If I could choose to send one movie into orbit in the hopes of introducing any alien species out there to our species, this movie would get my vote. This is similar in some ways to Ron Fricke’s “Baraka” and Chris Marker’s “San Soleil”, in that it is an omnibus of our spiritual life and its relation to things, people and ideas. That’s a pretty big canvas and viewers might find the whole thing disjointed, but I love this movie for its audacity and for the very fact that it is fragmented. We are a fragmented species that in this modern age, often has to settle for a reflection of reality instead of the real thing (the Elvis impersonators, the Shroud of Turin, and the mini-sprint up the flagpole at the Capital Dome being the most obvious examples). Why people will embrace fake Elvises while turning their back on fake Rembrants is beyond me, but such are the ways of human folly. Part of the film’s audacity is that it often doesn’t explain what we are looking at, and that may turn some viewers off. But I think the lack of explanation helps the viewer feel as if they are really there. The film throws us off balance so we can almost feel like aliens from another world who have plunged to Earth and are trying to get our bearings amidst so much weirdness. The fact is, why certain objects, people and places are sacred is purely subjective. That is in essence, the film’s theme. A sky filled with clouds to some may be full of fascinating images that have spiritual significance, to others it’s merely beautiful and to others still, it’s about as mundane as their waterpick (I wonder if the family in India blesses their waterpick as well as their computer – I mean, who says a waterpick can’t be sacred?). The pacing of the film IS slow but what’s the rush? I didn’t find one second dull; in fact, if I had to complain about anything, it’s that I would have loved the movie to be even longer.
This is by far, the best documentary on the American home front during the Second World War. It’s also an excellent and extremely entertaining look at the spark that ignited the women’s liberation movement nearly thirty years before it ‘officially’ planted its roots. With thousands of men leaving the factories to fight in the war, and with the urgent, escalating need for America to arm itself, women were strongly encouraged to join the factory workforce. They came from all over the country and discovered skills they never knew they had, both as laborers, and as independent women. They were self-sufficient and strong (many of them endured double-shifts on a fairly regular basis), and they eventually discovered new freedoms by earning their own incomes and making their own choices on how to spend that money. Connie Field has created an extremely entertaining documentary that’s choked full of interviews with women from all walks of life. She intersperses lots of the newsreel footage and the popular songs that had been created in order to encourage and inspire the female workforce. And she illustrates the myriad of ways in which women were discouraged from working after the war had ended, and how strong a role the media played in encouraging women to raise families and stay in the kitchen. This film is rare glimpse of the Second World War from the female perspective, and a vital document of American history.
You won’t find a purer, more truthful and direct recording of history than what you’ll hear in these four hours. Johnson, a man who could match Richard Nixon in paranoia, recorded virtually every phone conversation during his five years in the White House. Whether you admire Johnson as a president or not, he’s such a colorful and fascinating human being that just listening in on his conversations is a pretty entertaining experience! One can also see almost Shakespearean levels of a tragic ‘king’ who had great ideals but terrible judgment. We see every facet of Johnson, from his most caring side and his abilities to stand tall against his opponents, to his weakest side; one of extreme paranoia, which cost him and this nation dearly. It’s fascinating to watch a man of great power let his ego make all the wrong decisions, from embracing Herbert Hoover and Vietnam advisors with their own agenda, to creating a self-imploding war with Bobby Kennedy and the American people. It’s a fascinating portrait of Johnson, but also a fascinating portrait of what power can do to people, and why our great forefathers had the good sense to create two other branches of government to keep a reign on this sort of predicament. The filmmakers did an amazing job compiling both moving picture and still images of Johnson, as well as creating occasional reenactments; all of which blend so well into the audio sequences, that one feels they are really watching these events unfold. I HIGHLY recommend this to anyone who is interested in this era of American history! Also, check out the excellent docudrama “Path to War”, and the documentary, “The Fog of War”.
Like Michael Apted’s ‘Up’ films, this film could be used as a marker for the changes in the lives of individuals and of a community. Most of the film takes place in 1979, so the plot summary here is somewhat misleading. Only about 15 minutes of the film covers what eventually happened when Reaganomics had taken its toll on family-owned farms and businesses. The bulk of the film stands on its own as an amazing model for people who might not realize the outstanding qualities that ‘everyday life’ seems to offer. Somehow, Malle makes the most mundane places and ‘unexceptional’ people seem quite fascinating. He allows us to focus on things our eyes never notice or that we try not to see (the scene in a home for the aged is particularly powerful). Some might see the charm of this 1979 community as being antiquated even for 1979, but I can only feel great remorse for all of those families that are now working for the Wal-Marts, Costcos and corporate farms. Those quaint town squares are undoubtedly strip malls now, and companies like Monsanto probably own most of the farms. For those who want to see the beginnings of where the American dream failed; this is a good place to begin your search.
Aside from the conventional definition, to glean can be to see something beautiful or useful in something that is conventionally useless, pointless or ugly, and to make that thing even more beautiful or useful. One can consume the stuff they glean, or they could recycle it into an art form, creating a whole new purpose for the object(s). Gleaning also applies to our basic ability for survival. In the worst times of our lives, whether it’s the death of a friend or facing poverty or illness, there is a way of seeing things positively that helps us survive. Thus, faith and hope are gleaned in the face of disparity. Scientists glean facts and turn them into theory. We glean possibilities every time we use our imaginations. We glean memories when we write (James Joyce was probably the world’s greatest literary gleaner). And psychiatrists pay attention to what others don’t notice by gleaning beneath the stubborn surface of our egos. This film blew me away in how it depicted how much waste our society makes, and the myriad of ways in which those who glean what we discard benefit society. But the film is even more than a fascinating documentary and social statement. As one can see from the concepts listed above, it’s also a celebration of seeing our world and ourselves as a “cluster of possibilities.” There are many theories that we are all in essence stardust developed from fragments of ‘the big bang’ and quintessentially, this film is about “gleaners of stardust.” It pertains to those who metaphorically glean the hidden mysteries and possibilities of our world (i.e. the gleaners of dreams and ideas). Come to think of it, film lovers and the best filmmakers are in fact, gleaners by that very definition. Agnes Varda has proved that she is one of the greatest gleaners of all time.
This documentary refreshingly breaks from partisan conventions to show us that for most Iraqis, their feelings about the war are mixed, and often painfully contradictory. One woman hates the American occupation as much as she hated Saddam, but she loves George Bush for liberating Iraq, and even has a couple of pictures of him on her shelf. We see horrific pictures of the mass graves from Saddam’s regime, then we see images of the people of Fallujah digging rows of graves for their dead. Some of the headstones simply read things like “a big man in a blue robe with a chain of keys”, because his body and face are too disfigured for anyone to recognize. We see life going on as usual for many people, as it does in many ways. But we also see cars lined up for miles (!) waiting for gas. People are outraged that their country, which is swimming in oil, has gas shortages under the American occupation. The fact of Iraq is; it’s not as simplistic as the American media shows it. One of the film’s cameramen, who carries a picture of George Bush in his wallet, sadly tells of how the film’s associate producer, Sa’ad Fakher, was caught in the thick of the violence on the streets. Upon seeing insurgents shooting in his direction, he had high-tailed his car out of there only to meet a shower of American bullets on the next street. There were 122 bullet holes counted in his car, twelve in his body. Americans can talk about how much better off Iraq is, of how much worse it is, but the reality is much more like that of Sa’ad Fakher. The country is stuck between a rock and a hard place, or as one poet described it, between fire and ice. Dreams of sparrows isn’t good enough for these people. We should be delivering them bright skies filled with cooing and consoling doves.
I can’t believe I’m reviewing a movie that’s actually less than 2 minutes long but, it’s brilliant, so who cares how long it is? The filmmakers simply allowed Bush to speak for himself; they just changed the words around a little. Okay, a lot. The effect of which is, after I stopped laughing myself silly, I had the oddest notion of really liking this guy! That is the point of this little gem. All the sincerity and humility of Bush’s that half of the country knows is ‘b.s.’, seem completely real when the themes of responsibility, respect, honesty and harmony come forth. We see and feel what the other half of America must see and feel when his usual words ’seem’ so heartfelt and strong. This isn’t just a gimmick film. In about 100 seconds we get a strong, chilling and of course ironic lesson in perception. I hope the filmmakers will make sequels. “Dick Cheney: The Greatest Humanitarian of All Time”, “Pat Robertson: Proud Liberal and Pagan”, “Donald Rumsfeld: Consummate Man of Compassion”, and “Bill O’Reilly: Fair and Balanced”.
Those who wish to search this down, it’s available on the “Fourth Annual Media That Matters Film Festival” DVD at Netflix. The rest of the DVD is terrible but it’s worth renting for this flick. “The Fifth Media That Matters Film Festival” DVD is overall, excellent.
This fascinating made-for-cable documentary looks at what movies were screened at the White House over the past century, what each president’s favorite movies and genres were, how often they watched, and who they watched with. The official White House projectionist from 1953-1986, Paul Fischer, kept complete logs of every film screened not only at the White House but also Camp David. We learn what movie JFK saw the night before he died (From Russia With Love), and what movie Richard Nixon censored and why (it was a number from the musical 1776 that basically satires conservatism: (“We have land, cash in hand, self-command, future planned, fortune flies, society survives in neatly ordered lives”). We also learn what the first movie screened in the White House was (“Birth of a Nation” – not a good start!), and who watched the most movies in his term (Jimmy Carter with 580; an average of one movie every three days!). What’s most interesting is how much the movies these men liked said so much about each of them. What did Ike like? Westerns. Who was Johnson’s favorite movie star? Himself. What was Nixon’s favorite movie? Patton. What was Bill Clinton’s favorite movie? American Beauty (hearing Clinton talking about how much that movie blew him away as the camera slowly pans up the infamous poster of Mena Suvari’s half-nude body covered in rose petals is priceless!). A Kennedy aide tells of how a screening of “Last Year at Marienbad” ended up with only himself and Jackie left in the screening room, and how JFK actually snuck into a cinema one night (with his secret servicemen) so he could see “Sparticus” (the White House at that time was not equipped with 70mm projection equipment.) There are loads of great stories like these by White House staff, a few of the presidents themselves, and some of those who had the honor of having their films screened there. This is a great documentary for those who love movies and political history, but I don’t know if will ever be distributed on DVD (I saw it aired on Bravo a couple of years ago). For those who are interested, below is a list of the top ten most popular movies that have been screened at the White House in the past ninety years.
