Documentaries: GM Truck Plant, Fighting Cancer in Mondays at Racine and Polio in the Final Inch

1/14/17 The Last Truck - Closing of a GM Truck Plant, nominated Best Documentary Short, 2009

2007-2008 were pretty tough years in this country: banks failing, mortgage companies failing, homeowners failing, and auto makers failing. The hows and whys are covered in other movies and documentaries, but the who is what is important in this documentary short about the GM truck plant in Moraine, Ohio, near Dayton. The plant was huge, bigger than the Pentagon, with miles and miles of conveyor belts and assembly lines, employing thousands of people, many for decades. GM announced the closing of the plant right near Christmas time, 12/23/2008 (I cannot believe someone didn't think about just pushing that into the next year, but I think that it may have been common to close down the plants for those two weeks, so maybe they thought that wouldn't make sense, but in any case, seriously, Christmas?), and the documentary followed several workers from the time of the announcement to the closing. It was heartbreaking watching the workers talk about their pride in the factory (which had won awards), the quality of work, their co-workers. The filmmakers only talk with union workers, but there is definitely a tension between the union and management (commonly painted as people who may know something, but nothing about making trucks; like when the last truck can't be completed because they didn't have the right amount of hinges, which it was the responsibility of management to order). I think this provides a personal view of what was happening and gave the workers a voice. It was a beautiful homage to the men and women on the line. I worked for a subsidiary of General Motors until 2008, and we experienced many of the same emotions, with many of my co-workers out of work for months, some needing re-training and finding new career paths. It's eight years later, and I really hope those workers have found some way to use their skills, because they definitely have skills.

1/14/17 Mondays at Racine, nominated Best Documentary Short, 2012

Oh, wow. I cried a lot more than I laughed during this documentary with a Long Island salon at its center, but in the end, I felt incredibly uplifted. Two sisters, Rachel and Cynthia (Racine), opened a salon in Long Island, and since 2003, they have set aside the third Monday of the month to provide free services and emotional support to those suffering from and fighting cancer. We're introduced to the sisters and the film periodically goes back there, but director Cynthia Wade follows different clients of the salon and talks to them and their husbands about what they're going through, and the impacts it has had on their relationship. Two woman are the focus, and they are both pretty amazing. Linda, who at the time of filming was 58, battled cancer for 18 years; she and her husband talk about the strain cancer and her terminal diagnosis has had on their marriage; Warren drinks too much and has made some poor decisions, although it is very clear from the interviews that he is in as much emotional pain as his wife is in physical pain. I liked Linda immediately, but I liked her more hen I learned we share a birthday. Linda finds comfort in her church and singing in the choir, while Warren is angry and does not believe the church, his faith or God are going to help his wife. Cambria is a mother of two very young children, one of them is a foster son that she and her husband want to adopt, but fear they might not be able to because of the cancer. Cambria goes into the salon for support and is going to have her head shaved because she has been losing it in clumps. You think it's just hair, but it is really so much more than that, and that's what Rachel, Cynthia and their team realize, and before Cambria gets her hair shaved, she starts to cry and the stylist gets Rachel to hold her hand. It's that emotional support that the women get and share with each other. Cambria and Linda become friends. I don't think there are too many people who have not been touched by this hideous disease in it's various forms; my mom had breast cancer twice, and beat it both times, but it was scary and stressful, and I lost two people that were very important to me to breast cancer, so watching this was personal. This movie is about the people, not the clinical. I'm sure there are salons across the country that do what Rachel and Cynthia and their staff do, but if there's not, there should be. In Judaism, we call it a 'mitzvah'. If you can find this movie from your library or online, you should watch it. Racine Salon: http://racinespa.com


1/16/17 Under the Sun, not yet nominated, 2015

Given the inauguration that was held on Friday (1/20/17), I thought watching a documentary on North Korea would help prepare me for the propaganda ministry of the next four years. Under the Sun follows an 8 year-old girl as she is groomed for the Korean Children's Union, but to me, the hidden value of watching a film like this is watching North Korean officials manipulate and stage the film for the Russian film making crew (I think that might be irony). The director, Vitaly Mansky, realized that he was not going to be able to make the film he wanted, and he and his crew devised a way to make two copies of the digital film, giving one to the authorities and smuggling out the other copy. North Korea is one of the most isolated countries in the world, and that is by choice, or at least by choice of its leaders. As interesting as the concept of the film is, personally, I found it hard to watch, partly because of teeny tiny subtitles that were too hard to read, and it seemed to go on forever, belaboring so many points. It's almost two hours long, and this was a film that I think would have been fine as a short film; that probably wouldn't have been reflective of the hard work and risk the film crew undertook, but I think it would have made a more accessible film. I did feel sorry for the little girl, who, towards the end, realized what kind of life she was headed to with the Korean Children's Union, and the 'handlers' tried to hide her tears.

