william: good evening. i'm william brangham. amna nawaz and geoff bennett are away. on the newshour tonight, the discovery of mass graves in syria sheds new light on the historic brutality of the fallen regime. a look at efforts to lessen the

impact offshore wind farms have on the seafood industry. and new zealand's shift to the political right ignites protests from the island nation's indigenous maori people. >> we have not been afforded equality. so to now be told that our sovereignty is standing in the way of supposed equality is just a lie. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs news hour has been provided by -- these individuals and institutions and friends of the newshour, anderson and camila and george smith. >> the charles f kettering foundation, working to advance inclusive democracies. learn more at kettering.org.

>> the john s and james l knight foundation, fostering an informed and engaged communities. more at kf.org. ♪ >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. ♪ this program was made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. william: welcome to the newshour. we start our coverage with a pair of holiday disruptions. in a moment we'll hear about air

travel headaches, but first -- coffee. a strike by starbucks employees and expanded to some 5000 baristas nationwide today. >> no contract, no coffee. william: their union says the walk-out shut nearly 300 stores across 45 states. starbucks says fewer than 200 stores were affected. workers say they're protesting unfair labor practices, like retaliatory firings and cuts to hours. they also called out the company's recent wage offer, which one employee called insulting. >> it's not enough to support any person living by themself. let alone the starbucks barista or shift supervisors who have one, two, three kids to put food on the table for. they don't have enough money to support their families. william: starbucks said yesterday the strike has had no significant impact on its operations. the employees say they'll go back to work tomorrow morning.

airline passengers also faced disruptions today, after american airlines briefly grounded flights nationwide due to a technical issue. passengers crowded terminals as operations were put on hold for about an hour. american blamed a problem with the technology that maintains its flight operating system. it comes in the thick of the busy holiday travel season. overall, flight trackers cited more than 3200 flight delays and at least 28 cancellations today. snow, ice and thunderstorms were also factors in the disruptions. the man accused of burning a woman to death in the new york city subway appeared in court today. the suspect was charged with three counts of murder and arson at the brooklyn criminal court. he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. federal officials say the 33-year-old guatemalan migrant set the sleeping woman's clothes on fire on sunday. the crime has sparked new

worries about safety on new york's transit system, even as officials note that crime is down from last year. turning overseas, to sudan. famine conditions are spreading as the country's ongoing civil war shows no sign of letting up. that's according to the integrated food security phase organization ipc. the global monitoring group says five areas are affected, including the country's largest displacement camp, zam-zam, in the north darfur province, where some 400,000 people live there it -- people live. the ipc also says five other areas in north darfur are expected to experience famine conditions in the next six months. un experts say the biggest challenge is getting aid to people in need. >> it is unacceptable in a world like today where there's so much prosperity that you are seeing people dying of hunger. this should never be happening today. we need the violence to stop so

people can access food, water, health, nutrition and agriculture. william: the u.n. says more than 24,000 people have died during 20 months of fighting in sudan. and 14 million people have been forced from their homes. that is about 30% of the population. swiss olympic snowboarder sophie hediger has died in an avalanche at a mountain resort. the country's skiing federation says the incident happened yesterday at the arosa resort in switzerland. the 26-year-old competed at the 2022 beijing winter olympics in the women's snowboard cross, and the mixed team version of the same event. in california, weather officials are warning of dangerous surf and flooding, after a series of violent storms. some waves may be as high as 35 feet today. two people had to be rescued after a pier artially collapsed in santa cruz yesterday. a third swam to safety. in a separate incident, one man was killed by a large wave that

trapped him under debris. another remains missing after likely being pulled into the surf. californians will get a brief break from the wild weather on christmas day, before more storms roll in. bill clinton has been discharged from a washington, d.c. hospital, where he had been treated for the flu. the former president had been admitted on monday afternoon for testing and observation after coming down with a fever. the 78-year-old has a history of health problems. he underwent a quadruple bypass operation in 2004. pope francis has officially kicked off the 2025 holy year, and with it the jubilee that occurs once every 25 years. with a knock from the pontiff today, the great holy door of saint peter's basilica in the vatican swung open, and he crossed the threshold to begin christmas eve mass. more than 32 million people are expected to make a pilgrimage to

rome for the this jubilee, which pope francis has dedicated to the theme of hope. on wall street today, stocks bounded higher in a shortened christmas-eve session. the dow jones industrial average added nearly 400 points on the day. the nasdaq jumped about 1 and 1/3 percent, closing back back above the 20,000 point level. the s&p 500 also ended firmly in positive territory. and, a nasa spacecraft is attempting to fly closer to the sun's surface than ever before. the parker solar probe will endure blistering temperatures and extreme radiation as it passes within 4 million miles of the sun. that is nearly seven times closer than any previous missions. scientists won't know whether the probe survived its fiery flyby for another few days. but if all goes to plan, the probe will keep circling the sun through at least september, providing a better understanding of how the sun works.

