A few weeks ago I recommended some documentaries on Watch Instantly to readers who subscribe to Netflix. Hulu.com allows everybody to watch a limited number of docs instantly (and legally!), and it has some great ones up right now.
Super Size Me (2004), which is also up on Netflix, famously documents Morgan Spurlock's quest to expose the fast food industry by putting his own health on the line. Although his follow-up, Where In The World Is Osama Bin Laden? (2008) didn't do as well, this documentary has become a classic.
In the same vein, Hulu also has The Future of Food (2004), which is "an in-depth investigation into the disturbing truth behind engineered foods that have quietly filled U.S. grocery store shelves for the past decade." I think the discussion about genetically modified foods is going to blow up pretty soon, and this doc is a great opportunity to know more about it.
A really cool documentary that they just added is Life After People (2009), a television series where scientists and experts speculate about what the Earth could be like if humanity were to disappear suddenly, leaving everything behind. Although the premise is far-fetched, it's interesting to wonder about how the environment would be getting along without us.
Hulu has tons of other documentaries and feature films up, along with TV shows. It seems like the one thing it doesn't have is The Daily Show, which recently got pulled from the site for revenue reasons.
The Lifetime Channel is definitely not my go-to place for movies. To be fair, as a 21-year-old college student, I'm not really their target audience. But it's undeniable that the channel has a loyal following and wide national exposure. And in between crime thrillers and feel-good weight-loss narratives, they occasionally hit on important issues.
With their new movie, The Pregnancy Pact, Lifetime is launching a mini-awareness campaign on their website, partnering with the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. The film "explores the costs of teen pregnancy with a story of a fictional 'pregnancy pact' set against the backdrop of actual news reports about teen pregnancy from June 2008."
Along with information about the film, Lifetime is providing its viewers with two PSAs, discussion guides, and links to resources for pregnant teens. Giving viewers tools to digest what they learned, as well as working with an established non-profit, is a great model for television content that deals with societal issues.
According to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, three in 10 girls in the U.S. get pregnant at least once by the age of 20. It's a problem, and kudos to Lifetime for being part of the solution instead of just exploiting the scandal.
Check out the video they are highlighting about teen pregnancy:
HBO is premiering what looks like some great new documentaries this March with important messages.
The first one, Afghan Star, which was a winner of the Directing and Audience Awards in Sundance's 2009 World Documentary Competition, actually premiered on March 18th. I haven't seen it, but it looks fascinating. The film follows four young contestants in Afghanistan's "Afghan Star" TV show, which is an American Idol-esque competition. The film documents the weeks leading up to final results, when excitement in the country reaches its peak. According to HBO's synopsis, one female contestant's decision to let her headscarf fall after being cut from the competition throws the country into an uproar.
I think this film could be an important reminder that the country we are occupying is full of real people struggling to reconcile tradition and globalization. The trailer is definitely worth taking a look at:
Another interesting documentary HBO is premiering this month is called The Senator's Bargain. If you're interested in politics and want to take a look at Capitol Hill's inner workings, this might be worth tuning into.
"Shot over the course of six years by renowned filmmakers Shari Robertson and Michael Camerini, The Senator's Bargain follows Sen. Kennedy, the "Lion of the Senate," in one of his final major legislative battles, capturing the political legend in candid conversations at his Capitol Hill hideaway and rallying his allies with impassioned rhetoric on the Senate Floor."
This would be a timely doc to check out because the battle over immigration reform, which the film highlights, was a lot like today's health-care debate, with hot-button issues and a lot of controversy.
Do you have Netflix? 12 million of you do and can watch a wide selection of films instantly on the website.
If you have Netflix, and you're in the mood to watch some great documentaries that deal with some important issues, check out these acclaimed films on "Watch Instantly":
Born Into Brothels (2004) - An Oscar-winner about the children of prostitutes living in the Calcutta's red-light district.
Supersize Me (2004) - Morgan Spurlock famously uses himself as a guinea pig to examine the effects of fast food on the human body.
Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price (2005) - This doc blasts the giant chain store for paying substandard wages, skimping on employee benefits, and gutting communities.
Food, Inc. (2009) - An Oscar-nominee that explores the food industry's detrimental effect on our health and environment.
No-Impact Man (2009) - Colin Beaven leads his family on a crusade to to make no net impact on the environment.
Thaddeus Setla, director, producer, cinematographer, and paramedic, believes that children have the power to break down barriers between cultures when given one powerful tool: music. Causecast Films talked with Setla about his upcoming documentary, Beyond The White Picket Fence, a feature-length film that takes its audience to South Africa, where the Voena Children's Choir journeyed across the country to sing their way into the hearts of the people.
