu said he me the move after his small parliamentary majority appeared to come up ort on a key vote. >> we knew what we were doing, it was right not to go to t'ections then and i think perfectly sensible to go to elections now. we had a complete agreement by the way, of all the partners, complete unanimity. >> schifrin: netanyahu isvo heavily d to win re- election, but he is also facing an ongoingorruption probe. today, israel's attorney general said an early vote would not affect the investigation. in afghanistan, at least 29 people diedn an hours-long assault on a government building in kabul. it began with a suicide car

bombing, followed by gunmen storming the building. both the taliban and iamic state militants have carried out similar attacks in the past. the death toll rose to 26 today, in somalia, after saturday's twin car bombings in mogadishu. the extremist group al-shabab claimed responsibility for detonating a car bomb near the presidential palace and a smaller one by an underground prison. amid the violence, people the world over marked this christmas rs for peace. in bethlehem, palestinian scouts paraded in manger square playing bagpipes and drums. pilgrims filed into the "church of nativity," the site revered as the birthplace of jesus. and at the vatican, worshippers filled st. peter's basilica, where pope francis took part in the traditional celebration of midnight mass. still to come on the newshour: oll street in turmoil-- we examine the causthe market's worst month in a decade.t' how the presiddecision to force out defense secretary james mattis will affect u.s. policy in syria and afghanistaon our politicsy team breaks

down the impact of the federal shutdown and more of the latnet political ws, plus much more. >> schifrin: there was no christmas eve gift for investors, shareholders, retirees and the jittery markets. in fact, today was the worst trading day ever on a christmas eve as indexes plunged yet it comes after the markets finished their worst trading week since the 2008 financial crisis. between slower growth, higher interest rates, lower profits, a shutdown and tra wars, there's plenty on investors' minds. but as william brangham tells us, the president and his team seem to be adding to that anxiety. >> brangham: heading into day, several of the major stock erdexes were already in bear markettory for the first time in a decade. that includes the nasdaq and the standard & poor's 500. a bear market is when an indexdr s 20% from a recent high.

then, over the weekend, there esre new revelations that further unnerved irs. president trump was reportedly considering firing the chairman of the fedal reserve jay iawell. administration offls have since denied the president had any such intention. but the president agnt after the fed today, tweeting: he only problem our econ has is the fed. they don't have a feel for the market." on top of that, yesterday, treasury secretary steven mnuchin issued a puzzlingat ent, saying he'd spoken with the heads of the biggestit u.s. banks to ate the strength of the financial system and nfirm their reserves of cash for lending. to many, this harkened bact to a concern en since the great recession in 2008. annie lowery watches all this for "the atlantic." >> you wrote a columicin the atlanthere you were describing this letter that mnuchin put out yesterday and equated it to going to the h doctor when ye the of a head cor

doctor can't stop talking out cancer. and how alarming that s i mean, what do you think the secretary was up to? >> yes. so it would be qui normal for the treasury secretary to talk to to heads of big banks. ths is something that happens all the time, that isn't surprising, but the treasury put out this press release on a weekend before a holiday assuring maket participants that nothing was iappening, indicating that there was some kind ofnancial crisis or i will quid at this crisis at the big banks which is not something anybody was rorid, worried about. vanilla bear market, but there is no signs that the bahas are teetering or tt we have to have the 2007, 2008 2008 worcinter irs against so, a so it was a very weird statement and it frankly unnerved a lot of market participants who were like the secretary mnuchin see something we don see? is there something that we are missing? because this just seems like a down market. >> schifrin: i guess that is

just a mystery we will have to a wa find out about. that is it do you think is really going on the market? we have seen thisvery precipitous drop. what do you think is driving th? >> there are a number of fundamental issues that the market is responding to. so first and perhaps most important, the fed is raising interest ratea, that is inng borrowing costs and slowing the economy down, the markets are pricing that i and it is starting to show up in terms of, you know, decreasing home sales, decreasing car defaults, we have problems in a number of financial markets, the leveloan market finishes is having some issues where people are losing some money. all of this is somewhat to be expected, though, right? kete we were in a bull mar ten years and thisxd is seen as being a natural correction, people are also concerned about trump's trade war and concernedu uncertainty emanating from washington, they are concerned about slowing global growth. all of t affecting the markets and might indicate that the u.s. economy might slow down, but aga

