Faith through Film and Fiction

For my documentary I watched Secrets: The Golden Raft of El Dorado. The documentary was about a small statue of a golden raft with a chieftain and 12 other tribe people. The myth of El Dorado surrounds the tribe of the Muisca. Spanish conquistadors saw the Muisca people and followed them to their homes. They saw the Muisca just throwing gold in the lake and burying it, and every family seemed to have a supply of gold. The conquistadors believed that because they were willing to just throw the gold away the must have a secret city of gold. To the conquistadors the city of El Dorado was a real thing. It turned out that the Muisca had the only source of salt in nearby lands because they lived inland. Their gold was from trading with other tribes who panned for gold in the river. The Muisca gave the gold as an offering to the gods. It was interesting to see how the two groups of people misunderstood each other. It was sad to see how the Spanish Conquistadors didn't care about the Indians beliefs and cared more about getting gold and converting people to Christianity.
um its a documentary so id give it a 9/10 i guess

I have always heard people talk about food inc and how horrible it is so I decided to watch it. I watched and learned all about how food (fast food) is made. It's was truly horrifying. You could tell it was a bit bias. I mean yes they were just displaying fact and the truths about the industry. But the way they said things and how much they stressed it definitely put a certain message out there. And that message was how gross and how bad fast food is for you. They kept replaying the videos of mistreated animals and the slime that made up our chicken nuggets. They did a great job of being honest and raw and very informative. As far as documentaries goes this is great it is informative and passionate. It does a great job of grossing me out and having a whole new view on fast food. I give it 10/10 it's a great documentary. But I wouldn't watch it for fun.

Citizenfour

This film's premiere garnered just about as much controversy as the film itself. At SXSW 2014, Edward Snowden, the center of the documentary, appeared at the film via Skype at had an interview after the film. While some may debate whether Snowden's actions were justified, that is not the purpose of this film. This is about how we couldn't even debate whether the NSA taking metadata on US and world citizens was justified because NSA and other high-ranking officials lied about taking it in the first place. This film is successful because it shows the paranoia experienced by the journalists and Snowden as they discuss how to best handle revealing the stories and scandal. In addition, the film showcases the media's faults. The film contrasts in-your-face style of CNN with the slow, establishing shots of the Hong Kong skyline and the interview scenes in Snowden's hotel room. The most poignant shot in the film is when Snowden is given asylum in Russia and his girlfriend, who he believed could be arrested or implicated in his whistleblowing, joins him and they are seen cooking like a normal couple. Laura Poitras is able to demonstrate the implications of the NSA taking metadata on a global scale without targeting and makes Edward Snowden appear human, despite being portrayed as a traitorous, shady figure by the mainstream media.

This weekend I watched one of the best things that I have ever seen in sports. This story was about a group of players sitting at a bar thinking about their championship season with their coach, Jim Valveno, who had bone cancer and eventually died from it. This documentary showed the idea of family and commitment to the team and how this crazy season was one of the greatest in college basketball history and how they overcame the slim odds of winning it all. This documentary is very inspirational and shows how sports can lead to a brotherhood that could never be broken even twenty years after it happened. ll of the players shared stories with each other and you get to watch how they overcame to obstacles that they faced and the good times that they all went through and how special their coach was and how he played such a big role in their success. I would rate this documentary a 10/10 and defiantly would recommend it for everyone to watch.

Birdmen: The Original Dream of Human Flight (2012)

How to make this documentary tolerable: take a shot everytime they call thrill-seeking a sport.  I've watched a lot of documentaries about nature and a few on history, so why not watch one about something as new to me as sky gliding.  Well, this movie only confirmed true stereotypes to me.  It wasn't so much about challenging the human body or experiencing flight, it was about the thrill.  People die doing this so often and spend so much money training for and attempting these jumps,l that when the jumpers said it was like an addiction that was the only way it made any sense to me.  Personally, I could see myself doing this once, but it takes 200 sky diving jumps just to begin to glide in the air, and that's gliding from a plane not yet from the base of a cliff.  I learned about the sheer extent that people push themselves for challenges and basically addictions, but I don't think I got what the movie wanted me to get out of it.  The go-pro camera views were really cool though.