South Africa is a country that could benefit from some inspiration: 16 years after the end of apartheid, the nation is still rife with racial tensions and prejudice. Music has always been a part of South Africa's culture, and its potential for turning around violence and racism is important to recognize. "Children have a funny way of being able to cut through a lot of the BS, whether it's political or bureaucratic," says Setla, who followed the choir for two weeks in October for his documentary. "It doesn't matter what part of the world you're from...if you see children embracing and accepting other children, that's something you walk away from thinking the world is going to be a better place."
To get a sense of the movie, check out the trailer:
Voena (Voices of Eve 'N Angels) Children's Choir is made up of American children from ages six to eighteen who represent 35 different cultures. The choir has performed for American presidents and Pope John Paul II, and has shared the stage with icons like Maya Angelou. Setla got to know the choir because his two children go to school near a church where the choir trains in Benicia, CA. "But I became a part of the Voena family on my trip with them," he says.
The movie is currently in post-production, but Setla hopes to take his team back to South Africa for the 50th anniversary of the famous choral group Ladysmith Black Mombazo, who asked the choir to perform with them. Meanwhile, he is looking into different distribution options. "We're in the process of deciding where to take this," he says. "We've gotten some interest from TV stations about potentially putting this on Bravo or A&E , and we're questioning whether that's an option or whether we want to create a web series." Setla acknowledges that "content is key on the web," and wants to develop a social platform for the film in advance. "As a filmmaker, I know that a film is only as good as the number of people who are able to see it. You need to get it in front of as many people as possible."
Making Beyond the White Picket Fence marked a shift in Setla's attitude towards filmmaking. His previous ventures, including the documentary Level Zero about the Emergency Medical Services (EMS), have been for-profit, with merchandising involved.
Now his aim is to go into cause-related projects. His next production is a TV series called Chronicles of EMS, which looks at what EMS is like in different countries of the world. Setla, who has been a paramedic for the last ten years, has an ambitious agenda with this project, and hopes to create a forum where paramedics can "discuss the triumphs, concerns, and challenges of the system." He adamantly believes that the best discussions take place around entertainment. "When you watch people discuss things and it's visually stunning, that engrosses you and takes you to the next level of understanding and appreciation for the conversation." I completely agree.
If you like the idea of music breaking barriers in South Africa, also check out the acclaimed documentary Amandla! A Revolution in Four Part Harmony, about the struggles of black South Africans against apartheid through the use of music. You can watch the whole movie on YouTube, and I highly recommend it.
Meanwhile, keep up with Setla's new project, Chronicles of EMS. You can see a pilot at www.chroniclesofems.com. You can also follow him on Twitter to hear more.
At the 82nd Academy Awards, several of the year's big winners highlighted some important causes, either in overt or subtle ways.
Let's start with the little film that could: The Hurt Locker swept the awards, picking up Best Picture, Directing, Original Screenplay, Sound Editing, and Sound Mixing. Unfortunately, a lot of the buzz has been pitting Kathryn Bigelow against ex-husband, Avatar director James Cameron, and amping up her film's David-and-Goliath victory over Cameron's blockbuster. The more important buzz, however, is about the historic moment that her win represents: Bigelow is the first woman to win the Oscar for Best Director. Bigelow herself has expressed reluctance about hyping up the feminist side of her win. I think it's important to acknowledge that a woman was recognized for making an amazing film, with brilliantly executed and suspenseful sequences like this:
Check out my last post to see why The Hurt Locker ranks on my list of the top ten most important war films.
Precious, based on the novel "Push" by Sapphire, was another little film that rocketed to the top and won big at festivals around the world, before winning an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. Actress Mo'Nique, previously known for coarse comedy performances, won an Academy Award for her dramatic performance. She is the fourth black actress to win in the Best Supporting Actress category. Precious is not an easy film to swallow: its main character, played by Gabourey Sidibe, is an obese, illiterate 16-year-old African American girl in Harlem, who has been impregnated twice by her father and abused physically, mentally and sexually by her mother (Mo'Nique). It unflinchingly shows us situations that we would rather not acknowledge exist in America and I'm thrilled that these issues got exposure at the Oscars.
Sandra Bullock, romantic comedy darling, won for Best Actress for her dramatic performance in The Blind Side, the true story of football player Michael Oher. Like Precious, the movie highlights American poverty with its portrayal of an impoverished African-American foster child, who is adopted by a suburban family and discovers a talent for football.