10) Field of Dreams 9) The Bridge on the River Kwai 8. The Longest Day 7) A Man For All Seasons 6) Sabrina 5) Patton 4) Roman Holiday 3) Casablanca 2) Bad Day at Black Rock 1) High Noon
As I watched French citizens digging up unexploded shells from WWI, it seemed almost incomprehensible to think of the task they still have ahead of them. Millions of shells were fired in that war and one out of every eight didn’t explode. Thousands of those live shells are still buried in the forests and farmlands of France, and every year, several people are wounded or killed by these bombs that are nearly a century old. This film also documents the hundreds of thousands of unexploded shells and live mines still surrounding populated villages in Russia and Bosnia, and the effects still prevalent in Vietnam of Agent Orange. It’s a fascinating documentary, and the interviews with the folks who live with these lurking dangers brings a human touch that defines bravery in measurements we rarely see. I was sort of surprised to see that the film didn’t cover the estimated 8 to 24 million unexploded cluster bombs still scattered throughout Laos that to date have killed over 5,700 and injured over 5,600. Nor does it cover the fact that nations today are knowingly using weapons whose destructive capabilities will still be viable for thousands of years. In Bosnia, Kuwait and Southern Iraq, the US and Britain used weapons made from uranium-238 (depleted uranium), which upon impact vaporizes into fine dust and gas that causes both heavy-metal poisoning and irradiation to anyone nearby. During the Persian Gulf War, three hundred tons of U-238 were spread over Kuwait and Southern Iraq. According to a US Department of Defense survey, more than 436,000 US troops have entered contaminated battlefields. How many Iraqis have been exposed to date no one knows but the fact that hundreds of Iraqis have scavenged the wreckage of tanks and jeeps and sold the contaminated scrap metal they salvaged throughout Southern Iraq, just boggles the imagination. As of today, over 140,000 US soldiers from the Persian Gulf War have filed for disability, and over 9,600 have died. These weapons are still being used. [IMDb's guidelines ask us to refrain from listing URLs, but one can look up the sources for this information on any search engine: The National Gulf War Resource Center, The Military Toxic Project, The Cluster Munition Coalition, and The Center for Defense Information]
Still, this film is excellent, fascinating and vitally important viewing for everybody, and teachers should consider it for children over 12 years of age.
Well, just when y’all thought you could perform the Yarzheit (Jewish ceremony of the 1st anniversary of a death) over my grave… I’VE COME BACK! (whopeee. zzzzzz). It’s been almost an entire year that I’ve been AWOL on this blog. It was right after Thanksgiving last year that my father’s mild cognitive impairment went into full-gear Alzheimer’s. I still think that he had a stroke because he called me one day to say that he didn’t feel ‘right’ and could I please come over. He’d never asked that before, and he couldn’t put his finger on what was wrong; only that his head felt strange. But tests in December and July have shown only that he has Alzheimer’s. It’s been hell. His condition has been very gradual over the years so I wasn’t emotionally ready to deal with such a sudden change at the end of last year. He also looks like he’s aged about ten years in the past year. My brilliant physicist, politically active dad who was nearly six feet tall is now a tiny, sallow sparrow of a man with the brain of a small child.
Anyway, I’ve been crying my heart out all year on my personal blog, as well as occasionally contributing to other blogs, but I did want to come back here for my movie reviews, dharma chatter and other non-personal stuff.
Also… I recently put up a page on myspace called “Documentaries That Make A Difference”, which I am connecting to this blog. Reviews will be here since myspace doesn’t have indexes for their blogs.
I just read through this entire blog today and deleted I think nearly half of the posts since they were either painfully outdated or rambling on for so long that my eyes slid down into my sinuses for a snooze.
I don’t know if previous friends and acquaintances will know I’m back but hopefully I’ll be getting things back to normal soon. Actually, this is the worst time to be doing this because of the holiday season and things still aren’t settled with my dad but I’ve gotta have a space to keep myself sane that is more than just a personal whining marathon! Probably ranting about the mess the world is in is not the best way to go about keeping my sanity but oh well…. I need the added perspective.
Anyway, sorry to go into so much personal stuff. If anyone wants to know what it’s like taking care of a parent with Alzheimer’s; on top of all the obvious things, it’s an identity crisis. You’ll find yourself talking to your parent like you were their parent, like picking them up from senior day care where they’re sitting around a table wearing party hats and giant name tags, and eating cake as if it was tasteless gravel. And then you ask them, “did you have fun today?” like you distinctly remember your mother asking you after your first day at school. You don’t recognize your voice, you don’t recognize your father, and you don’t recognize yourself. It’s soul-shattering.