still to come on the news hour, the new food and drug administration rules aim to redefine what's considered healthy. our critics' take on this year's must see hollywood hits and a few lesser known gems. and on christmas eve, a special look at the origins of norad's santa tracker. ♪ >> this is the pbs news hour from the david m rubenstein studio at weta in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. william: with the ouster of former president bashar al-assad in syria, the scale of his regime's mass killings and executions are coming to light more and more each day. yesterday, the united nation's said the new syrian government was receptive to receiving help gathering evidence and prosecuting individuals responsible for war crimes.

a special correspondent visited some of the mass graves discovered across the country and has this report. and a warning, some of the images and descriptions are disturbing. simona: after almost 14 years of war, this suburb is a desolate wasteland with more bodies buried underground than people still living above it. human remains are scattered all around, an air of dread and sanctity hangs over these grounds where countless souls perished in summary executions. this person lives up the street. he bore witness to some of the horrors here. >> this was the front line in the fight for damascus. all the killing and massacres happened here. simona: when the uprising began, he became a rebel stronghold. resume forces took control in 2012 and turned it into a

killing field. people picked up at checkpoints across the city were taken here to be executed in cold blood. their bodies burned and cast into unmarked graves. >> we know that the football field was turned into a burn pit where they burned bodies. you could tell by the smoke and smell coming out of it. simona: with time and rain, the bodies resurface from their shallow graves, like evidence of unsolved crimes returning to haunt the living. even the regime was bothered by the sight of its own atrocities. >> there were a lot of bones here. they took some away, then they agreed with the head of the musicality to blow up the buildings so that the rubble would cover the rest of the remains. simona: we don't know how many people were killed here. what we do know is that they were buried here in the middle of this residential neighborhood, much of which was destroyed during the war. now some people still live here amid the rubble and the bones, but during our visit we did not

see any government employees or security forces guarding the site, which is essentially a crime scene. this place is known for one massacre captured on camera by the very people who perpetrated it. the video was leaked a couple years ago. it shows the executioners as they marched dozens of men towards a large ditch. one by one the victims were cast into the grave and shot at close range. this is the street where the massacre took place. there we found a family praying over a patch of dirt. this man and his sister only just found out that their brother was among those murdered here. they watched the video over and over to find the precise location of the grave. >> they brought them here. they kicked them, and then they shot them. simona: until yesterday they had only seen a blurred vision of the execution video.

after years of uncertainty, finally the truth. he is sure that the man in the red shirt is her beloved brother. >> we saw him on youtube. we knew immediately it was him. simona: pictured here on the left shortly before his killing, he was 22 years old when he disappeared. >> he had gone out to get bread, him and our neighbor's son ,and then he disappeared. we were looking for him at the hospitals, at the police station, but we could not find him. we were looking for him discreetly. we were afraid they would take us too. simona: that fear is now gone. the family are commanding the immediate opening of the grave. >> even if all that is left are bones, i want to bury him with my hands in our grave, not for him to remain here where everyone who passes steps on him. simona: these killing fields are

not singular in scale or brutality. syria is littered with mass graves. the new government has yet to put forth a plan on how and when these grades will be exhumed. the lack of clarity has pushed some relatives to take matters into their own hands. >> that could destroy the evidence. simona: the white helmets, a civil defense organization, have recovered some human remains found above ground, but they and the country lacked the expertise and technical cap abilities to open mass graves -- capabilities to open mass graves. the workers in the former government are seen as complicit in the murders. >> this certificate, normal death for those who died under torture and under violence. we need a committee from international organizations, local organizations, even the

government to supervise the opening of those mass graves, not only for taking them in expert, but for the future, for the justice and accountability. simona: we visit another, much larger mass grave, not far from a notorious prison. many of those murdered inside the prison's torture chambers are presumed to be buried in this mass plot, some just days before the regime fell. unlike the informal mass graves, this site was meticulously built, a cog in the killing machine that was assad's state. each of these cinderblocks marks the beginning of a new concrete vault that is around a yard wide, two yards deep, and maybe 20 yards long. it is estimated that dozens, maybe hundreds of bodies were placed in each one of these vaults. if counted, 12 cinderblocks in just this section over here, and