is very different from being in a sort of situation that mnuchin was gesturinto where you might have a kind of financial crisis and be worried about, you know, the stthility ane safety ofaw isn't. and therefore -- and i really important to note the federal reserve is not responsible for the market goin up, it does not see the market iing up as being its responsibility, responsible for two things. and two things only. price stability and

unemployment. and both of those thgs are looking pretty good, so that happening within the context of r meanshy financial sec the fed is going to continue probably raising rates.ar unless we to see signs of the economy itself slowing down. >> schifrin: but does the president orome of his allies who agree with the criticism oft the fed there is, there might be some underlying factor there is is a sense that the global economy is slowing down and that maybe we might see those ripple effects fairly soon and maybe raising interest rates is not the best idea. certainly, and i thinthat if you started to see the employment rate go up, inflation to dro growth to slow down, there is, those kind of things would absolutely give the fed pause. but the markets going down in donald trump sort of yelling at the he fed is not something that is going to change their path. right now i think the markets are conc ned aboutstability emanating from washington from the trump administration itself, d one thing that hppened with

secretary mnuchin's secretary, talking to market partanic is they were weirded out by it and felt it was sip boll lick of the kind of shabby state of government, inexperience at the treasuryand so that statement alone kind of freaked them out, along with all of the tweets that donald trump has been making, the government shutdown this genernse of chaos emanating from washiton, so they see the uncertainty as playing into the animal spirits here. >> schifrin: i want touch on something you referenced before, i am wondering if we are with making too much of the stock market decan klein. as you say we have had ten years of truly incr market, and now we have had three months of a bad some market but with ten years versus three months, that is unequal ratio. >> absolutely, markets g up, they go down, there is nothing right now to indicate that this is much more than a soft patch, the economy might slow down, we migheven ent a recession. but right now this is really just bear market, are corion in the market and we would need more data to indicate that ther

rt of a deeper underlying problem, just, you know, stocks kind of selling off and investors losing some money. >> schifrin:ll right. annie lowery of the atlantic, thanks for coming in on christmas eve. >> thanks fohaving me. >> >> schifrin: the president's on to withdraw forces from syria, and order the pentagon to develop plans to withdraw troops from afghanistan has dramatically changed the path the u.s. was on in both in the northern syrian city ofma ij, american soldiers spent sunday with their local allies, and patrolling a local market. exactly what president trump has ordered them to stop. a year and a half ago, u.s. troops teamed up with syrian kurds to evict isis from manbij and other former strongholds.

in total there are 2200 americans in syria. and over the last four years, u.s. support to anti-assad forces and the iraqi government, and a u.s.-led campaign helpede elim% of isis' territory across syria and iraq. but the main u.s. ground ally syrian kurds, are seen by turkey as an enemy. and today, turkish television broadcast footage of ailitary convoy deploying to the syrian border. the syrian kurds warn they may have defend an imminenish attack, and stop fighting isis terrorists, the head of their political wing, ilham admad, said this weekd. >> ( translated ): we will continue our mission but this will be difficult because r forces will have to withdraw from the front to deploy along the turkish border to repel any attack. t>> schifrin: but presidemp says the u.s. withdrawal is "slow and highly coordinated" with turkish presib nt reccip tadogan. and today mr. trump tweeted erdogan promised to "eradicate

whatever is left of isis in syria... and he is a man who can do it plus, turkey is right 'nexdoor.' our troops are coming home!" even as the end of the physical caliphate is clearly now coming into sight, the end of isis will be a much more long-term initiative. >> schifrin: that was the u.s.' top anti-isis official, bret mcgurk, just last week. this weekend, mcgurk accelerated his february departure to protest the president's decision. c argued the u.s. should stay in syria, and bettrdinate with allies, to ensure isis' defeat. >> nobody is declaring a mission accomplished. defeating a physical caliphate is one phase of a much longer- term campaign. >> schifrin: but the president opposes that kind of anabilization campaign in syria and in afghaniwhere u.s. officials say president trump wants to cut the 14,000 troops in half. most u.s. troops help train afghan forces, and serve as a symbol to support the afghan government. others fight isis and the taliban, helping create leverage

