Derailing The Friedmans. An interesting Slate piece on the neutrality of the Oscar-nominated documentary "Capturing The Friedmans." It starts: "When a documentary filmmaker uncovers overwhelming evidence that the subject of his film was wrongly convicted, shouldn't he take a stand on the man's innocence?"
posted by adrober
on Mar 1, 2004 -
22 comments
An interesting documentary I stumbled across about international banking's rise to power through history. It features poor quality video with not-quite-synced audio, yet it kept me riveted.
Part two goes on to explain how the country will never be able to escape debt under the current monetary system.
posted by timb
on Jan 24, 2004 -
28 comments
His mission: To eat three meals a day for 30 days at McDonald's and document the impact on his health. "It was really crazy - my body basically fell apart". Spurlock charted his journey from fit to flab in a tongue-in-cheek documentary which he has taken to the
Sundance Film Festival.
posted by stbalbach
on Jan 23, 2004 -
63 comments
In "How to Kill a Country" there's a list of steps:
(1) Destroy the engine of productivity
(2) Bury the truth
(3) Crush dissent
(4) Legislate the impossible
(5) Teach hate
(6) Scare off foreigners
(7) Invade a neighbor
(8) Ignore a deadly enemy
(9) Commit genocide
(10) Blame the imperialists
In
"Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara" the lessons list as:
(1) Empathize with your enemy.
(2) Rationality will not save us.
(3) There's something beyond one's self.
(4) Maximize efficiency.
(5) Proportionality should be a guideline in war.
(6) Get the data.
(7) Belief and seeing are both often wrong.
(8) Be prepared to re-examine your reasoning.
(9) In order to do good you may have to engage in evil.
(10) Never say never.
(11) You can't change human nature.
Two sides of the same coin?
posted by john
on Jan 6, 2004 -
11 comments
The elegant universe. A 3 hour PBS NOVA documentary on string theory [in 24 ~5-10 minute chunks of real player or quick time video]. Welcome to the 11th dimension.
posted by srboisvert
on Nov 14, 2003 -
18 comments
"We were wrong, terribly wrong. We owe it to future generations to explain why."
In
The Fog of War, a revelatory new documentary about his life and times, a disquieted
Robert McNamara implores us to understand why he did the things he did as an Air Force lieutenant colonel who helped
plan the
firebombing of Japanese cities in
World War II, and, later, as a secretary of defense and pivotal decision-maker during
Vietnam, which some Americans came to call
"McNamara's War."
One of the movie's most powerful passages covers McNamara's little-known service in World War II, when he was attached to Gen.
Curtis LeMay's 21st Bomber Command stationed on the Pacific island of Guam.
LeMay's B-29s showered 67 Japanese cities with incendiary bombs in 1945, softening up the country for the two
atomic blasts to come. McNamara was a senior planning officer. Story by
"Killing Fields"' Sydney Schanberg in the
American Prospect
(more inside)
posted by matteo
on Nov 12, 2003 -
83 comments
Mystery Solved. Somewhere in the Catskill Mountains, two nature filmmakers are busy shooting a documentary on rabbits in their natural habitat. In the morning dew they are about to meet something considerably bigger than a rabbit... [Flash and safe for work]
posted by KevinSkomsvold
on Nov 11, 2003 -
14 comments
Breaking the silence Last night ITV1 in the UK ran a documentary that is unlikely to be shown in the USA. It is by a respected journalist called John Pilger and amongst other tidbits it shows Colin Powell saying in 1991 that Iraq poses no threat and also Condoleeza Rice confirming the same thing. It also quotes some US officials that the current bunch who seem to be running US foreign policy were known during the administration of Bush senior as "the crazies". Plus much more.
posted by donfactor
on Sep 23, 2003 -
101 comments
The Night Air is a beautifully constructed radio show broadcast on Radio National here in Australia. It's essentially cut up bits of documentary, music and audio art .. woven together into a one and half hour themed show. It makes great headphone listening at work.
posted by mrben
on Aug 11, 2003 -
7 comments
Revoke the Oscar. Should "Bowling For Columbine" be considered non-fiction if it manipulated scenes and knowingly left out key information? Would a new category be better, like say adjusted documentary or propaganda? Or is it
impossible to make a documentary without some point of view?
posted by destro
on Apr 18, 2003 -
53 comments
HBO has decided to "shelf" Oliver Stone's
documentary on Fidel Castro on the basis that the documentary
depicts Castro without judgement. Should documentary filmmaking be a "true journalistic endeavor" as the article suggests?
posted by ericrolph
on Apr 17, 2003 -
26 comments
The Kids Are Alright, A Documentary (Warning ~60 MB Quicktime download. Worth it.) A bit of strange luck led me to this documentary, in which several teenagers discuss frankly and openly what it's like to be a queer kid in North Carolina. Contrast and compare their experiences with that of 14 year old
Thomas McLaughlin in Arkansas. I wonder what
Aaron Fricke would think about the last 20-odd years.
posted by WolfDaddy
on Apr 10, 2003 -
2 comments
So whatever happened to
Journeys with George? As mentioned in
this previous thread, the documentary aired
on HBO last November. Unfortunately I didn't have HBO last november, and never got to see it. If you're in the area,
Harvard University is screening it this weekend.
But what about the rest of us? I can find lots of reviews on the web, but no one seems to be
selling it. Don't be fooled by
imitations.
Any of you mefites seen it? Anyone else want to see it, but can't? Please disclose any relevant business relationships if you review the film in the comments.
posted by zekinskia
on Apr 3, 2003 -
9 comments
The intrinsic mystery of the crop circle is explored in this voice mail to a documentary production company.