there are five more sections nearby. you can do the math and estimate how many people might have been buried here. the number is likely in the thousands. we drove onwards to the garrison town. there we met a religious leader who witnessed the mass burial of victims of torture in 2013. at first, the government disposed of the bodies in the town's cemetery. >> they buried them here, around 40 to 60 people. the grave was around four meters deep. i oversaw their burial. there was a patrol from military security. they forbade anyone to enter or film. >> this sheikh granted the victims their final burial rights. >> i prayed for them. one of the security officers told me, why do you pray for them? they are terrorists. i tell them they are muslims and i am praying for them. >> it happened in plain sight of the town's inhabitants, but nobody spoke out.

>> they would yell at the people so they don't approach. they would forbid them to look. if they saw someone on the roof, they would tell them to get down. simona: as the government ramped up executions to an industrial scale, there was a need for a much larger burial ground. the municipality assigned an empty plot just outside town with more space and fewer witnesses. >> the bodies were wrapped in a white sheet and there were numbers written on them. simona: the denial of individual burials was a deliberate act to torture even in death, while instilling terror among the living. >> when the prison sends them for burial, they don't put names. those who hand over the bodies hand them over without names, and those that receive them also receive them without names. simona: this sheikh believes these sites are holy and should not be disturbed through exclamation. but for many families, the unearthing of their loved ones

cannot begin soon enough. for the pbs news hour, 'm in damascus, syria. ♪ william: the food and drug administration has issued new rules for food labels for the first time in three decades. it is an update the agency says will help empower consumers to make healthier choices in the grocery store. under the new guidelines, items previously denied the "healthy" label, like nuts and seeds, salmon and other higher-fat fish , would be included. but some staples like white bread and heavily sweetened yogurt and cereals will no longer qualify. to help us understand this evolution, i spoke recently with lindsey, a nutrition epidemiologist at the university of north carolina's gillings school of global public health. lindsey, welcome back to the program.

the fda is updating this definition of, quote unquote, what is a healthy food come at three decades since they have last done this. what is the new criteria they're using to determine what's healthy and what's not? lindsey: sure. so the new criteria are that foods need to have, been under the thresholds for added sugar, which is new, didn't exist at the time that the initial ruling was released back in the as well 90's. as sodium and saturated fat. and so the idea is that this is really in line with the current dietary guidelines for america, for americans. and then the other change is the foods have to have some amount of food groups that are recommended. so things like fruits and vegetables, nuts, legumes and things like that. and that previously was not part of this rule. william: do you think any of this is going to matter? do you think someone standing in the grocery store and holding an item in their hands and thinks, the fda says this is not healthy and put it back?

lindsey: the reality is they are looking for this healthy icon label. it is not so much about what is not healthy, it is may be about what is the healthiest. we have evidence from other countries that have similar label types and there is no data to suggest that this label has a meaningful impact on consumer purchasing behavior. many of our food products are already covered in health and nutrition claims, so it is unclear whether this healthy label will stand out from these other claims that are already on the packages and effect consumer purchases. william: my understanding is only about 5% of products have those labels, and all those other labels you are describing that say all natural, low-sodium, all these things that can be misleading for consumers. what does help people realistically decide what is the right thing to eat and right thing to avoid? lindsey: so i think what we've seen from the global evidence

from what other countries have done, as well as experiments that we've done here in the us, is that there are a couple of things. the first is plain packaging and a regulation that would actually remove those nutrition and health claims from products that don't meet these standards. so instead of just adding that healthy label, you would also remove all of the other confusing and potentially misleading marketing that's on these packages because it creates a lot of noise that's hard for consumers to sift through when they're only making these decisions in about 10 to 12 seconds. the other thing that the fda could do, and this rule is actually under consideration right now, is to put on labels about what's unhealthy. so thinking about the foods that are the biggest drivers of our current epidemics of obesity and type two diabetes, we could use clear front of package labels to signify when a food is high in sugar, high in sodium, high in saturated fat. we do have a strong evidence base that that type of label works, that consumers understand

it and that it does reduce their purchases of products with those labels. william: we know that there was a johns hopkins study that showed that half of all calories consumed at home by american adults come from these ultra processed foods. again, could you just remind us of the dietary and health impacts that that kind of a diet has? lindsey: yeah, absolutely. so we have a pretty large body of observational evidence to show that diets high in ultra processed foods are linked to an array of health problems, everything from adverse mental health outcomes to weight gain, which is probably the strongest evidence that we have to increase risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease and type two diabetes. william: another issue, the fda is also considering banning the use of red dye number three, which is in a lot of our foods. what is the argument for why we should take that out of our food supply? lindsey: so there are a couple of arguments for why we might take it out of our food supply.

i think one argument is that it's not beneficial to us. it doesn't really add any nutrient value in except that it makes our foods look pretty and more bright. in terms of the health concerns with red dye number three, it was banned for use in cosmetics decades ago when studies show that high amounts in rats led to cancer. now, i don't believe that there's strong evidence to show that ingesting this leads to cancer in humans. however, when you see that kind of mechanism, it might raise these kinds of questions, which is what the fda wants to review. the piece of evidence that we do have is that there are some kind of studies that show that consumption of red dye in children increases hyperactivity. so it's a little bit unclear exactly what's going on with this red dye number three. but it does seem like this is something that's not necessarily good for us. and it could be harmful. and so it's worth a further review by the fda. william: all right. that is lindsay smith tally of

the university of north carolina. thank you so much for being here. lindsey: thank you. ♪ william: we turn now to the second of two stories about the growth of offshore wind farms and the questions surrounding their impact. science correspondent miles o'brien takes us to new bedford, massachusetts where local officials are trying to find a balance between newer, green -- between greener, renewable energy and a potenial impact on the critical fishing industry in that region. miles: in the early 19th century, new bedford massachusetts was one of the wealthiest cities in the country because it was the wailing capital of the world. the oil produced from the carcasses lit the eastern seaboard before the transition to fossil fuels.

the city ironically is on the cusp of being a center of energy once again, this time the resource is blowing in the wind. the tall pylons at the marine commerce terminal are the most conspicuous features in an evolving harbor. an economic transition spurred by the energy transition. there are cranes everywhere. >> they are really remaking this port. it is pretty significant. miles: mayor john mitchell took me on a cruise around the harbor. >> you've got construction all up and down this harbor. what is the total dollar amount right now? >> it is about $1.1 billion. miles: would that have happened without wind? >> most of it would not. what we are doing is playing to our advantages. that is what you see here. miles: the mayor is on a political tightrope. the wind industry that he has been courting for a dozen years is caught in a net of opposition from the economic engine that has propelled new bedford for the last century.

>> we don't know, are my scallops that i harvest now going to be in the same spot they have always been? miles: cassie and her family run the largest fish option on the u.s. east coast. about 70% of all the scallops that land on your plate first land here. the largest scallops can fetch about $20 a pound. and there are eager buyers for every last morsel. >> scallops are such a high value product. that is the biggest resource we have coming through the harbor. i think that is what made us such a lucrative port. miles: new bedford is the most lucrative fishing port in the u.s., but this scalloper is very wary of what may lie ahead. in raising your concern now, you are trying to get ahead of this? is that the idea? >> get out ahead is an interesting way to say it. i envision that we have a bunch of steamroller's coming to steamroll our fishery. we are trying to steer them.

i don't think we can stop them. miles: he's asking the wind industry to slow down to allow some time for scientists to do some solid research to try to uncover the unintended consequences of windfarms in the ocean. >> there is obviously super loud here. miles: that is what this racket is all about. >> what we are doing is basically measuring how animals are responding to the sound. miles: aaron is a marine biologist at an oceanic graphic institution, which is where i met him when he was piledriving for data. beneath the surface, flounders, lobsters, and scallops are getting blasted with a lot of noise to see how they respond. >> we have cameras and sensors on animals under this water, so we measure their behavior and physiological responses to this. miles: the sensors they attach to the fish record their movement during the jarring noises.

in the lab, he showed me how they work. they contain small accelerometers and magnetometers to capture the motion. what is the hardware? >> we have this custom-built tag. this is like a little scallop fitbit. miles: a scallop fitbit. >> yup, a scallop fitbit. it allows us to get the movements and energetics of the scallop. miles: they have been conducting tests like these for years. they started with squid and black seabass. can we say for certain it causes stress in these animals? >> it depends on which species and the context. miles: and what they're doing. >> resting squid were very sensitive to the sound. mating squid could not care less. [laughter] miles: scallops close tight each time a piledriver strikes. >> those responses repeated over hours and days can be stressful to the animals. i think that may tire them out

and make them more susceptible to predation. miles: the pedestals that wind turbines sit on at 35 feet in diameter and requires two hours of piledriving to be firmly planted in the sea floor. the biden administration's goal of 30 gigawatts of offshore wind equates to about 2500 turbines. mooney is hopeful his work will lead to a more informed construction strategy. things like limiting piledriving to when squid are mating, avoiding scallop beds, and ramping up the sound gradually. >> at the beginning of a day, start with a low amplitude sound, and increase that over a few minutes. you give those animals a warning that is coming. miles: there are a lot of missing pieces to this puzzle. 27 miles off the coast of virginia beach, brendan is angling for answers. he's a fisheries biologist with the nature conservancy.

this is the site of the coastal virginia offshore wind farm. when complete, it will be the largest in the u.s.. he and his team are catching seabass and attaching acoustic tanks to them. -- tags to them. >> this might be uncomfortable for some viewers. miles: the pinging signals they admit are captured by acoustic receivers on the seafloor amid the turbines. >> and those receivers are constantly listening for the very specific frequency that are tags are pinging. miles: the system allows them to track the fish. in addition, he has installed hydrophones to measure the underwater sound. comparing the spikes in decibels to the movement of the fish may fill in some blanks. >> may be they will hunker down near the seafloor. if that does happen, how long does it last? another possible response is black seabass and other fish we are tagging might leave the area

when piledriving happens. miles: but it is likely they will come back. he says these fish are actually attracted to the turbines, which become artificial reefs. >> the structure created by these offshore wind turbines is great habitat for a lot of different species. as a recreational fisherman, i am looking forward to having all these structures. miles: while scientists try to get real data, many opponents of offshore wind are peddling alternative facts. donald trump is leading the course, vowing to try to stop offshore wind mill construction. this is why in new bedford mayor mitchell has carefully tailored his pro wind argument around economic develop and, jobs -- development, jobs, not the climate emergency. he thinks this has created a firmer foundation of support. are you worried that offshore wind is still not on firm ground politically and otherwise?

>> the question about offshore wind is how rapidly it will deploy. it is here in the united states to stay. there is just too much that has been sunk in the way of major investment by major players for it to stop entirely. the horse is out of the barn on offshore wind. it is a question of how rapidly that horse is going to run. miles: for now it is a one horse race. electric vehicles and artificial intelligence are fueling a dramatic increase in demand for electricity. in september, microsoft announced a deal to reopen a mothball nuclear reactor at three mile island, pennsylvania to power data centers. besides that, here in the northeast, there are no other renewable options on the horizon. for the pbs news hour, i'm miles o'brien off the coast of massachusetts. ♪

william: new zealand has long been known for its progressive policies, including efforts to correct and address historical wrongs against its indigenous maori population. but as ali rogin reports, a new right-wing government has reversed many of those policies and triggered mass protests in the pacific nation. [singing] ali: they marched for nine days, in the dark, and through the rain. carrying portraits of generations past and the flag symbolizing their right to self-determination. protesters from new zealand's native maori community walked alongside non-indigenous new zealanders to form what's thought to be the largest march in the nation's history.

the peaceful show of force culminated last month in the capital, wellington, outside parliament. at the protest's heart, a bill proposing changes to new zealand's founding document: the treaty of waitangi, or "te tiriti o waitangi." >> "to safeguard, to honour, to protect te tiriti o waitangi." >> why are we doing this? why are we bringing a bill in where there is already a foundational document in there. ali: signed in 1840, the treaty helped establish new zealand's first colonial government and promised land and other rights to maori. >> the treaty of waitangi is certainly seen as being part of our constitution. ali: dr. carwyn jones, a m?ori legal expert, says for more than a century, the government mostly ignored the native rights set out in the treaty, pushing many maori off their ancestral lands and into poverty. but, decades of activism has led to increased treaty recognition

in new zealand law and policy. today, the treaty is interpreted as a partnership between the government and its native people, who make up almost one-fifth of the country's population. >> what that meant in terms of the courts is that government has an obligation to act as a treaty partner, to act with utmost good faith and reasonably towards the other treaty partner, with maori. ali: that's led to legal acknowledgment of some maori rights such as land rights, services that address maori socio-economic disadvantage, and official status for the maori language. >> let's be clear, there's a strong depth of emotion on all sides of this debate. ali: that progress, many believe, is threatened by last year's election of the most conservative government new zealand has seen in a generation. a coalition of three parties led by former airline executive christopher luxon. >> it is one of the most anti-maori governments we have