in nascent peace talks between y e taliban and lead u.s. negotiator zalmaalilzad.id but prest trump says the u.s. will not support long-term military relationships without something in return. "we are substantially subsidizing the militaries of many very rich countries all over the world, while at the same time these countries take total advantage of the u.s., and our taxpayers, on trade," he tweeted today. "general mattis did not see this as problem. i do, and it is being fixed!" secretary of defense james mattis wanted to stay until february, but this weekend the president said he would leave next week, replaced by deputy secretary of defense patrick shanahan. let's exore what all this means for the u.s. going forward with "wall street journal" national security reporter nancy youssef.st let's let't with syria, the president used the word slow and coordinate. what does that look like, likely. >> that is usually an issue that is changing even as we speak, becaare when these talks d the u.s. was with talking about leaving syria in 30 days and now we are with starting to hare a timeline as long as 120 days,

and rather than just precipitoul withdrr drawdown, we are starting to hear talks about marine general joseph dunford, c the joief of staffs meeting with the turkish counterparts, we are hearing about ways of possibly the u.s. can continue some form of its air strike campaign in supcort of theition and really coming up with a specific plan which would allow pot for u.s. troops to go in temporarily rather than picking up and leaving, so the plan would be such that the u.s. can in some way support its kurdish partners on the ground and try to protect its gains against the islamic, islamic statement state and finish off ilast remnants in the days and weeks ahead. >> schifrin: not it is that the u.n will ish off isis but turkey is going to finish off isis, he said that in a couple of tweets. but is there any evidence that turkey actually intends to do that or wants with to target isis rather than what it considers its enemy, the syrian kurds?a >> the cllenge for the dierks even before that it is not clear

they have the mil tary capabiligo down where isis is nearly 200 miles from the tuish border when they were much closer they were really chlenged by some of the logistics of conducting such a military oarms operation so there is that and ayou poin out even if then able to do it it is not clear they see isis as a preeminent threat, they stated they see the u.s. kurdish partners and members of the syrian dependent forces a terrorist group and so the idea they would come in and work hand in hand the way the u.s. has with the kurdish partners seemsu velikely, these people, they have literally called terrorists. u >> schifrin: and t. has required the kurds, they needed the kurds and allyd absolut with the kurds, what the syrian kurds options right now is can they turn to the assad governrtnt and form some of alliance there? >> we are starting to hearing, let me start by saying ty are still fighting isis and they are not fighting necessarily out of loyalty to the united states but to protect themselves because they are on the front lines of that war and started to hear

they are talking to the assad regimes and members of the syrian democratic forces in moscow and paris trying to wogotiate and what they are saying is we aring with anybody we can with to fill the vacuum that will be created when the americans leave to protect our own interes, and so there is a scenario where they reach a deal with the assad regime and the assad regime reaches a deal with partners like russia to come up with some sort of exit and plan for what northeast syria looks like, who is where and who controls what. >> schifrin: all right, we have to do syria and unles afghanistan. >> uh-huh. >> schifrin: so we have about 14,000 troops right there right now. u.s. officials talking about cutting them in half to 7,000, what kind of talk is there if any yet about the specifics of that withdrawal? >> so it is interesting, as we have heard from a long time th trump administration was looking for some kind of withdrawal plan out of haferg but in cord natioe withngoing peace talks being led by -- what happeitd now the states is sort of jumped ahead of the peace talks and said it has plans to

withdraw half of its troops. there are plans that could start that withdrawal as early as january. the problem is, one of the key components of the peace talks for the taliban s coming u with some sort of number for u.s. troops heaving, and theno u.s. i essentially said we are going to give a path withhat ng gotten anything out of the taliban so really raises question if we are alrdy down by 7,000 could the taliban ngotiate something, were, where thber drops further? >> schifrin: and lastly we have a new acting cretary of defense, deputy secretary of defense shanahan, very little government experience, was at liboeing. moreed perhaps with the president? >> we with don't know, because he really is a businessman. he hasun the day-to-day operation it is, he is focused ationshipss and the rel between the business community and the pentagon, and even in this confirmation hearing said i am here to complement the pocretary of defense mattis who will take care ocy, i will take care of business. and, in fact, stumbled a little bit when answering policy questions during his confirmation hearings about ukraine so we don't know.