4/10

I thought this movie was going to be a documentary on the birdman competition in which people build planes to compete in various categories for fun and competition. I was disappointed.  Birdmen is a documentary which chronicled the evolution of the wing suit and its use between shots of people jumping off cliffs and calling base jumping/wing suiting,  a non competitive thrill seeking activity a sport. The documentary was okay. I'd give it the same score as the fatality rate of the sport, 4/10 Birdmen. The best parts were hearing about the advances made to the hobby by a couple key people and the cool go pro footage from the actual jumps.

For my film for the week, I watched Winter on Fire. The documentary follows the events of the Euromaidan revolution of 2014 in Ukraine. The film begins at the end, opening with film footage of street fighting on day 91 of the protest, the day before the collapse of the government and the victory of the revolutionaries. The film then gives the background information on Viktor Yanukovic and EU integration. From there on the film simply follows the story of the movement from beginning to end, alternating between firsthand video footage and interviews with people who were in the movement. The fact that all of the footage used in the documentary appears to have actually have been filmed by protesters in real time gives the film a very unique, first person feeling. As you're watching the film, you feel as if you are there in the square with the people, and that all of these things are happening to you. What amazed me the most about this documentary was its ability to cover such a bloody and terrible thing, and find these incredibly beautiful touching moments in all the carnage. There are two images that have just become permanently stuck in my head after watching this, the first being the major Cathedral in Kiev opening its doors to protect terrorized and wounded protesters from the brutality of the Berkut secret police, ringing every bell in the Cathedral, something it had not done since the city was under siege by the Mongols in 1240, to show the church's solidarity with the people. The other image is the young men in Maidan square forming a human chain around the camp set up by the protesters, taking a brutal beating with iron clubs and guns at the hands of the Berkut in order to keep them from reaching the elderly, women, and children, and while they're being so horribly abused, they never stopped singing their national anthem or chanting the slogans of the revolution. The film beautifully documents the heroism of the revolutionaries in the face of such savage attacks by the government, and the viewer cannot help but feel incredibly inspired and moved at this. People of all ages, faiths, and walks of life living together as a gigantic family, defending each other and standing up for what they believe in. You also can't help but feel enraged and disgusted at the despicable acts of the Berkut and the Titushky, who went well above and beyond what was necessary and reasonable in their efforts to break up the protests, beating and even murdering peaceful, unarmed protesters. And through all of this the people remained resolute. They stood together, took care of their own, and refused to leave or be broken until their voices had been heard. This documentary is one of the most moving things I have ever watched, as it shows humanity at its very best in the face of such cruelty and evil, and those people declaring that they will not allow their children to grow up fear, or in anything less than the freedom all people deserve.

          For this week's documentary theme, I had two films in mind that I was very interested in watching. The first was Food Inc. and Exit Through the Gift Shop. After a coin flip, I settled on watching Food Inc. and adding Exit Through the Gift Shop to my watch list for another time. In sophomore year, we watched several clips from this movie, and I remembered it being interesting, so I decided to watch the whole thing. This documentary is eye-opening to say the very least.
         With this being a documentary, acting, costumes, and many other traditional aspects to review in a film are no longer as important. However, the cinematography was impressive even as a documentary. The overhead shots that gave bird's-eye views were incredible. The shots taken of large slaughterhouses and mistreated animals contrasted the beautiful natural land shown on local farms. The camera angles did a great job telling what was good and evil in the movie and helped to make it an impressive, beautiful, and clean film. The content of the film is the most important part however. This movie is a must-see for anyone who eats food. It has become clear to me how important it is to educate one's self on the origin of their food sources and the practices of the companies they buy food from. It is hard to understand people's decisions to eat organic or vegan in today's world, but this film sheds light on some of the most impactful, yet under-the-radar issues with food in America. It was astonishing to see the way animals were treated and how this then effects humans. It was astonishing to see the way workers are treated, legally or illegally in this country. Some of the more trusted brands in the country for food sources had some of their secrets uncovered that they have worked for years to keep out of press. Not only were morally twisted farms shown, but the humans they then affected were. People with health problems from food diseases or economical issues with cheap food were displayed to show real-life impacts of large, corrupt food companies like Tyson and Monsanto. However, besides just listing problems, the documentary also shed hope and gave some solutions. If Americans begin demanding more real food, there is hope. Americans convinced Wal-Mart to switch to non-RsbT milk by showing preference for it. The film also featured the wise words of Joel Salatin, the owner of Polyface Farms, which have stayed true to natural growing and producing proccesses when it comes to food consumption. His farm has been more successful than big businesses, and not just economically, and he gave an image of ideal food in America. In all, I would rate this documentary 9 corn-containing foods out of 10.