The Short Documentary Winner, Music By Prudence, also tackles poverty, this time out of America. The film depicts the life of Prudence Mabhena, a Zimbabwean girl with a debilitating condition called arthrogryposis, who escapes her abusive upbringing thanks to a scholarship she received for her singing talents. In The Blind Side and Precious, the main characters also end up embracing education in the end, with Precious resolving to take the GED and Michael Oher embracing a college education with a football scholarship.
Crazy Heart, a movie about a country singer trying to turn his life around, for which Jeff Bridges won the Best Supporting Actor award, is not usually heralded as a cause-based movie. I've chosen to include it because it features a major story line in which the main character struggles with severe alcoholism. I've never seen such a vivid and gritty portrayal of the life of an alcoholic - we see Bridges throwing up on himself and driving his car off the road in a stupor. Its a multifaceted look at the issue, even if the ending, in my opinion, ties up his recovery too neatly and easily.
The most obvious cause-related winner, of course, is The Cove, a personal favorite of mine. See my post for a more in-depth look at why The Cove is one of the most important documentaries, environmental or otherwise, to come along in a while. Participant Media, producers of one of the most famous Oscar-winning docs, An Inconvenient Truth, did it again with this win. Their documentary Food, Inc., was also in the running. Both The Cove and Food, Inc. have been helping to make feature documentaries mainstream, something that, in my opinion, needs to happen without Michael Moore's name attached.
Avatar is being talked about more for what it didn't win than what it did, which was Oscars for Visual Effects, Cinematography and Art Direction. Despite missing out on other awards, it nevertheless remains an appealing commentary on anti-militarism, conservation, and tolerance. It's easy to see, even from the trailer, why it swept the technical awards:
For all these movies, although Avatar hardly needs more viewers, I hope that these wins will draw more attention to the causes at the root of each story. It would be nice to see the media give some attention to the issues in between the red carpet coverage.
For most of us, Hollywood has defined our notion of life and death on the battlefield. War films are rarely gung-ho spectacles of heroism and victory, but more often sharp and tragic critiques of the endless and senseless waste that is war. They are essential because they are often our only window into our violent history, and the only means we have of expressing the horror involved. War films are also part of one of the most timeless and enduring genres of cinema, which gives me plenty to choose from.
Here are ten films that show us the brutality of war and put us right in the thick of the conflict:
10.The Hurt Locker (2009) - This is the newest film on the list, and we have yet to see its long-term cultural significance. I'm including it because it is one of the most buzzed about films to have come out about the Iraq conflict, and because it reminds us of two very crucial, but uncomfortable, facts: 1. America is at war. Yes, still. 2. Some soldiers actually take pleasure in war.
9. The Big Red One (1980) - Samuel Fuller's film focuses on four privates in the 1st Infantry Division during World War I, with sequences that emphasize the insanity and senselessness of war. See the re-released and restored version now on DVD. Though it comes in at a hefty 162 minutes, some of the added sequences relish the humanity and comedy of the characters. The privates continually attempt to justify killing during war, with understandably limited success.
8. The Thin Red Line (1998) - Though overshadowed by Steven Spielberg's more accessible Saving Private Ryan, The Thin Red Line captures the anonymity and emotional pain of war -- in a way only a Terence Malick film can. It's about an army platoon trying to capture the Japanese island of Guadalcanal, and like many movies on this list, the characters struggle to find meaning in the senselessness of war. Although the film was not a box office hit, it was nominated for seven Academy Awards and is among most critically acclaimed WWII dramas.
7. The Fog Of War: Eleven Lessons From The Life of Robert S. McNamara (2003) - This Academy Award-winning documentary, directed by Errol Morris, depicts the life of Robert McNamara, President of the Ford Motor Company and Secretary of Defense during the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Vietnam war. Morris interviewed McNamara for over twenty hours, and the effect of the interview subject looking directly into the camera, rather than off to the side, is chilling. Check out McNamara's Eleven Lessons and find out why this is considered the most definitive documentary about war.
6. All Quiet On The Western Front (1930) - Another criticism of World War I, this time from the German perspective. It was also the first "talkie" war film to win an Academy Award. Still a classic, this movie presents war as a gruesome and colossal waste. It remains one of the most powerful anti-war dramas ever made.
5. Das Boot (1981) - Set in 1942, this German epic takes place on a cramped U-Boat bent on blocking Allied shipping routes. Its claustrophobic, tense mood and bloody ending make it a powerful anti-war polemic from the German perspective. There are a bunch of versions out there, but I recommend that 209-minute Director's Cut (don't worry, that's still 84 minutes shorter than the original version).