with that said, he has spported the president in his effort to create a space force and in thle he president in terms of fixing things financially and putting a focus back on budget and not on putting troops on the front line. >> schifrin: and very quickly in the time we have left, secretary mattis is trying to be professional at this moment even malugh this is not a nor moment for the white house and the department of defense. what about his staff? is there a level of anger and will thelstick around to hep secretary shanahan? >> the indications right now are not. there ara lot of people said they would join the department when they did to work with fortt secretary is and there are indications as many as a dozen could be gone in the week ahead and so t a real challenge because as we have discussed, secretary shanahan doesn't ve policy experience and he will lose a lot of experience with secretary mattis's departure. >> schifrin: man than of the wall street journal, thank you so much. >> my pleasure. >>

>> schifrin: it may be chritsmas eve, but that doesn't mean politics in washington has ang plans of sloown. from the departure of secretary mattis to the government shutdown, our politics mondayis duere to break it all down for us. that is tamara keith of npr and amy walter of the "cook political report." >> schifrin: all right, tamara keith, we have just been talking hanistan, policy of af 0 of syria of this moment with secretary matt'separture. what are the politics of this moment? does it matter that secre mattis wanted to stay until february but will be leaving next week? >> so he resigned in protest. that matters. antalking to sara sanders at the white house she said the president didn't want a long drawnout traition with someone who he clearly disagrees with, who wrote a resignation letter that was pretty damning of the president and his policies. and then you also have theil possy that mattis would be like a good-bye tour, receiving

love and support with the president watching and potentially even being called to testify before cress. so president trump according to sanders said, hey, i like this guy who is the deputy let'ske him the acting defense secretary. it is not - just to be clear it is not normal for there to be an acting defse secretary. typically, defense secretaries wait until their replacement confirmed, this is a very big, important position in the federal government. >> yes, we are on our fifth cabinet level position now that will have an acting secretary, ei thaobviously not particularly normaher. you know, it seemed this week as if we hit this ne pace with republicans, with republicans in the senate, particularly, many whom came out over the weekend, expressing dismay about mattis's departure, expressing dismay about potentially new syria policy, and it seems hike this is the place that many people have thought w we were

going to see earlier in the president's tenure with the party splitting from the president, openly and actively as he goes against traditional republican orthodoxy, chained about tariffs, not really done anything. they have complained about his behavior, not really done anything. when it comes to foreign policy, though, we are going to see if this is the breaking point or whether it is just another exampl we will see just another example of republicans hand wringing but when asked there is nothing we can do. does the senate want o prove it a coequal part of government or fall in line? >> when it comedo miltary decisions it is difficult for the senate to prove it wants to be a coequal branch of government, they haven't been able to pass an authorization of use to use military 0 force since 2002, 2003.n: >> schif new one -- >> they talk about it, but they also can decide whether there ie going to be my spent on certain decisions. >> schifrin: but the obviously, obvious rejoinedder

here is yes some in congress have objected to this, some senators or representatives have hand understanding when it comes to the president but the bottom line is they have not really pushed barb back on the esident and not pushed back on foreign policy. >> on foreign policy. there is the difficulty on that. and the president's overall broader argument about the americans' involvement in these seemingly never ending quagmires is one in whi there is a broad agreement, but. >> schie frin: military caof wars. >> yes. there is some agreement there but i will be fascinated to see whawhat the confirmation process going to look like forthis new secretary of defense and once again -- >> schifrin: if there is one. >> if there is one or can we continue to exist with -- >> schifrin: having an active secretary of defense for quite a long time, actually. t's switch over to th shutdown. and let's listen to nick