seen in a long time. this is the first government in a long time which is deliberately rolling back on those rights and taking us backwards in that respect. ali: in the last year, the government has shut down an agency that addressed maori health disparities, made it more difficult for local governments to have dedicated maori representation, and scaled back the use of the maori language by government departments. but most controversially. >> you are presiding over the most racist piece of legislation in 100 years. ali: it helped introduce a bill into parliament that would fundamentally change how the treaty is interpreted. >> my bill would replace those principles of so-called "partnership" that have been invented by the courts over the last 50 years and say, no, for the most part people would have equal rights before the law in new zealand. ali: david seymour, who himself has maori ancestry, leads the right wing backed party and is the architect of the legislation

that would effectively remove some maori rights recognized in the treaty. >> this bill, as a matter of fact, takes nothing away from anybody unless you're one of those people who believe that you should have special rights over and above others as a consequence of your birth and your ancestry. and we just reject that. ali: the reaction was loud, swift, and viral. [sounds of haka] ali: when some maori lawmakers, led by the country's youngest member of parliament, launched into a haka, a ceremonial dance, in protest. >> when we saw her do that, we were all immensely proud and knew she was doing the exact right thing on behalf of all of us. ali: kassie hartendorp is a maori activist who helped organize the largest petition against the bill and attended the protests outside parliament.

she says removing unique maori rights ignores the historic disadvantages her community has experienced. >> we die younger. we're more likely to be locked up in prison. we have every negative health statistic you can imagine and so we do not live equal lives. we have not been afforded equality. so to now be told that our sovereignty is standing in the way of supposed equality is just a lie. ali: in a recent poll, more new zealanders said they opposed the bill than supported it, but most said they don't know enough about it. many legal experts, including at new zealand's ministry of justice, say the law could throw the country into a constitutional crisis. >> it would effectively be the end of the treaty relationship. if you undermine that relationship, then you start to take away the legitimacy of government, you start to erode

social cohesion if you are not willing to give effect to a recognized maori right or to act in partnership with maori. ali: prime minister luxon has said he only promised to support the bill through the first stage of review and that his party will not vote for its passage. >> treaty issues are complex. they've been negotiated, debated, discussed over 184 years. it's simplistic to assume that you can, through the stroke of a pen, resolve all of that. ali: while this law is likely doomed, after a year of rollbacks of maori rights, many fear what will come next. >> our current coalition government is stripping back indigenous rights on a whole raft of laws. my concern for the future is that a far right populist movement will grow in nature to be able to strip us of the sovereignty that we were guaranteed to those 200 years ago. therefore, we need to make sure that we keep this up and make sure that they stick to their word into the future.

ali: an ongoing battle over new zealand's past in order to define its future. for the pbs newshour, i'm ali rogin. ♪ william: the holidays are a great time to catch up on the year's best films, whether streaming at home or heading to the theater. to highlight some of the best movies of the year, jeffrey brown sat down with two film critics who shared their top picks. it's part of our arts and culture series, canvas. >> once again it is time to spotlight some of the year's best work along with a few hidden gems you might have missed. hereto tell us their favorites, i'm joined by mike sergeant, host of the podcast brown and black and co-president of the black film critics circle. and linda holmes, host of npr's pop culture happy hour. it's nice to see both of you again. mike, let me start with you. why don't we start with a couple

of big films, big budget films? mike: well, i guess the biggest budget film i'll start with is wicked. >> you. come with me. >> of course. >> not you. you. mike: that was a film i was not necessarily looking forward to, but i was impressed. i did not understand why they were splitting it into two films. i did not see the play. i love wizard of oz, but i will say that it is absolutely a film you should see in theaters with an audience as big as you can and with as big an audience as you can. it was absolutely something. it's an event, and there's a reason why it's doing so well. ♪ the other film i'd pick is a film that i'd heard a lot about and that i didn't get to see right away. and that's a film called conclave. >> the pope is dead. mike: and that's a mystery thriller. it's directed by edward berger, and it's based on a 2016 novel by robert harris.