4. Full Metal Jacket (1987) - Depending on your definition of "War Film," this list could be nearly all Kubrick. But, one film that couldn't be omitted is Full Metal Jacket. This chilling satire is one of the most definitive and brutal commentaries on war ever made. The star of the film's first half is unequivocally R. Lee Ermey, who turns in an unforgettable performance as a tough-as-nails drill sergeant. The film's second half follows Private Joker (Matthew Modine) -- he's a war journalist, but is in charge of essentially writing propoganda. But, how you can sugar coat what he sees on the front lines? The final scene, a long take of soldiers singing the theme to The Mickey Mouse Club, is as poignant two decades later. The follow clip contains some vulgarities, to say the least:
3. Saving Private Ryan (1998) - This Steven Spielberg film is most famous for its harrowing and gory opening, which shows the beginning of the Normandy invasion. In it, seven soldiers journey through war-ravaged France on a mission to find Private James Francis Ryan, whose three brothers all died within days of each other, and send him home to his mother. One of the most violent and explicit war epics of the 90s, it drew huge audiences and revolutionized the art of shooting an action sequence. The first 30 minutes of this film take us as close to war as many of us will ever be.
2. Paths of Glory (1957) - Stanley Kubrick's fourth feature-length film is one of the harshest indictments of war, and one of the most compelling. The black-and-white film criticizes the gap between those giving the orders and those who fight the war. In it, three soldiers are put on trial for ignoring orders that would have sent them to certain death. Kirk Douglas gives an incredible performance as Colonel Dax, who commands the troops in question and then defends them at the moment of truth.
1. Apocalypse Now (1979) - Francis Ford Coppola draws audiences into the heart of darkness, and manages to expose the blood-chilling horror of Vietnam more than any other film by creating a surreal and cinematic world full of dark, lost men. In it, two U.S. Army officers are sent into the jungle to assassinate the presumably insane Colonel Kurtz of Special Forces. In addition to being famous for its unique take on combat, Apocalypse Now was notorious for its long and troubled production process. Check out this definitive film school flick below, in its famous beginning sequence:
Participant Media, recently featured in Fast Company's top Most Innovative Companies, always supplements the causes featured in its movies by launching social action campaigns addressing the issues.
It followed up on the subject of its 2009 film The Informant! by hosting what it described as a "whistleblower all-star event" last Friday, which was streamed live around the world. The Informant! is a dark comedy about Mark Whitacre, an employee who blew the whistle on Archer Daniels Midland's price-fixing tactics in the early 1990s.
The event featured a panel of some of the most famous whistleblowers in history, including, among others, Colleen Rowely, an agent who exposed mishandling of information within the FBI, Daniel Ellsberg, who released the famous Pentagon Papers, Cathy Harris, who revealed racial profiling within the U.S. Customs Agency, and most famously, Frank Serpico (subject of the 1973 Al Pacino film Serpico) who exposed police corruption.
The panel is really worth seeing. Some of the most powerful moments involved Cathy Harris, who emotionally described how black foreign women in the international Miami and Atlanta airports were racially profiled, strip-searched, humiliated, and sometimes handcuffed to hospital beds for up to four days.
Also moving was Serpico's description of being shot in the face by his fellow police officers, who allegedly left him for dead. "I believe that everybody wants to do the right thing," he says. "But when you fail in doing so, there is something in your nature that has to deny it."
The panel incorporated a positive note by reflecting on the vindication whistleblowers can feel when positive change comes from their actions, even though many initially experience sacrifice, retaliation, and isolation as a result.
A thesis film from University of Southern California graduate student Gregg Helvey is garnering worldwide attention and raising awareness for the plight of slaves around the world.
The institution of slavery is far from outdated, despite common misconceptions. According to the organization Free The Slaves, 27 million people around the world are enslaved today.
Helvey's film "Kavi" is a 19-minute narrative about a young boy in India who wants to escape from the brick kiln where he is forced to work. Its powerful and surprising message earned it a Student Academy Award and a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film. Check out the trailer below, and read more about Helvey's inspiration and mission here.
Interestingly, Helvey embraces the 30-minute limit he had for his thesis. On the film's website, he says,
"I think having KAVI as a short film also makes it a powerful teaching tool to raise awareness about modern-day slavery. People are often more willing to spend 20 minutes to watch a short than investing a full 90 minutes."