mulvaney as you know is the de management and budget and the acting chief of staff speaking this weekend. >> he is afraid to have thi fight as to where we are in the back and forth, again, the ball right now is in their corner, we have made them an offer yesterday afternoon, so the senate democrats have th ability right now to open the government and agree to the deal. ke>> schifrin: so tamarith he is proud to be in this place? and it is all up to the democrats is the message we are hearing from the white house, right?an >> the democrats in the house and senate will say it is a trump shutdown and they have a eat surrogate for them, that would be the president himself, not two weeks o in the oval office saying he is proud of it. ayey put out a statement tod essentially saying we don't even know who to talk to because we get a different answer from every person we talk to in the white house. that is not the sign of aut wn coming to an end. hat is a sign of an impasse. and like how dey get out of

submit well, one way, the most likely way is that maybe democrats co up in the dollar amount, the white house comes down in the dollar amount. that seems hike an outline ofth wher are going. the problem though then is democrats say whatever the llar amount it can't be spent on the wall and the president says whatever the dollar amount imust be spent on the wall. so then you are still stuck. and i thought it was so appropriate that mulvaney usedth term fight, that's what the president is interested in here, this isn't about having a prolonged debate over border ntlicy or immigration, this is about i wao have an actual opponent, when i have an opponent and the focus isn't on me, it is on how bad the other side is, then i look better and i thrive that kind of environment. that is really, that really has been on display obviously for the entirety ofhis presidency. but the fact that he sees this is a, this as awinning strategy has not lived up to his billing.

we jusd haan election not that long ago where it was a referendum on that exact strategy, on that -- on the way he has run the presidency, and democrats had a very big night, they won house popular vote by almost nine points and picked up 40 seats, even in places thatbl reans traditionally do well, republicans lost. in and this is the message goin forward, i am just going to do more of what i did for the 0 first two years because the american public likes what they are seeing? well, they certainly didn't y that in november. >> and in the midterms, in thee rallies leading up to the voting he talked about a wall a lot. m e it all about immigration. a remember the caravan, it was all about the care ran is, caravan and e wall andthe immigration fight. >> schifrin: i want to go back to something you said. about the republican party andig the infing. i want to show the last edition of the weekly standard, which is publishing today. this was with a primary voice of conservative washington for so

many years, obviously problems of subscription, of revenue, but dominant organ of neoconservative thinking, a few years ago, very critical o trump. isn't this a sign, the trumpian side is winning the debate? again, let's look at what they owtually have won. the presidenthas an 89 percent approval rating the among republicans. it is remarkable given that hree years ago he wasn't really running asa republican to be president of the united states, right? side ofrunning as out this. he goes against so much of the orthodox at this, traditional orthodoxy of the republican party, at the same e, we have seen the parties splitting apart, aleast among the traditional coalition when you look at the 2018 results. the fact that orange county, california like the weekly standard -- >> schifrin: where i grew up, yes. >> is a bastion of traditional conservative everything, has no flip democrats, there is not one republican who

represents orange county in congress, so the party has been redefined and reoriented in trump's image e question really that is fascinating and i think a lot of republicans are thinking forward toha this, whaens when there is no trump to define trumpianism, will it go back to the weekly standard days or going to stay in thetrump direction. >> schifrin: we with will leave it there, amy walter, tamara kiet, thank you to you both.e >> youlcome. > >> schifrin: christmas week is a time when many of us catch up on movies, either on our couches, or in the theaters. so, we turn to our jeffrey brown, who kicks off a week-long look at some of the year's best art, starting today with the silver screen. >> brown: the past year was as always a big one for blockbusters but it was also notable for a number of socially relevant films and movies with a greater sense of diversity and inclusion.

the biggest hit of the year in fact was "black panther." we look at other notable offerings with a pair of film critics who we often check inth ann hornaday of the "washington post" and mike sargent, chief film critic for wbay and co-president of the c black fitics circle. welcome back to both of you.t i want to stth the one that you both had on your list it was "if beale street could talk" and why that one. >> this is just an exquisitevi it's an adaptation of the james baldwin novel by barry jenkins whose film "moonlight" won best picture a couple of years ago. and i think what i love about barry jenkins is working and ovit's exemplified in this is that. it's not just about plot. rs's not just about charac even though this story is deeply meaningful and the characters are vivid. but this movie is told in such a rich way so visuallyo emotionally that it just becomes an exercise almost in poetry and feeling.