and it's essentially about finding the next pope and what that whole process is. and it is quite a ride. and it brings you inside how all of that goes on. but there are so many twists and turns and such great performances from literally three oscar nominees, ralph fiennes, stanley tucci and lion and john lithgow. i absolutely recommend conclave. jeffrey: linda holmes, two big budget films. linda: by the way, conclave loved conclave. so my action movie heart this year went out to the fall guy, which has ryan gosling as a stuntman who is working on a movie being made by his ex, who is played by emily blunt. >> i'm just a stunt guy. trying to look cool in front of the director of this movie. linda: it is an action comedy. little bit of rom com. i found it so kind of big hearted. it's also got a lot of great stunts. the director used to be a stunt

man. i found this to be my favorite kind of blockbusterish type movie of the year. i had a great time at that film. another one to go to the completely opposite end of higher profile stuff, the brutalist, which stars adrien brody, is a big, long, heavy 3.5 hour film. i love the fact that they've incorporated a 15 minute intermission, which i want more movies to do if they are that long. it's a beautiful story about an artist post-holocaust kind of making his way, trying to realize his art. it's a great film about art and artists. jeffrey: how about mike sergeant, start us with a couple of lower budget or smaller, smaller films. mike: well, a smaller film, i have to mention is a film called nickel boys, and that's a film that was directed by mal ross, and it's also based on a novel. it's based on a novel by colson whitehead from 2019.

and it's about a school that actually it's based on a school that actually existed for over 100 years. and it really centers on two boys who go through, let's just say, all the cruel things that they were doing at the school. >> it is a long time ago. mike: it's really an interesting way of storytelling in terms of what the director does. everything you see is from the point of view of the two young boys, and it's a very, very powerful story. i absolutely recommend it. i don't want to tell you more about it because i think it's best to go into it having no idea where you're going with this story. jeffrey: i saw that. and it is natural the way he shoots it. mike: absolutely. and it's compelling. it draws you right in because you get a perspective that you wouldn't have, which is what i think films should do. the second film is a new film from sean baker. and sean baker is a director who always does interesting work. she focuses on the people who often get ignored in our society. and nora is about a sex worker from brooklyn who gets a chance at what she thinks is

essentially a cinderella story. >> 15, cash upfront. mike: and this is sort of pretty woman for adults where this is a lot more based in reality. and again, this is a film that takes many twists and many turns, and it's been described as entertaining. it's engrossing, but entertaining isn't the word i'd use. i would just say it's very, very compelling. mike: linda holmes, two more for you. linda: one that i really love this year is sing sing, which is a story about the theater program for incarcerated people at sing sing prison. not only that, but a lot of the people who are in the film are formerly incarcerated. people from sing sing who were in this program, who naturally are trained in theater and have some background. they also worked on developing the script.

it stars colman domingo, who i think is honestly one of our best and most reliable actors. i will watch him in anything. >> are you acting at all in this interview? linda: he's fabulous in this. it's a great filmmaking story as well. so that's one another one that you can find on netflix and it's a terrific family drama is called his three daughters. >> this is the way he would want it. linda: and this one was sold to me on the cast, which is carrie coon, natasha lyonne and elizabeth olsen, who again, three just enormously different, but enormously reliable actors. and it's about these three sisters who come together at their father's apartment because he's at the end of his life. and it's a wonderful story about how the aging of parents complicates sibling relationships, can bring people closer, but also can really

bring up a lot of family stuff. it's one of several kind of good pieces of media i saw this year about people aging and kids of aging parents. and so i very, very much loved that film. his three daughters. jeffrey: so in our time left, maybe we should give a little love to documentaries. mike, you want to tell us what was your favorite documentary of the year? mike: this is the golden age of documentaries. and what's great, the film i want to mention is a film called piece by piece, and it's a documentary about pharrell williams. and it's done animated, but not just animated. it's done in legos. and that's such an interesting and original way of approaching a documentary. and it works perfectly. >> you know what would be cool, if we told my story with lego pieces? [laughter] >> seriously? lego? mike: there are a lot of aspects of his life that are fantastical, but also you need to visualize what he visualizes. he has a condition where he sees music in colors and telling it

in this way, it disarms you and it makes you pay attention to all the things that happened in his life in a very different way. i think it is really a great piece of filmmaking and a great documentary as well. jeffrey: linda. favorite documentary. linda: i think mike's right that it's a golden age for the filmmaking. it is also a golden age fortunately for the availability of documentaries because of the rise of streaming services. so one of the ones i wanted to highlight is called girl state, and there was a film a couple of years ago called boys state, which is about the boys state program where high school boys are brought together and they sort of create a mock government and they have elections. so this year they did girl state . girl state's very different. this was filmed just as the supreme court was considering reproductive rights. and the girls are very focused on that, how different it is for girls to be in a program like that, at least for these girls, is explored. and you can find that on apple tv. it is exactly the kind of film

that years ago everybody would have said how good it was, but it would have been super difficult to find it unless you had a really good blockbuster. this, a lot of these you can find on streaming. jeffrey: all right. some of the year's best from linda holmes and mike sergeant. thank you both very much. linda: thank you. mike: thank you. ♪ william: during the cold war, air force colonel harry shoup was one of the commanders in charge of an early warning radar system based in colorado. it had been set up to detect a possible soviet missile attack on the u.s. in this animated conversation from our colleagues at story corps, three of shoup's children recall a surprising phone call their dad received back in 1955. >> i remember two phones on his desk. one was this red phone.

