American Blackout

Movie: American Blackout

Summary: Whatever you think you know about our election systems or Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, this film will make you question further why the news media fails to accurately inform the public. Directed by GNN’s Ian Inaba, creator of Eminem’s “Mosh” music video, American Blackout critically examines the contemporary tactics used to control our democratic process and silence voices of political dissent.

Many have heard of the alleged voting irregularities that occurred during the presidential elections of 2000 and 2004. Until now, these incidents have gone under- reported and are commonly written-off as insignificant rumors or unintentional mishaps resulting from an overburdened election system.

American Blackout chronicles the recurring patterns of voter disenfranchisement from Florida 2000 to Ohio 2004 while following the story of Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney. Mckinney not only took an active role investigating these election debacles, but has found herself in the middle of her own after publicly questioning the Bush Administration about the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Featuring: Congressional members John Conyers, John Lewis, Stephanie Tubbs-Jones, Bernie Sanders and jounalists Greg Palast and Bob Fitrakis.

My Thoughts: I’d heard only some of the details about the election issues in 2000 and 2004. I never read about them in depth, there never seemed to be a need – the basics seemed enough to make me disgusted with the entire process. I learned more listening to some of Greg Palast’s stuff, and that gave me greater insight, but watching American Blackout made me want to cry.

What have we done to our country if we let things like this not only go on, but stifle even the questioning of what happened? How is it that we have allowed the illegal disenfranchisement of so many of our voters?

The media is guilty as well. When Cynthia McKinney asked the hard questions, she was completely misrepresented by having parts of a phone interview chopped to make her sound like an illogical conspiracy theorist. This was done “creatively”, or maliciously, by the reporters writing their stories. Or maybe by their editors. In either case, it is clear that the media failed in their job, if their job is to report clear facts.

I expect politics to be dirty on some level. I also expect reporters to hold truth to a high standard. One of the aspects of of this documentary that I found most disturbing is the amount of collusion that is outlined by some of these actions. The planning required by the State of Florida in “scrubbing” the voter lists, knowing and confirming that they wanted to err on the side of false positives!

The right to vote is one of the most basic rights we should be able to count on in a democracy.

I no longer feel confident that I can count on that right. Yet I know I should vote, no matter how little I trust that it will be counted. As Greg Palast has said, if they’re going to steal our votes, let’s make them. Let’s make them put the effort into stealing it. Let’s get twice as many new voters out there as the number of votes they have stolen in the last two elections.

 

Manufactured Landscapes

Movie: Manufactured Landscapes

Summary: MANUFACTURED LANDSCAPES is the striking new documentary on the world and work of renowned artist Edward Burtynsky. Internationally acclaimed for his large-scale photographs of “manufactured landscapes”—quarries, recycling yards, factories, mines and dams—Burtynsky creates stunningly beautiful art from civilization’s materials and debris. The film follows him through China, as he shoots the evidence and effects of that country’s massive industrial revolution. With breathtaking sequences, such as the opening tracking shot through an almost endless factory, the filmmakers also extend the narratives of Burtynsky’s photographs, allowing us to meditate on our impact on the planet and witness both the epicenters of industrial endeavor and the dumping grounds of its waste.

In the spirit of such environmentally enlightening sleeper-hits as AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH and RIVERS AND TIDES, MANUFACTURED LANDSCAPES powerfully shifts our consciousness about the world and the way we live in it, without simplistic judgments or reductive resolutions.

My thoughts: Edward Burtynsky had a goal with this video, with the images that drove him, and he achieved it beautifully. A couple words kept going through my mind as I watched this video – scale and order. To see a former mountain inverted and turned into perfect cut out circles, to see a quarry with its perfect squares being cut into the earth…it is disorienting, and seeing it is very different from reading about it.

One of the aspects of this film that I found absolutely compelling was the very thing that I have heard others complain about – the narration of the film explains what you are looking at and how it got to that point, but he does not tell you how to judge what you are seeing. Edward shows the scale, the side effects, the human factor in what is otherwise unimaginable. It is up to us to decide whether we think it is good, bad, or indifferent.

The images are visually compelling, even when they are chilling. He doesn’t look for the ugly in these landscapes, he finds the beauty in them. The result is thought-provoking, and has in my opinion a greater impact than if he’d shown the ugly horror of the environmental destruction. Imagine, after all, a “river of rust,” as he calls it, the red streaking through gently rolling black hills. Visually, it is beautiful. And that makes the horror of what it is have that much greater impact. This is his power, and the power of the entire movie.

Well worth watching, for both the information as well as the visual artistry of Edward Burtynsky’s images.

 

Render: Spanning time with Ani Difranco

Movie: Render: Spanning time with Ani Difranco

Summary: Join Ani D, her band, and members of the extended Righteous Babe family as they criss-cross the country in this long-awaited, one-of-a-kind portrait of the Little Folksinger at work. Drawing on material from as far back as 1997, the film focuses on her 2000 and 2001 tours, taking you way behind the scenes — you’ll watch a new song take shape and learn the stories behind some favorite older ones. Featured are two brand new Ani songs and previously unreleased live versions of many of her classics. As dynamic, thought-provoking and fun as one of her concerts, Render gives you a sneak peek into Ani’s life and music in her own words, on her own terms.

My Thoughts: I’ve been in awe of ani for many years, and seeing her in concert has always been a fantastic experience for me. This was the first time I’ve seen any of her videos, and while I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect, I absolutely love this video. I read some comments on IMDB about the person’s dissatisfaction with the director of the film – they didn’t like the swirling jumpy shots, the focus on other members of the ani music family. I can’t really comment about the filming itself, since I just don’t watch enough videos to really have an opinion, but I have to say that overall the videoing seems to match the mood that is being created.

As for the content, it is so much more than merely footage of concerts that I was expecting. It is ani, there is plenty of music, and making music, but more importantly this video gives a deeper insight into what shaped some of her songs, and into why and how certain things have become so important to her. I love learning these things about her. I knew bits and pieces of it, or guessed some of it based on the things she’d say, the songs she’d write, but this video definitely fills in some pieces for me.

And it makes it more clear to me what it must be like to be up there singing, taking some chances, saying some things that are not necessarily popular. Now that she has what I’ve heard referred to as a cult following (I didn’t get my membership card – I guess it is on its way!), she has a tremendous amount of influence, and I imagine that is a double-edged sword. It is important to get it right, to express it clearly, and yet it is also a fantastic opportunity to shed some light on what is more often swept under the rug.

Plus it completely explains some comments I’ve heard that ani complains about all the screaming during her show. You see it and experience it from the perspective of the musician. I imagine there are mixed feelings about this – you’re there for the fans and because of the fans. At what point do you give up your own needs for their experience? Ever? Always? Sometimes? I have never experienced a tension at her shows in that sense, but I certainly have seen it now on this video.

I highly recommend this movie to anyone who likes or loves ani, or is just curious about what makes the little folk singer tick.

 

The Road To Guantanamo

Movie: The Road To Guantanamo

Summary: In 2001, four Pakistani Britons, Ruhal Ahmed, Asif Iqbal and Shafiq Rasul and another friend, Monir, travel to Pakistan for a wedding and in a urge of idealism, decide to see the situation of war torn Afganistan which is being bombed by the American forces in retaliation for the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Once there, with the loss of Monir in the wartime chaos, they are captured by Northern Alliance fighters. They are then handed them over the American forces who transport them to the prison camps at the Guantanamo Bay base in Cuba. What follows is three years of relentless imprisonment, interrogations and torture to make them submit to blatantly wrong confessions to being terrorists. In the midst of this abuse, the three struggle to keep their spirits up in that face of this grave injustice.

My Reaction: I can’t say that most of the information in the movie was a surprise to me. I’m deeply cynical about the military, about politics, about the motivations for these wars, and I have read enough and heard enough that there was no surprise that any of this happened and is happening still. I have felt sick at the thought of Guantanamo Bay (and the other prison camps), at the U.S. policies of torture, of the suspension of any semblance of recognizing that people, all people, are owed basic rights. Yet it was still fairly abstract, the knowledge I had.

So it wasn’t new information to me, other than the particulars about the “Tipton Three,” but it definitely had a big impact on me. It was made real, and it was made personal, and it will be that much harder to put aside the knowledge of what is going on in this world.

Those three kids took a risk, partially out of idealism, and partially out of the recklessness of youth, and they paid a price that is unimaginable. The land of the free is selective in who is granted “freedom”.

 

Intro

I am not much of a movie watcher, but a couple of my friends are really into documentaries. They have finally influenced me to start watching them. Of course I have a lot to catch up on.

Their lists are very long.

I tend to forget to take the time to watch movies, even ones I mean to watch, so this is going to be a challenge for me, and an ongoing process. I signed up for netflix, and the first movie came last week. “The Road To Guantanamo”.

I watched it tonight, but I’ll talk about it later.

My plan for this blog is to keep track of the movies I’ve watched and to write my initial thoughts on them. It might become a place for my friends to add to my list of movies-to-watch. We’ll see.