i mean the ultimate takeaway is one of feeling rather than a story and i and i love that. >> brown: ay, we've got a short clip of that. let's take a look. > we are drinking new life. -- ♪ ♪ >> brown: mike sergeandid you pick this film. >> why i picked this film for a asmber of reasons and like and said you know he h the ability to make something very emotional almost visceral. and he also can take material that you may have seen before in movie a story like beale street. we've seen a lot of the themes that a been done before but barry

jenkins can really cast e spell as youtching the film you're swept up in the feeling in the music in thsimilar targeting the acting and the characters and it literally cast a spell and it makes sense that you come away with a few if you've just gone through something. so this is a movie that should have been made a long time ago but i'm glad it is now made by this filmmaker. >> brown: okay, glad it's now around to ann. give us a couple. give us two more briefly. >> to that i'm just that i love. one is called "roma" by alfonso cuaron, very similar to beale street in a way terms of just the cinematography and the acting and the way that he structures the narrative is just engulfing it's just an immersive experience and a really grand one and another one called "the rider" which came out earlier this year by chloe zhao. she had a reimagines american or western using an entire cast ofi non-profesal actors, most of them real life cowboys.

so it manages to sort of merge the mythic american west with something much more. kind of daily and gritty and real.st and i just loved the vision of it. >> i really have to say "a quiet yoace." i don't know iknow the veemise of the quiet places it's the future aliens ome they've killed most human but they realize that the aliens r can't see but they can hu. so if you stay quiet you can live. and ther s a film directed by john krasinski. it stars himnd his wife emily blunt movies and good stories are about set up and pay off. this movie set smany things up so well and pays off so well.ly compleade me look at john krasinski differently and the second film i may get killedor this because most of my colleagues a black film critics don't agree. blt greenbook i loved grie. i thought it was a great film and a lot the criticism is that you know the magical negro and the tropes is that it brings out lidster. but i mean hollywood makes hollywood movies. it's a road movie. it's a buddy movie it's a movie about two people's lives who were changed bthe fact that

they connected. and i think that's what it is and i think it does it very, very well. >> brown: we asked you both to pick out a performance that stood out for you and ann you chose ethan hawke playing a pastor in the film "first reform." let's take a look. >> courage is the solution to despair. ason is the way it says i can't know what bre future will g. we have to choose despite uncertainty and tell us about >> this is an extraordinary e performance an hawke who yes been so good in so many movies the last fes. i feel like we've almost watched him grow up on screen, he started as that cute young guy in the rom coms and he is aging so beautifully in this role as a troubled priest trying to pastor to his community while he's underg faith. own crisis of it's all there on his face. mean he's great with the dialogue this is written and directed by paul schrader and

ethan hawke really commands alld of the feelinghe verbiage of that screenplay but it's really his face and the expressiveness of the age lines on his face and the expression in his eyes that i think is just overwhelming. it's just it's just a tour de force for him. >> brown: and mike sargeant you pick christian bale doing an uncanny di cheney in the film. vice, let's watch that. vice president is mostly symbolic job. however we came to a understanding that can handle the more mundane jobs. we're seeing bureaucracy. >> right. i like that. >> brown: all right well that

one brings a smile i can't help but smile at that one. >> well this is the story of dick cheney and how he ended up becoming the vice president. and in a lot of things that led up to him being the dick cheney we all know you reallyorget at you're watching christian bale. i mean the makeup helps but he's got the mannerisms, the speech. he gained 45 pounds for the le. it really makes you understand dick cheney as a man. and i was never clearly a fan of dick cheney, but watching it you kind of go oh i get dick cheney now. and i understand him. and it's really largely due to the performance that christian bale gave him. and i have to say adam mckay his take on things his fractured narrative, the humor. it's a really surprisingly good movie and a fantastic performance. >> brown: i want to ask you both. you know we've asked you this in the past something that got lost or overlood that that one film esat you tell your loved ones orfriends you know you got to see this and one that i wish more pple were seen as the "first man" with ryan gosling playing neil armstrong.