NSFW [MP3]
posted by Pretty_Generic
on Mar 5, 2003 -
22 comments
Yesterday I saw a wonderful movie -
Spellbound - a documentary about the annual
Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee - which won the Jury Award for Best Documentary Feature at
SXSW.
It explores the dynamics surrounding kids and parents desire for success in the
competition, reconciliation with failure and differing models of education, competition and success.
When I was a kid I was on the TV show
It's Academic - along with lots of other famous faces. While you
may want to
make fun of the show - I still remember it fondly. My parents were happy to see me compete but generally
unconcerned about the outcome in any way. Now we've got
Math Olympics, the
Academic Decathlon and a host of other competitive ventures. Any other MeFites remember school days competitions and the drive to succeed?
posted by dhacker
on Oct 21, 2002 -
29 comments
Will this comedy ever cross the atlantic? The Office, now half way through its second series, must be the sharpest, funniest and most tragic t.v. comedy the BBC have made in a long time. A spoof documentary set in the office of a paper wholesaler whose manager, David Brent, is obsessed with his motivational bon homie and oblivious to the fact the rest of the world thinks he is a bumptious idiot.
The clips give some idea of the style but maybe the humour is too British to travel far.
posted by rolo
on Oct 20, 2002 -
22 comments
I Am Trying To Break Your Heart is the new Wilco documentary, directed by rock photographer Sam Jones. It's part fan letter, part sharp reality soap opera on the personality conflicts that drive and tear apart great musical collaborations. Whither the band movie? This one has drawn comparisons to
Hard Day's Night, Don't Look Back, and
Rattle + Hum. Are those puff pieces or portraits of the artists...and what about comedies like
Head and
Spinal Tap? What makes a music movie compelling for fans and non-fans? More on Wilco inside...
posted by serafinapekkala
on Oct 11, 2002 -
28 comments
Terrorism takes the world stage
30 years ago today, armed terrorists took 11 Israeli athletes hostage at the Munich Olympics. Did anyone see this past weekend's ABC News
documentary on it? The Academy Award winning
film? This is an utterly fascinating story, in my opinion. Even today, people are
puzzling over just how much went wrong.
posted by Gilbert
on Sep 5, 2002 -
8 comments
The British Empire in Colour -- a three-part documentary series from the producers of the BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) award-winning
Britain at War in Colour will air this month. The series is supposed to include "a treasure-trove of early colour movies filmed before 'technicolour' transformed film making in the 1930s. Unique colour footage of the Edwardian splendour of 1906 British India, soldiers of the First World War and class divided Britain in 1926 as seen for the first time by a modern visually sophisticated audience."
Apparently, it also includes
Horrifying footage of last days of Raj.
posted by Bixby23
on Sep 2, 2002 -
17 comments
"Dog Day Afternoon" Is one of my
favorite movies. In it, Al Pacino plays a born loser who attempts to rob a bank in order to pay for his lover's sex-change operation. It's based on a true story, and you can read the original article that inspired the movie
here. Strangely, the real-life robber was able to pay for the sex-change operation with money he got from the proceeds of the film. Also of interest is this
French documentary about the crime.
posted by grumblebee
on Sep 1, 2002 -
17 comments
Bowling for Columbine Michael Moore, the visionary documentary maker, has the big hit at Cannes this year with Bowling for Columbine. Ostensibly a film about guns and violence in America
posted by Niahmas
on May 24, 2002 -
22 comments
Much Ado About Something. Fascinating Salon review of a new
documentary investigating whether Shakespeare was really just a front-man for Christopher Marlowe, the true author of all the Bard's work. At first it sounds like just so much literary conspiracy theory, except unlike most conspiracy theories this one seems to gain more credibility the further you delve into it. The film just wrapped up a two- week opening run in New York City, and should be arriving soon at theaters in your area.
posted by hincandenza
on Mar 2, 2002 -
45 comments
Art in the twenty-first century. Twenty-one artists who are defining the visual arts for a new millennium discuss their life, their work, and their vision in Art:21 - Art in the Twenty-First Century, a four-part series premiering Fall 2001 on PBS. Art:21 offers a unique glimpse into 21 artists' personal experiences, sources of inspiration, and creative processes. The last episode played last night, but the site has a wealth of information on some amazing artists. Did anyone catch this?
posted by mad
on Feb 8, 2002 -
8 comments
SmallPox 2002 - Silent Weapon...
It is April 2002, and a smallpox outbreak occures in New York. 4 and a half months later and 60 million people across the planet are dead.
Tonight, The BBC broadcast a fictional documentary
as if it were filmed in 2005, looking back at the smallpox pandemic that swept the world in 2002 and killed 60 million people.
Heavily rooted in fact, it was disturbing viewing, to put it mildly. Did anyone else in Europe see this?
posted by tomcosgrave
on Feb 5, 2002 -
22 comments
Robert Crumb is the creator of Zap Comix, Fritz the Cat, Mr. Natural, Keep on Trucking, and a lot more classic Underground Art. Tonight at 6:30 pacific time on International Film Channel, the David Lynch Presents/a Terry Zwigoff Film,
Crumb, (Winner Grand Jury Prize Sundance Film Festival). Six years in the making, this documentary profiles a very talented, very strange family. A "creepy, darkly funny, and haunting glimpse", to say the least. If you are interested in the 60s counterculture, Crumb was the man. Art, maladjustment, maybe a touch of insanity? Watch this film.
posted by Mack Twain
on Jan 5, 2002 -
47 comments
Taxi Dreams Did anyone watch the PBS show- "Taxi Dreams"? The PBS site is very informative. I enjoyed the video clips in the
gallery . The
facts and figures section was decent. Overall, I thought it was a great way to study the immigrant experience and the American dream.
posted by SandeepKrishnamurthy
on Jan 4, 2002 -
3 comments