1/20/17 The Final Inch, nominated Best Documentary Short, 2009

We don't hear much about polio in America these days, or in most of the world, thanks to doctors, nurses and medical volunteers all over the world. Unfortunately, it's not eradicated completely, and India, Afghanistan and Pakistan still had many cases at the time of filming. The film shows us health workers, many of them volunteers, going through villages in India, Afghanistan and Pakistan, trying to convince parents to let them vaccinate their children; in India, there were 4 MILLION people working to eradicate polio. One of the health workers is a young Muslim woman, who goes from house to house in a burka, speaking with parents or grandparents about the importance of the vaccine. She doesn't wear the burka all the time, but she feels it's very important for her to wear it when she is meeting with villagers so they trust her. She isn't afraid to be blunt, when she sees a young man who has polio, and looks to his mother and asks 'wouldn't you prevent this if you could? You could have stopped this and you can stop it for your other children' (paraphrasing). One of the local imams also tries to educate those who attend his mosque, which is important because there are many people who believe the vaccine is poison or a sterilization drug from the United States. The doctors and volunteers are persistent, visiting and re-visiting villages and homes, trying to never take 'no' for an answer. The filmmakers add a different perspective to the film by including interviews with two Americans who came down with polio when they were younger, back in the 1940s and 1950s before it was stamped out in America; one of them has been in an iron lung for over 50 years. They both use their voices to support the efforts to rid the world of polio. The Final Inch wasn't the best documentary I have seen in terms of drama and strife or the underdog overcoming the odds, but it was still very good, and very informative, and I was impressed and inspired by the dedication of the workers under hard conditions. The Final Inch lost the Oscar to another medical inspired documentary called Smile Pinki, which I know I saw, but cannot find the review.


1/21/17 The Garden, nominated Best Documentary Feature, 2008

I did not think I would get so emotional about community gardening. Seriously. And yet, there I was in my recliner, cheering on the farmers to beat the establishment. The South Central Farm was a community garden in South Central Los Angeles and the farmers were predominately, if not all, Hispanic. The farm/garden started after the Los Angeles riots in the 1990s to give people a purpose, a way to raise their own fresh food. When the movie opened, I didn't realize they were in Los Angeles, because of the huge fruit trees; I thought they were in Central or South America. At the time, it was the largest urban garden in the United States. The controversy and attempts to evict the farmers came about because they didn't really own the land they had been cultivating for over ten years. The land was intended for industrial use after the city bought it from Ralph Horowitz for $5 million dollars, but never pursued the project, ironically due to the efforts of another community organization, led by Juanita Tate. Mr. Horowitz, under some suspicious circumstances, bought the land back form the city for the same amount of money, and wanted to evict the farmers. The farmers organized and tried to protest at City Hall where they seemed to find some support from their councilwoman, Jan Perry and a couple other councilmen who (claim to) see this as a great oasis in the city. The farmers, with the help of a local law firm, get an injunction; they also uncover potential evidence of a secret deal between Jan Perry, Juanita Tate and Ralph Horowitz. Tensions run high on all sides, with the farmers fighting among themselves as they try to enforce their own rules, including not making money from the garden (making this a money-making venture would change the land use). There are racial issues that bubble up between the Hispanic farmers and Juanita Tate and Jan Perry who are black; although, former Black Panther Deacon Alexander is one of the advisors to the farmers. There are also charges of anti-Semitism by Horowitz against the farmers, which they deny, and blame on misinformation from other factions. This garden/farm gained attention throughout Los Angeles and people like Dennis Kucinich (who at the time was a presidential candidate), Darryl Hannah and Danny Glover, and Joan Baez. Community gardens are a very important feature in urban areas; they give people a chance to grow their own fruits and vegetables, as organically as they like, creating a sense of purpose in the process. I love seeing these oases in the city. The movie definitely seems to be on the side of the farmers, and I have no problem with that; they do give the other side a chance to have a voice, but it devolves into hostility or non-responses. The movie also shows that people, regular people, do have power if they speak together; they might not win all the time, but it doesn't mean that they should be silent. The Cove, about the killing practices of dolphins in Japan, won the Oscar.