it's a masterful movie and it's ry patriotic movie. and another deeply emotional movie about a man processing his own grief by isolating himsfel in space and the visceral kind of verité style really puts you right into that capsule with him i thought it was a thrilling experience. >> brown: mike sargent what do you got. >> mine is a film that came out towards the end of the year and it just did a limited run and it's the "making of the fiveer heartbeats" byt townsend. this is a film thalooks back this. it's kind of a seminal film is way ahead of its time dn't do well at the box office but seeing what he did as he looks back all the auditiohad what he went through with the studios how they told him it wouldn't work how you know the racism he experienced all of that. it really ings you back to that time here in america. but it makes you any artist anybody who has anything they want to do will be inspired by this film. it could be subtitledof persistencision. it's really one do not miss it. wherever you can see it. >> brown: all right some of the best of 2018, rnaday, mike

sergeant, thank you both again. >> thank you. you're welcome. >> schifrin: this season is a time to reflect on the things that bind us together, the things that matter most. judy woodruff recently spoke to a man who combines relious faith and the secular power of inspiration and love. as the presiding leader of the episcopal united states, he leads one of one of the nation's oldest denominations. he participated in a state funeral of former pesident george h.w. bush at washington's national cathedral but more forr much weekly, widely known cer the sermon he delivered last may in the marriagmony for britain a's duke and duchess of sussex, prin harry and meghan markle. >> when love is the way, then no child will gbed hungry in

this world ever again. >> when love is the way we will let justice roll down like a mighty stream and rightusness like an ever flowing river. love is the wa poverty will become histenory. love is the way, the earth will be a. sanctua >> that sermon formed the basis ac the latest book, the power of love, welcome withto the newshour. >> thank you. good to be back. >> so you threw yourself to that sermon but in the book that when they approached you about preaching, at first you thought they weren't serious. >> well, yes, i reeember th archbishop of canterbury called a member of my staff because i was trsoavelinwhere and when with the staff member talked with me i said, look, it is not april fools, april fools', what do you really want? i couldn't believe it and hadto convince me it was for real. >> how did you go about deciding what to say in that sermon? >> you know,, the truth, is i had to wait until i knewha

the bible passage that was going ece if youcenter pi will of the service, and the couple and their staff and archbishop and the an othe chaplain were all involved in conversations about what instrument picture passage would they use, when they nded on song of solomon or song of psalms then i knew whattr ectory to take because actually if you look at the psalms of songs it actually is love poetry between a couple and eey are talking about r love for each other and they are going back and forth and there ishe jerusalem color irs kind of like in the greek chorus andn this backg almost sort of like gladys knight and the pins, they are the pips in the background, them after they talk about why th love each other the woman, it is almost as though she really stopped, like stops in place and saying wait a minute, we didn't generate this ve. we are not the source of this love. we are experiencing it. and it is as though she begi to point to the transcendent

source of that love which ul omately is god, the sour all love. and that is where the text took its cland the sermon evolved from there. >> and it grew naturally, bishop curry, out of many sermons you have given, before, obvious this one with is unique but you have been preaching about love, the power of le which is the tit of the book for a long time. >> yes. you know, i really do believe, certainly as a christian clergy person that heart and soul of the christian message and the greatradition of religious traditions of the world is that the key to life is loving god and loving each other, that's the key. i meth theere is a lot of complexity of how you do it and work it out practically but ifst yot from that core principle of unselfish, sacrificial, unconditional love, you will navigate your way through life even its most complex handy sides and dimensions. >> why do people like you havep to keaching that sermon? ity is that message, why has been so hard for that message to

sink in, do you think? >>, you know, i haveor the and that's all it is, it is my theory, but i used to think of the opposite of love is hate. and on some levels that makes sense, but what i am beginneeg tos that if you look at fove as the new testament talks about, as jesus nazareth talked about it, he talked le most consistently as h he he is atout to give up his life and one point he says greater love has no one greater than this that they give up tife for friend. the opposite of love is not simply hatred, the opposite of love is selfishness, self centeredness which the religions identified as the root source of all of the dilemmas that are created human beings, this selfishness, love is the opposite of t, the antidote to that if you will, and thet reason difficult for us is, healthy self respect andov selfcan request quickly become selfishness if we let it,