only a four-star general at the pentagon and my dad had the number. >> this was the 50's, the cold war. he would have been the first one to know if there was an attack on the united states. >> first couple weeks of december in 1955, dad was at the office and the red phone rang. he answered it, this is colonel shoup. there was a small voice that asked us is this santa claus? >> dad was very straightlaced, disciplined. >> he was annoyed. >> he thought it was a joke. >> now the little voice was crying. >> dad realized it was not a joke. so he talked to him, ho ho ho, asked if he had been a good boy, may i talk to your mother? the mother got on and said, you have not seen the paper yet? there is a phone number to call santa. it is in the sears ad. dad looked it up and there it was, his red phone number. they had children calling one

after another. so he put a couple airmen on the phones to act like santa claus. >> it got to be a big joke at the command center, the old man has really flipped his lid this time, we are entering -- we are answering santa calls. >> it had this big board on it with the u.s. and canada. when airplanes would come in, they would track them. >> christmas eve of 1955, when dad walked in, there was a drawing of a sleigh with eight reindeer coming over the north pole. >> dad said, what is that? colonel, we are sorry, we were just making a joke. do you want us to take that down? dad looked at it for a while and next thing you know he called the radio station. we have an unidentified flying object. why, it looks like a sleigh! the radio stations would call him like every hour and say, where is santa now? later in life he got letters from all over the world, people

saying thank you colonel for having this sense of humor. in his 90's he would carry those letters around with him in a briefcase that had a lock on it, like it was top-secret information. he was an important guy. but this is the thing he is known for. >> it is probably the thing he was proudest. >> oh, sure. ♪ william: finally tonight, on christmas eve, we continue a tradition we started a few years ago with members of the u.s. military presenting a holiday song. this year, musicians from the military services perform the christmas classic "jingle bells." this video was produced by the pentagon's defense visual information distribution service.

♪ >> ♪ jingle bells, jingle bells jingle all the way ♪ >> oh what fun it is to ride ♪ >> ♪ jingle bells, jingle bells jingle all the way oh what fun it is to write in a one horse open sleigh ♪ >> dashing through the snow in a one horse open sleigh o'er the fields we go laughing all the way ♪ >> ♪ bells on bobtail's ring making spirits bright what fun it is to ride and sing a sleighing song tonight ♪ >> ♪ jingle bells, jingle jingle jingle all the way oh what fun it is to ride in a '57 chevrolet ♪ >> ♪ jingle bells, jingle all the way what fun it is to ride in a

one horse open sleigh ♪ ♪ >> dashing through the snow in a one horse open sleigh o'er the fields we go laughing all the way ♪ >> ♪ bells on bobtails ring making spirits bright what fun it is to ride and sing a sleighing song tonight jingle bells, jingle bell oh what fun it is to ride in a'' 57 chevrolet ♪ >> ♪? bells, jingle jingle jingle all the way o what fun it is to ride in a

one horse in a one horse open sleigh ♪ ♪ >> ♪ jingle bells ♪ william: thank you again to those in uniform who put that song together for us, and to all of those who are working, and away from family on this holiday. remember, there's a lot more online, including our guide to sustainable holiday decorating. that is at pbs.org/newshour. and on tomorrow's newshour, the boston ballet offers a new look for the nutcracker this holiday season. that's the newshour for tonight. i'm william brangham. on behalf of the entire newshour team, thank you so much for joining us. >> major funding for the pbs news hour has been provided by -- >> in 1995, two friends set out to make wireless coverage accessible to all.

with no long-term contracts, nationwide coverage, and 100% u.s.-based customer support. consumer cellular. freedom calls. ♪ >> carnegie corporation of new york. working to reduce political polarization through philanthropic support for education, democracy and peace. more information at carnegie.org. and with the ongoing support of these institutions. ♪ this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute,

which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.] ♪ >>

>> hello everyone and welcome to amanpour and company. here's what's coming up. when you get out of a dungeon after eight years, you don't just return to a normal life. the longest held american prisoner in iran, siamak namazi, tells me about his traumatic eight-year ordeal in an exclusive interview, his first since being