…that is, if you want to cry your eyes out, feel connected to the immensity of the human family, and get inspired to get over your petty wounds and invigorate your own life and community with a sense of greatness, courage, and celebration. So…if you’re not up for that, then just head to the romantic comedy section at your local video store.
War Dance is a large, visually poetic, socially-relevant documentary, Oscar nominee and Sundance Festival winner for Doc Directing. It’s scope goes to far Uganda and to the depths of suffering and the heights of the human spirit.
THE STORY:
Acholi tribe children from the most northern war camp in Uganda prepare for the national musical and cultural competition in far-off (and far-safer) capital of Uganda.
Winner 2008 Sundance Film Festival Award: Jury and Audience Prize for World Documentary
The premise of the documentary Man on Wire took my breath away. I had never heard of the Frenchman, Phillippe Petit, and his death-defying walk across an illegally strewn tightrope connecting the Twin Towers together. It occurred on August 7th, my birthday, in 1974. I had to see this movie. I couldn’t believe this really happened.
APPALLING FACT: The US has the second highest infant mortality rate in the developed world.
APPALLING FACT: In the US, midwives attend about 1% of births (in the rest of the world, it is about 70-80%.) There is a connection - and mainstream medicine is missing it, to our great detriment.
Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein’s documentary, The Business of Being Born, is an eye-opening expose of how years of (mostly male-driven) American medical tradition, and the commercialization of health care has effectively veiled women from their natural abilities and wisdom. We are vastly unaware of our choices, our power, and the damage that unaware birthing is doing to our psyches and our social well being. It’s not about right or wrong, homebirth vs. C-sections, it’s about knowing the potentially positive and negative effects of every option.
[I'm starting a weekly movie and/or documentary review. I'll probably only review cinema that I love or find truly useful, because I think art critics can come off as really damaging prats, and the air waves are full of enough ego-driven negativity. So here goes...]
I didn’t want to see The Dark Knight. I thought I’d need a shot of Rescue Remedy to deal with the psycho-darkness of the Joker, a role that most presumably dimmed the lights on Heath Ledger’s final days. But…it was playing at the rep theater at the end of our street, the babysitter arrived on time (it was Date Night at chez LaPorte Johnson,) and I like to push myself to go to uncomfortable places.
The Dark Knight is an effing brilliant film! I want to have dinner with director Chris Nolan, and ask him how he goes about weaving his inspiration with moral inquiry and the most rad’ of action moves. The Dark Knight is rich with universal truth and humanity. The story (elevated by a beautiful script - not one word wasted,) is one of ruthless compassion that pushed me to ask, “What’s does it mean to commit, to protect, to lead? How deep does my devotion go? Am I in this to be a hero or an artist? Am I willing to be the villain to be the savior?”
The Star Tribune calls NBC’s new reality show, Baby Borrowers, “One of the most innovative forms of birth control…” The concept: hand your infant over to a teen couple and watch them fumble. Yuck.
ZERO TO THREE’s Statement Regarding NBC’s Reality Series “Baby Borrowers”
“It’s not TV, it’s birth control” is how NBC promotes its new reality series “Baby Borrowers.” On June 25th, the show will be launched on national television as an “intriguing new social experiment that asks five diverse teenage couples to fast-track to adulthood by setting up a home, getting a job and becoming caring parents.” Unfortunately, the NBC series exploits very young children in the pursuit of entertainment.
The babies and toddlers participating in this series will be separated from their parents and caregivers for three days… » Read More or Leave a Comment
What To Watch This Weekend
I didn’t want to see The Dark Knight. I thought I’d need a shot of Rescue Remedy to deal with the psycho-darkness of the Joker, a role that most presumably dimmed the lights on Heath Ledger’s final days. But…it was playing at the rep theater at the end of our street, the babysitter arrived on time (it was Date Night at chez LaPorte Johnson,) and I like to push myself to go to uncomfortable places.
The Star Tribune calls NBC’s new reality show, Baby Borrowers, “One of the most innovative forms of birth control…” The concept: hand your infant over to a teen couple and watch them fumble. Yuck.