you need healthy self respect but the selfishness when i become the center of the universe and you arthe periphery it is all about me and the heck about you and that even inudes god, if i am the center of the universe, well god is on the periphery too, it is kind of a reverse copernicus revolution sohat's why it is so difficult because we always live in the tensionbetween healthy self-esteem and self centeredness. >> and you, in the serarmons tht excerpted in the book, you take that concept of love as you did, when you were preaching at the wedding, and you talk about w it relates to the problems we faces a a people, as humanity, whether it is immigration in this country right now, the plight of migrants, whether it is racial injustice, and you talk about king it a practical thing that people live beyond just what they think about church every sunday. >> yes. the truth is, love is not a

sentiment. it is a commitment. it is a decision and a commitme to seek the good and the well with fair and the well-being of others, sometimes even above my own unenlightenedf nterest, from the philosophers, and the truth is, that you can't build a society, there is no social contract, there is no functioning democratic society, there is no freedom, true freedom when everybody is functioning solel only on their unenlightenedt, self-interf it is all about me we are actually tearing ourselves apart, somehow we have toook for commongood, for the good of others, if the samaritan ad, the pair balance of the good samaritan in the new testament about the one who with is wilng to risk to save another person's risk to save l another persone, selfishness is the most destructive force in all of creation, selflessness is the most creative powerthat actually exists, because that is

e e nature of god. >> and how are ing as a country right now when it cops st selfishness? >> well, we areuggling but it is a mix, it is a mix. but we are struggling, we are in the midst of a great struggle and i think some oftyour iden d a nation, if you will, is really roo the result of that struggle, whether immigration d the migrationof peoples, our capacity -- >> schifrin: and in one of the sermons you preach in here is at a detention center where families are being kept apart from one another. >> yes. and that sermon actually was an example of how you love in action, and in this sermon i said we do not come in hatred, we do not come in anger or bigotry, wcome because we believe what jesus taught us, you shall love your neighbor asd yourself we come with love for those who are detained here and women, especially women's detention center, women who had been separated from their children. we come in love for the prihoson guardsave to do their job here, whether we agree or disagree. we come can in love for our nation, but because we truly

love our nation we will no sit idly by and allow our nation tos do wrong bewe are better than that. if you love somebody you want the best for them, for them, and we came because we love our country and we want our country to look like that lady in the new york harbor, the statue of liberty, the give us your tired, your hungry, your huddled masses, yearning to beee, that is america, that is america, that the souof america. and we went to that detention center because we want america to find its soul again. >> bishop michael curry, writing about love and relating it to so many larger questions our country is dealing with right now. the power of love sermons reflections and wisdom to uplift and inspire, ght nowthis holiday season and throughout, throughout the year. thank you very much. >> thank you, god bless you. >>

>> schifrin: finally tonight, we continue a newshour tradition. there are 1.3 million active duty u.s. military service members.ab t 200,000 are based overseas and spend the holidays away from home. each year, we've asked the department of defense and its defense media activity aa ncy, to spreattle holiday cheer, and record service members singing a christmas song. tonight, "rudolph the red-nosed reindeer." >> ♪ you know dasher, and dancer, and prancer, and vixen, ♪ comet, and cupid, and nder and blitzen ♪ but do you recall the most famous reindeer of all >> ♪ rudolph, the red-nosed reindeery ♪ had a viny nose and if you ever saw it >> ♪ you would even say it glows.

>> all of the other reindeer ♪ useto laugh and call him names >> ♪ they never let poor rudolph play in any reindeer games. >> ♪ then one foggy christmas eve santa came to say: >> ♪ "rudolph with your nose so bright, ♪ won't you guide my sleigh tonight?" >> ♪ then all the reindeer loved him >> ♪ as they shouted out with glee, >> rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, ♪ you'll go down in history! you'll go down in history! ♪ >> schifrin: and in case your cooking isn't going do history, we spoke to scientists and baking experts to find out the chemistry and physics behind cthe baking techniques th take your favorite holiday aneats to the next level. find those tips more on our web site, pbs.org/newshour. and that's the newshour for

tonight. i'm nick schifrin. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, i hope you had a good day. have a good nigh and merry christmas. >> ajor funding for the pbsas newshour heen provided by: >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. >> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundatoon. committeuilding a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org

>> and with the ongoing support of these institutions og this m was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

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