A documentary buffet featuring food, science, a Big Bird and a boxing legend

10/24/15 Deli Man, Documentary, 2015 not yet nominated

The title of the film, Deli Man, probably gives away the subject matter: the Jewish deli and its slow demise across America. I don't have too many hopes that the movie will be nominated for an Oscar, and with so many good documentaries out there, I'm not sure it should be nominated, but I want to support it because I did help to fund it on Kickstarter and it's an enjoyable movie. Deli Man gives us a little history of the Jewish deli, how immigrants brought over food from their home countries and the cultural aspect of food. Director Erik Greenberg Anjou uses Ziggy Gruber, a New York transplant in Houston and owner of Kenny and Ziggy's (I hope to visit on my trip to Houston), as the focal point. Ziggy grew up in delis and has a passion for the history of delis, which is also the history of his family. Watching Deli Man made me think of the delis at home in Cleveland, the delis I have visited in New York (service with a snarl) and the few I have experienced in the Twin Cities. There is something about the dish of kosher pickles and pickled tomatoes on the table, the familiarity of the dishes: latkes, knishes, corned beef (no thank you), challah and more. I get hungry just thinking about it. I wish the movie had smell-o-vision, but it did not. People gather around food and it's a great ice breaker, I mean who doesn't love matzo ball soup? 


11/7/15 Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, 2015 not yet nominated

Going Clear received a lot of publicity even before it was released because of the subject matter: Scientology. Alex Gibney (Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine and many others) directed the movie and interviewed former members of Scientology's inner circle, but not some of its more famous members like John Travolta and Tom Cruise. There was this pervasive  feeling of paranoia as I listened to all of the things that were being done or that was happening to believers of Scientology. It's a belief system (I hesitate to call it a 'religion', although the federal government recognizes it as a religion for tax purposes) that does not appear to value independence or free thought and perhaps has even gotten worse in the past two decades (or more) under David Miscavige who has a god complex (based only on the footage presented). I don't like to disparage people's beliefs, but this seems so obviously cult-like and absurd that it's hard to conceive of people giving thousands of dollars to it, much less submitting to the control alleged by those who have left. The movie gives an historical background on L. Ron Hubbard, the creator of Dyanetics and Scientology, and it does not necessarily paint him in a good light and includes background on the different levels in Scientology and interviews with former members. I thought this film was better done than Steve Jobs, and I cared more about the people in the film and I felt something, whereas in Steve Jobs I did not.


11/13/15 Merchants of Doubt, 2014

If you have a critical thinking bone in your body or brain, watching this movie will make you so angry at those people who can't look past the nose on their faces for the truth. It's scary and enraging. Merchants of Doubt refers to the people who work to cast doubt on scientific discovery, usually by disparaging and attacking the scientists personally since they really cannot factually dispute the science. The director, Robert Kenner, uses Naomi Oreskes, an historian of science and co-author of the book Merchants of Doubt, and Stanton Glantz, an activist for tobacco regulation, to give the background on these tactics, that go back to when the tobacco industry denied any harmful effects from smoking. Then, when it was proven that the tobacco industry KNEW there were negative effects from smoking, they tried to turn the tables and make it the smokers' fault. It's mind boggling. Oreskes has done a lot of research on the people behind these tactics and their anti-scientific approaches. One of the main topics examined in the film is global warming; and what is scary is how the deniers of global warming use fake science, misdirection and economic fear to sway people. Kenner interviews 'converts' those who didn't believe in global warming, thought it was a scare tactic by liberals but who have since read the scientific reports and now try to dispute the deniers. Bob Inglis, former Republican Congressman from Oklahoma, is one of those now trying to take the 'party politics' out of a very serious situation. He does it with grace and eloquence and a determination that is inspiring, even though he lost his seat to a candidate supported by the Tea Party. I cannot recommend this movie strongly enough. It presents the facts and evidence in a strong and convincing way, and the fact that many of the deniers say that yes, global warming is happening but we can't afford to do anything about it and it's government overreach, gives lie to their position. Kenner directed the Oscar-nominated documentary Food, Inc. which is about the food industry and made me not want to eat for a short period.


11/21/15 I am Big Bird: The Caroll Spinney Story, 2015, not yet nominated

Who doesn't like Big Bird? He represents that little kid in all of us, he asked the questions we wanted to ask and did the silly things we liked to do. I am Big Bird: The Caroll Spinney Story gives us a behind the scenes look at Caroll Spinney, the Muppeteer behind Big Bird and the yin to his yang, Oscar the Grouch. We gather from Spinney and the people who know him that he really was Big Bird, that with or without the 8 foot tall costume, he would still have that wonderment. We meet many of the cast from Sesame Street including Bob, Luis, Susan and Maria, and hear how they felt Big Bird represented the children who were watching, but also their thoughts about Caroll as a performer. There was a period of time where Big Bird was everywhere, going all over the world, including a newly opened China. Spinney has been playing Big Bird for forty years, and seems to have no immediate plans to retire, despite the fact that playing Big Bird can be physically exhausting. the magic does not diminish even though we learn how Big Bird works, we get an inside look into the feathery costumer. A story about Big Bird would not be complete without the father of the Muppets, Jim Henson making an appearance, and Spinney speaks of him with great affection and of how Henson believed in him, even when things got discouraging. I always liked Big Bird, but I think I love him, and Sesame Street, more now and have a great appreciation for the respect they have for their audience. As a documentary, I kept waiting for 'something', but I don't have words to describe what it was. I am so glad I saw it and I hope more people do, but I don't think it will be nominated for an Oscar. That doesn't diminish it in any way, though. Check it out.

11/21/15 Unforgivable Blackness, 2005

Jack Johnson (1878-1946) was the most dominant fighter of his time; he was also a black fighter during a period when some Americans still had bitter memories of Reconstruction and less than enlightened views of the black man. The Ken Burns documentary, based on the book of the same name by Geoffrey C. Ward, uses film footage and newspaper articles and first person accounts, including Johnson's. Burns places Johnson's story in an historical, sociological, cultural and sports context, and this gives you a sense of what it was like in the first two decades of the 20th century. While black men could box, it was often to entertain white men; the fighters might be blindfolded, among one variation; but they could not fight for the championship. It would never do to have a black man fight a white man (what if the Negro won?) and in fact the white heavyweight champion, James Jeffries refused to fight Johnson. Fights were stopped before Johnson could knock out his opponents (and he surely would have) because there was a fear of rioting if a white man was knocked out by a black man (fear seemed to be a common theme in the reactions to Johnson). Johnson looks massive in the century old footage in comparison to his opponents; much like Mike Tyson towered over his opponents. Back in the early days of boxing, matches could be scheduled for twenty rounds, in fact, one of Johnson's fights was scheduled to go 45 rounds, unimaginable today. Aside from his boxing prowess and physical strength, Johnson was an independent minded man, not really caring what anyone thought of him. He dated and lived with white women which in that time was scandalous; he openly said that nobody would tell him who he could love. He had impeccable taste in clothes and cars; he was well-spoken. If he was living in the 21st century, he would probably rub elbows with LeBron James and Floyd Mayweather, but he didn't live in 2015, he lived in 1915, and Johnson's confidence and bravado offended so many in the white establishment, and as the story unfolds, his overconfidence led to his slow downfall. Burns always does a great job of telling the story of America and her people and this is no different; Burns includes the inimitable James Earl Jones, who played Johnson in "The Great White Hope", Stanley Crouch, a writer, Bert Sugar, a boxing historian, among others to keep the viewer interested. You get a lesson in the racial climate of the US sneakily wrapped up in a history of boxing. Burns' guests do a better job than I can of encapsulating everything and they have a couple of hours to do it. It was uncomfortable watching and listening to some of the footage because the blatant, uncompromising racism and hatred toward Johnson is repugnant, especially when it seemed that he really didn't have those same feelings (perhaps he did, but it wasn't apparent to me), he just wanted to box and be the best and have fun doing it, and he was a little arrogant. Show me a boxer who isn't that way; in fact, James Earl Jones says that when Muhammad Ali came to see "The Great White Hope", he said if you substitute the issue of being with white women for religion, the story was Ali's. We don't hear a lot about Jack Johnson these days; I learned about him in college when I did an independent study, but otherwise, I don't think would have known about him. Johnson had his flaws, and he was a polarizing figure, but his story is definitely worth learning about.