Personally, as a student also making a 20-minute thesis, I completely agree. The restrictions of short films can be frustrating, but having to work within a time limit forces you to put only your best stuff forward. After all, our generation's attention span is equally limited.
To find out more about modern slavery, check out Helvey's favorite online sources here.
Entertainment thrives on conflict and controversy. This means that characters in movies must always be put into situations where they must constantly make difficult decisions.
This is why the field of bioethics is so often used to inject controversy into movies. The purpose of bioethics is to create a journey from moral intuitions into moral arguments, so putting these ideas in movies is a natural step. The result is more serious than you might think: it means that the majority of the population is not getting their ideas about bioethical issues through reading case studies or listening to lectures, but by going to the movies. We're forming our opinions about issues like abortion, cloning, and assisted suicide by watching films, and nothing is more compelling and convincing than a well-crafted film. And since, ideally, in a democracy it is the public who will make decisions about how to legislate on these issues, this influence might be more "important" than we anticipate.
The technical name for this type of narrative application to ethical issues is called "narrative bioethics." Its not necessarily a good thing; after all, the first job of a movie is to make money, not to morally educate the public. But often, movies can be the first introduction a person has to a bioethical issue. Some Hollywood movies scare audiences with "slippery slope" projects of these issues, while comedies often include them because of the endless comedic possibilities involved. Let's take a look at some movies that I believe were important in making these introductions:
10. "Baby Mama" (2008)- Artificial Reproduction Technology (ART) Yes, this comedy starring Saturday Night Live's Tina Fey and Amy Poehler is hard to take seriously. But it does look at the nuances of an issue rarely delved into in entertainment: the moral quandaries of surrogate pregnancies. The issue is taken pretty lightly, of course, but finally natural pregnancies are presented as being better.
9. "Multiplicity" (1992)- Cloning This is another comedy that takes a bioethical issue, cloning, and presents it lightly. The main character decides to clone himself because he he's too stressed. Things go badly for him in the end as the clones wreak havoc on his life. Although we are nowhere near being able to create replicas of fully formed humans, the scenario that humans may be created as a means to an end is very real and possible (see HLA Typing). The extreme and unrealistic portrayal of cloning complicated a lot of viewer's opinions on "therapeutic cloning" which involves stem cell research. Movies like this complicated the public perception of the term "cloning" when awareness of the term was just starting, and I think it might have had implications beyond laughter and entertainment.
8. "The Cider House Rules"(1999) - Abortion This movie features a doctor who performs illegal abortions because he is horrified by the consequences of the botched, back-alley abortions he has seen. He tries to convince his doubtful protege that he is making the moral choice. The movie spends a lot of time addressing the nuances of abortion, and the character who performs the abortions is not shown as morally reprehensible. This movie is important for the purposes of narrative bioethics because the moral status of abortion takes such a central and multi-faceted role.
7."Dirty Pretty Things"(2002) - Organ Trafficking Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, this movie is one of the only popular films to address the issue of organ trafficking. Set in London, it features an illegal operation run out of hotel where illegal immigrants sell kidneys in exchange for passports with new identities.
6. "My Sister's Keeper" (2009) - HLA Typing, Artificial Reproduction This movie is the first Hollywood film to cover the issue of human leukocyte antigent (HLA) typing, which is sometimes used with ART to save children with leukemia. An embryo "savior sibling" is implanted, who will eventually serve as a donor of stem cells and organs to the sick sibling. In this movie, the "savior sibling" sues her parents for medical emancipation.
5. "Soylent Green" (1973) - Euthanasia Euthanasia, or assisted suicide, is often debated on the world stage, and is now legal in a few European countries and in Oregon. Soylent Green is set in New York City in 2022, which is now an overpopulated dystopia where assisted suicide is legal. In the end, one of the main characters chooses this option after learning the horrible truth about the substitute food wafers fed to the people by the government. In a world of chaos and strife, his peaceful, sensuous assisted death is shown as one of the only forms of control humans have.
4. "Million Dollar Baby"(2004) -Euthanasia This movie goes even more intensely than Soylent Green in to the question of euthanasia. The main character, played by Hilary Swank, desperately wants to be euthanised after being paralyzed below the neck. Finally, her mentor and boxing trainer, played by Clint Eastwood, helps her to die by giving her a shot of adrenaline, although initially very opposed to the idea.
3. "Artificial Intelligence (AI)"(2001)- Genetic Engineering, Artificial Intelligence This memorably creepy sci-fi thriller is a modernized Pinocchio, about a little android boy manufactured to resemble a human and to virtually feel love. The film vividly dystopian style makes the audience uneasy about a future where genetically engineered robots replace humans down the slippery slope.
