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:
