Documentaries, short and long form: Robert Kennedy, the Iraq War, Dark Horse, Public Education

You may have noticed an increase in the number of documentaries reviewed recently. I suppose it's like when people crave vegetables (that rarely happens to me, but I've heard about it); I just wanted something MORE in my film watching, and the fictional films were proving to be more miss than hit. So, using MELSA's Interlibrary Loan program (man, I love that), I have been binge watching documentaries. The downside to that is I feel like I've had my heart broken, even when I look for some glimmer of hope. 

12/21/16 I am a Promise: The Children of Stanton Elementary School, Best Documentary, 1993

I always hope that when I watch an older documentary that whatever the 'issue' that is being addressed, by the time I watch the film, it's been 'fixed' or 'improved'. I don't think that is unreasonable, especially when the film is about the education of children in the inner city. I mean, that has to get better, right? I am a Promise: The Children of Stanton Elementary School takes a closeup look at the Stanton Elementary School in North Philadelphia in the early 1990s. North Philadelphia is mostly black, mostly poor, and made up of children from single parent homes, fighting drugs and gangs on every corner. The principal is Dr. Deanna Burney, a white woman, with a passion for 'her kids' and education, equitable education for inner city kids, who often get so much less funding than their suburban, white counterparts. Dr. Burney walks through the playground, calling out to the kids by name, asking about their families, how they're feeling, are they going to do good work, etc. The movie focuses on a few of the children, their interaction with Dr. Burney, and the interaction with the parents. School can be hard enough, but when you add hunger, potentially violent conditions, a single parent doing their best to work and take care of their children, but falling short, attention and behavior issues, plus inadequate funding, it's a Sisyphean task. Dr. Burney and her staff do their best to educate the kids between and among the distractions, but it is so hard. We watch as parents breakdown as they struggle to get the children to understand that school may be the difference between breaking the cycle of poverty and drugs and just giving up due to desperation. Teachers are frustrated with having to be disciplinarians instead of educators. I watched the film and saw such potential that would probably go untapped because the children and the teachers just didn't have the resources. It makes me very angry, because it seems like some of the issues could be addressed so easily. I did find my little light of hope because you could see the love that most of the staff had for the children, and the love that was given back. The DVD didn't have any special features to show us where the kids or teachers are today, but I did see that one of the young girls went to college and was opening her own business. The filmmakers filmed over the course of the school year, and you feel that they understand and know the children and teachers, and are personally invested in the school and the people. I think this is a must watch for educators, new and veteran, and really anyone interested in education issues in our country.

12/22/16 Poster Girl, nominated for Best Documentary Short, 2010

12/22/16 Iraq Paper Scissors, Documentary, 2010

America has got to do better by its veterans. Period. After watching documentaries like The Invisible War, and now Poster Girl and Iraq Paper Scissors, I believe that even more strongly. Poster Girl and Iraq Paper Scissors are companion pieces by the same director, Sara Neeson, and they both tell the story of veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Robynn Murray is the focus of Poster Girl; Murray, a former sergeant in the Army, suffers from physical ailments from her service, but also, and harder to quantify, are the emotional and mental injuries she has. The problem with PTSD is you can't see it on an x-ray or MRI, maybe they're faking. But it's real, and we watch as Robynn struggles with life after the military, trying to get benefits from the Veterans' Administration, navigate the bureaucracy, and trying to cope with her angry outbursts. Robynn finds help from other veterans and art therapy. She finds a group called the Combat Paper Project which turns the veterans' uniforms and manuals into paper and then into art. The whole process, from cutting up their uniforms, to making the paper and then their art, and sharing the art with their comrades as well as family, friends and others just interested in the project is cathartic and allows the vets, including Robynn, to begin healing. They find their voices and an outlet for their anger, anger at the military, the government for not listening or helping, and their anger at themselves for participating in the brutality of war. Many of the soldiers we meet in Iraq Paper Scissors, including Robynn, joined the military when they were kids, 18, 19 or 20, and they come back as adults who have seen and done too much, some things they can't even put into words. But they can put into art. Poster Girl lets us focus on the story of one person, and Iraq Paper Scissors introduces us to the Combat Paper Project and the men and women who participate. We hear their stories and feel their pain, but also their hope and rebirth as they address their demons head on, leaning on each other, really the only other people who can understand their experiences. The Combat Paper Project teams with Warrior Writers, another veterans group, that focuses on the written word. Twenty two veterans commit suicide every day. EVERY DAY. That's not acceptable, it should never be acceptable. These projects, and others like them that are growing around the country, can help pull vets back from the brink. There is also a suicide hotline specifically for veterans. These men and women answered their country's call; it's our turn to be there for them. As one of the veterans said, 'We don't want you to stand behind us, we want you beside us. We want your empathy.'

Resources:
Facts about PTSD
Warrior Writers
Combat Paper Project
Veterans Suicide Prevention Hotline 1-800-273-TALK
National Call Center for Homeless Veterans 1-877-4AID-VET 

12/23/16 Robert Kennedy Remembered, Best Live Action Short, 1968

Directed by Charles Guggenheim (who directed 11 Oscar nominated documentaries, winning four times), this all-too brief film relies on footage of Robert 'Bobby' Kennedy, and not direct interviews with him or any family. The film was put together after Kennedy's assassination in 1968; it was narrated by Richard Burton. The footage includes news footage as well as home movies from the Kennedys. Bobby Kennedy was John Kennedy's younger brother, who served as JFK's confidante, and the U.S. Attorney General. I knew a little about Robert Kennedy, but not as much as I probably should, and it was really interesting to learn more about his passion for civil rights and his strong sense of right and wrong and duty to his country, and the world. Listening to some of his speeches, it is easy to see how people were so moved by him. When you hear people like the Kennedys and Martin Luther King, who inspire without inciting, you realize how far we have come, in the wrong direction. The film is not an exhausting examination of Kennedy, but it is a wonderful primer on him, and a glimpse into the America of the mid to late 1960s. The discussion of race relations is one of those sad moments (for me) when I realize that we have not advanced as much as we should have, and in some parts of the country, we have taken backwards steps. We need Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy more than ever.

12/23/16 Dark Horse, 2016 not yet nominated 

Who doesn't like a good horse tale? Who doesn't like a good horse tale told with a Welsh accent? Exactly...nobody. Dark Horse is about Dream Alliance and the people who loved him. In a small Welsh mining town, Janet Vokes came up with the idea to create a syndicate to breed and race a horse. She teamed up with Howard Davies, an accountant by profession, to start the syndicate by asking people in the town to join, paying ten pounds a week for care and training of the yet unborn horse. The documentary tells the story from the beginning: the acquisition of Dream's mother, his birth, training, and first races. We meet members from the syndicate as they tell their story directly to the camera, we hear how racing, in the United Kingdom like in the U.S., is considered a sport for the elite, and that they were looked down on by the racing establishment as well as the sporting press. In some ways, they may have relished the role of the outsiders, but other times, the lack of respect seemed to grate on them; they just weren't taken seriously. At least, not until Dream started to win. Of course, it wouldn't be a compelling story without a bump in the road, and since the movie is fairly new, I really don't want to ruin anything. It isn't ruining it, however, to say that the members of the syndicate were more than just owners, they really love Dream Alliance, and he became a point of pride for the townspeople, whether they were owners or not. I read online, somewhere, that Dark Horse may be a contender for Best Documentary; it has the elements that people like, so we'll see. It's a wonderful story, and we get a few views of the beautiful Welsh countryside, and gorgeous horses. You really can't go wrong.

12/23/16 Kon-Tiki, Best Documentary, 1950

In today's world of 500 television channels and dozens of adventure reality shows, the idea of a group of men building a raft and sailing across the Pacific would fit right it. Kon-Tiki is the documentary of Thor Heyerdahl and his international crew who, in 1947, sailed from Peru to Polynesia in the Pacific, on a handmade raft of balsa wood logs, and no engine. This was before satellites or Go-Pro cameras, they had a 16mm camera and a regular camera. Heyerdahl was trying to prove his theories about human migration patterns and what could have been possible with limited technology. It is pretty amazing that there were no major disasters or incidents in the three plus months of the journey, but since this was filmed by the actual crew, if there storms or rough weather (Heyerdahl alludes to one rough patch where they lost their parrot), the crew couldn't be expected to actually film, they would be working to keep sailing. If you have an adventurous spirit, like sailing, or want to see a real reality show, you should try and find this (interlibrary loan, it's not available on Netflix), and also watch the 2012 dramatized version which was nominated for Best Foreign Film. Heyerdahl was a man of big ideas who was pretty determined and fearless when it came to trying them out in the real world; there are not too many real adventurers any more (there are debates about his scientific conclusions which I am not qualified to evaluate, but the adventure was real).