2. "Gattaca"(1997) - Eugenics, Artificial Reproduction Gattaca is another movie that shows the bottom of the "slippery slope" of genetic engineering, a theme very popular in science fiction. This one of the most famous. Gattaca looks at how reproductive technologies facilitate eugenics. In this dystopia, children are selected though preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) to ensure that they ahve the best hereditary traits possible. Any children not birthed with this option are destined to be janitors. Gattaca is one of the best illustrations of the issues inherent in artificial reproduction technologies, including the widening of the gap between rich and poor, social injustices, and loss of human identity.
1. "Jurassic Park" (1993)- Genetic Engineering, Cloning Scientists have created an amusement park of cloned dinosaurs by cloning genetic material found in mosquitos trapped in amber who had fed on dinosaur blood. The fictional presentation which the characters viewed that showed this information was one of the first scenes to show the public information about DNA and gene sequencing. Because the movie was adventurous and family-friendly, more people tuned in to it than to other science fiction films, and the movie was the most massive exposure to genetic engineering that the country ever had. Jurassic Park contained a dark message: powerful science leads to disaster. This is a theme that remains in our public consciousness and is repeated in other science fiction films time and time again.
Every week, I'm going to be posting a Top Ten List highlighting a certain genre of cause-driven filmmaking. Of course, my choices will be colored by the perspective of my generation, but I'd like to think that the same things matter to people who are older or younger.
What I'm really striving to figure out is not necessarily what makes a film entertaining, visually pleasing or profitable, but what makes it "important." This is my interpretation of what it means for a film to be "important:
- Impact on the audience. Do people who see this film actually go out and change anything about their lives? - Staying power. Are people still talking about it more than 15 minutes after seeing it? - Popularity. Unfortunately, change can hinge on how many people see a film, which is why these lists might not contain less famous, smaller films that are equally good. - Actual change taking place. Whether the film revolutionizes its entire field or gets one innocent man released from prison (see The Thin Blue Line), I believe that the full potential of the medium is finally realized when change takes place in the wake of a film.
So here we go, with one of my pet causes:
The Top Ten Most Important Environmental Films (So Far)
10. Winged Migration (2001) I was babysitting my professor's three-year-old son the other day, who is a big animal lover, and he was completely entranced by this detailed French documentary about the migrations of numerous species of birds across the hemispheres. Its gorgeous photography and empathic portrayal of the peculiarities of birds made a significant impact on audiences worldwide.
9. March of the Penguins (2005) This documentary, also originally in French, also about the migration of birds, won the Academy Award in 2005 for Best Documentary Feature. The movie presented the struggles of the penguins in a very human way, squeezing empathy from its audience. Although it didn't have an overtly environmental message, it was a vivid representation of the intricacies of animal life at the far ends of the earth, and a great reminder of all that we have to lose.
8. The Cove (2009) See my post below for a more detailed explanation of why I appreciate The Cove so much. Most importantly for these purposes, this documentary about dolphin slaughter in Taiji, Japan, showed that environmental documentaries can be made in fresh, exciting ways. Its spy-thriller feel and adventurous tone did something entirely new with the genre.
7. Wall E (2008) Surprisingly, Wall E's director, Andrew Stanton, maintains that he never set out to make an environmental film with this blockbuster animation from Pixar. Yet the message is undeniable in the film's powerful visuals of an Earth devastated and abandoned by the unsustainable actions of humans. It is a cautionary tale that reached both young and old audiences.
6. Food, Inc. (2008) Food, Inc., which was just nominated for an Academy Award, is more than just an environmental film. It tackles the entire corrupt industry of food production in America, effectively disgusting audiences throughout the country with its portrayal of factory farming. However, I think the side effect of its message will be that more people will be eating sustainably, locally, organically and even vegetarian. And this could be one of the most important environmental changes we see.
5. The Day After Tomorrow (2004) This blockbuster is kind of a silly film, showing an extremely exaggerated alternate reality in which the projected effects of global warming happen in a couple of days. But the apocalyptic images of Manhattan sinking under the ocean and most of America perishing in cataclysmic storms made a vivid impression on a lot of viewers who might not previously have been able to imagine climate change as a physical manifestation.
4. Avatar (2009) Avatar, the highest grossing film in history, is the only environmental movie on this list that actually doesn't take place on Earth. Unlike Andrew Stanton, director James Cameron was fully aware of the environmental message in his movie, and has called attention to our loss of biodiversity and the effects of climate change. Check out my last post to see how the plot of the movie is being played out on Earth. Avatar is important because its revolutionary visuals conveyed the most realistic and tangible sense of environmental beauty yet (ironically, because the plants don't actually exist), and also because so very many people saw it.
3. Erin Brokovich In Erin Brokovich, we are shown how environmental issues can affect humans very directly and very intensely. In the movie, based on a true story, Julia Roberts' uncovers the industrial poisoning of a small town's water supply, which severely threatens the health of the entire community. Her award winning performance drew viewers around the world, who learned to be more aware of the reality of industrial pollution.
2. An Inconvenient Truth (2006) This documentary by Al Gore is probably the most famous environmental film of our time (and the most lucrative, bringing in an unprecedented $50 million for a documentary). The polarizing scientific evidence it contained brought the climate change debate to a head and is almost always cited, either with derision or in awe, when the issue comes up. Without it, it is hard to say where the climate change movement would be today.
1. FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992) This might seem like a surprising pick for a list with so many hard-hitters, but hear me out. If you mention the name "FernGully" in a room full of 20-somethings today, you will get the same positive and nostalgic reaction everywhere. Kids loved this animated movie about a fairy trying to save her rainforest home from both a lumber company and an evil spirit named Hexxus who gains power from pollution and resembles oil sludge. This was a highly popular movie with a strongly environmental message that came out to young audiences before the "green" movement was anticipated. The 20-somethings that were wowed by FernGully when they were impressionable children absorbed the message that forests, biodiversity and conservation are good, and that pollution, destruction and greed are bad. This movie effectively primed my generation to now look at movies like Avatar and An Inconvenient Truth with the mental framework of nature being inherently good and important to preserve. Fern Gully wasn't alone in this; movies like The Lion King and Pocahontas had a more subtle pro-nature lean. Yet FernGully was alone in personifying pollution as arguably one of the scariest, evil villains of animated entertainment. For a lot of people my age, seeing FernGully was the first time we were ever lead to think about conservation and the importance of a world outside of our human one.
You have probably heard by now that James Cameron's hit movie Avatar is now the highest-grossing movie in history. Of the top 20, (mostly starring Harry Potter, Jack Sparrow, and the Lord of the Ring's hobbits, with Batman and Spiderman thrown in), Avatar is one of the only that can be said to present a straightforward cause-driven message: Greedy industries looking for profit should not ruin the cultures and homes of defenseless indigenous people.
The movie is set on the fictional, whimsical planet of Pandora, but the issues it addresses are anything but alien. The U.K.-based charity Survival International, which supports tribal people worldwide, has brought attention to the eerie similarity between the predicament of Pandora’s Na’vi and the plight of Earth’s Dongria Kondh tribe in India, whose story you can watch below:
The charity describes how the sacred forests of the Dongria Kondh, just like those of the imaginary Na’vi, are under threat by a mining company, in this case Vedanta Resources. The mountain, which the Dongria Kondh describe as a form of deity, contains a rich stream of the mineral bauxite, or aluminum ore. According to Amnesty International, and to the video above, the local communities are already threatened by the air and water pollution perpetrated by the company. Amnesty is urging the Indian government to withdraw the clearance granted for the mine until measures are taken to uphold their international human rights obligations.
Vedanta has defended its project in the area, claiming that it will serve to stimulate the economy and uplift the rural community. But the people in the video “Mine – Story of a Sacred Mountain,” don’t seem very uplifted.
Survival posted an advertisement in the Hollywood entertainment magazine Variety, saying, “Appeal to James Cameron. Avatar is fantasy…and real.” We’ll have to wait and see whether the message of this film proves to be more than just Pocahontas in Space.
My faith in the power of documentaries to change the world has been flagging lately. As a film student on the documentary track, this is pretty unfortunate.Even really great films seem to stick with my peers for only about 10-15 minutes before fading into the media-filled abyss that is the consciousness of my generation.
But every once in a while, a film comes a long to challenge my disillusion.2009’sThe Cove is one of those, and I’m happy to see it be nominated for an Academy Award.This film from Roadside Attractions and Participant Media gained fame for pulling off a unique and cool spy thriller feel in what otherwise might have been just another preachy nature documentary.The Cove is about the international dolphin capture and slaughter trade as practiced in Taiji, Japan, and centers around a team of animal advocates and filmmakers intent on getting footage of the dolphin murders.And they do, which makes The Cove one of the most disturbing horror movies I’ve ever seen.
Yet what is important about The Cove, and its widespread success, is that it actually had a tangible, real-world effect on the cause that it was exposing. Although dolphin capture still took place in Taiji, the town announced its intention to release the dolphins not selected for captivity instead of slaughtering them.Because of The Cove, Taiji was under the scrutiny of animal lovers around the world, and really didn’t have any other choice.
So what can we learn from this real-world success? What ingredients does The Cove have that other, less effective documentaries don’t?
-Dolphins.Everybody has a soft spot for dolphins, and for some reason that psychologists and philosophers probably have an answer for, a lot of us are capable of feeling more empathy for them than for the flawed members of our own species.
-A subject horrible enough that the filmmakers don’t have to try to artificially prompt the emotion of the audience.Just drop the words “23,000 dolphins a year” and the image from and underwater camera flooded with blood, and we’re sold on the suspense.
-A protagonist who has repented his evil deeds and is trying to atone for them.Our historically Puritanical nation loves this kind of stuff.Richard O’Barry used to capture and train dolphins (notably for the TV show Flipper, which first sparked America’s love for performing sea animals), and now, after one of his dolphins “committed suicide” in his arms, devotes his life to preventing the capture and slaughter of dolphins around the world.
-The absence of the moralizing, lecturing tone associated with many documentaries.The Cove disguises its message in the narrative arc of a Bourne Identity- type of movie.It catches its audience by surprise and they even forget they are learning something important as they watch. For my jaded generation, at least, this is a welcome change.
-Awesome production quality.The editing is careful, the score is moody and beautiful, and the photography, especially the creepy underwater shots, is great.
-Finally, intelligent marketing. As a former Participant Media intern, I personallycalled what seemed like every surf shop in the nation and mailed them posters and promotional postcards.Participant’s Social Action Department targeted surfers and other people pre-disposed to caring about dolphins and animals in general.It was also marketed as an adventurous, righteous rampage and not a morality tale.
I think filmmakers and audiences alike can learn from what The Cove accomplished, and the fresh approach it brought to the sometimes-dry art of documentary filmmaking.I know I’ll be rooting for it at the Oscars, as well as keeping an eye on the town of Taiji for years to come.
I have always thought that film is one of the best ways to get across information about social causes.People simply retain information better when it’s communicated to them visually and emotionally.Not only are they more likely to remember it, but also they are more likely to act on it and integrate what they have learned into their daily lives if they have been emotionally inspired.
Part of this, I think, is because storytelling is our oldest form of communication of values and moral lessons. This may be obvious, but it’s an important realization as we examine what works and what doesn't work when it comes to cause-related filmmaking.
On this blog, I'll take a look at films, both narrative films and documentaries that have social awareness and social issues as their content.What companies are successfully marketing causes through their films and turning people's minds around? Which films are sticking with their audiences and having a tangible effect on the causes they address, and which aren't?
We'll talk to up and coming film-makers, investigate social justice movements through film, and take a look both at big-budget films in a theater near you, and smaller independent productions tackling issues here and abroad.
As the world of video and media changes rapidly around us, film production has to be constantly re-evaluated as accessibility changes and video content becomes increasingly viral and internet-adapted.
What matters in the end, however, is not how flashily the film is marketed or how fancy the opening credits are, but that the audience leaves the theater, the classroom, or the home to make a real, positive change in the world. And that's a lot harder to measure than the numbers coming home from the box office.
Every once in awhile you'll get into a discussion with a friend or relative about a film that you love. Your friend will say something like, "I appreciate why it's a great film, I appreciate why it's important, but it just turned me off."
I hear this often about A Clockwork Orange, a film that's certainly in my top 20 of all time, and one that's often cited in the Important But... category. So, the questions are: What makes a film important? Can a film be socially important without addressing a specific cause, such as Clockwork, or are efforts better spent on a film about a cause, such as The Cove.
I would argue that social relevance can apply to nearly any film that addresses issues of the moment. Therefore, nearly all war films have social relevance, as they are either commenting on a current war, as in The Hurt Locker, or using a previous war to make a statement about war in general, as in Paths of Glory. I feel that that's the point of this blog, to point out films that are in some way relevant to the Causecast community, whether they directly approach a present issue or simply give us a new perspective on the nature of human rights, the environment, poverty or youth activism. In this way, Children of Men and Hotel Rwanda are as socially relevant as Food, Inc.
What films do you think are particularly important? Also -- in future posts I'll be discussing what prominent social issues have been inadequately presented in film, and what kind of film you'd make about it if you could.