Lauren Slouffman

Blackfish
 I ended up watching Blackfish, because, discussing the topic of SeaWorld and killer whales in captivity, I was very interested to learn about something I know nothing about. The documentary started off by playing recordings of calls made to the police from SeaWorld trainers the day that Dawn Brancheau was killed by Tilikum, the largest killer whale in captivity. This led to a chilling start to the documentary and immediately intrigued me to know more about the situation. The documentary then begins the tell the story not of just Tilikum, but of killer whale captivity from the very beginning. As the camera shows a group of hired divers hunting killer whales, which they were actually doing illegally for SeaWorld, I couldn't help but feel sorry for the orcas, as the divers separated the children from the mothers and lifted the huge orcas into a net as they literally cried out to their pack they were being taken from. I think this was a very important aspect for the documentary to show, as most people don't think about how the killer whales got to captivity, as it is something that doesn't sit well. The documentary then goes on to explain how killer whales are kept in captivity, showing that in the beginning when they were in SeaLand, they were shown as being kept in a large pool but were forced to sleep in a metal enclosure that was so small the orcas couldn't even move. The video then leads into the capture of Tilikum, and his life in enclosure. Tilikum was captured for the sole reason of mating. The documentary showed how Tilikum was treated in captivity, as he was often attacked by the female orcas to the point where he was covered in scratches and blood. This leads up to the first death caused by Tilikum, as he dragged a trainer underwater and drowned her. A main part of the documentary was accounts of former SeaWorld trainers, who all shared that when they were hired (with basically no prior experience), they had no idea of past incidents involving dangerous situations with orcas. As the trainers began to notice this, most shared that they only stayed in SeaWorld because they felt bad for Tilikum and wanted to help him. On the day that Dawn Brancheau was murdered, Dawn ran out of food to reward Tilikum with, which led to his strange behavior that the trainers observed. Tilikum was not rewarded for his work and was punished by not receiving food. Late in the routine, Tilikum grabbed Dawn's arm and dragged her underwater, appearing to eat her and mutilate her body. Of course, SeaWorld denied this and actually blamed Dawn for her own death, even though she was not there to defend herself and the autopsy report said otherwise. After Dawn's death, many of the trainers quit after SeaWorld lied and denied allegations against them. This documentary definitely discussed the theme of man vs. nature, as man tries to control nature and manipulates it to his own pleasure. What astounded me most about this documentary was how much SeaWorld lied about so many different facts. For instance, in addition to lying about danger with the killer whales, they also lied about the life span of killer whales, saying that in captivity the whales live longer than in the wild, as they live to be about 30 years old. However, studies show that in the wild, female killer whales live to be at least 100, and males about 60.  In addition to this, they denied having any connection to Loral Parque where a trainer was killed by a killer whale, even though SeaWorld trained and gave that killer whale to them. They also lied about the dorsal fin of the whales folding over, saying that it is natural in over 50% of killer whales(since all the killer whales in SeaWorld have it) , when in reality only 1% of wild orcas have that condition.  Honestly, I am disgusted at SeaWorld after watching this, as they lied about so many things and refuse to acknowledge the psychological trauma captivity causes to a killer whale. Even though the court ruled that trainers have to be separated by a barrier when training the animals from now on, SeaWorld is appealing this. This goes to show that SeaWorld only cares about money and finances, not even about the animals and the trainers. I would give Blackfish a 10 out of 10, as I believe  it is something that really gets the audience to think about social norms of animal captivity as well as it brings awareness to the cruel treatment of killer whales in captivity and SeaWorlds crimes.

Amy

Asif Kapadia's haunting documentary Amy brings a lost voice to life. This documentary, which is up for Best Documentary Feature and is the expected winner, is so successful because it makes Amy Winehouse feel like a character in her documentary even though she is dead, something that other documentaries find difficult. The movie utilizes an intense depth of archival footage and interviews with Amy and others which add to this effect and offer some awful foreshadowing. Numerous times Amy says to interviewers that she would "off herself" if she ever became famous. While she never intentionally commits suicide, her lifestyle and intense drug and alcohol abuse lead to her tragic death. The film, however, paints numerous other individuals as culpable in her death. Her father, despite her desire to be left alone, brings a camera crew along to film a documentary about his life as Amy Winehouse's father. Her manager continues to have her play shows without her becoming completely clean. The media make jokes at her expense and constantly harass her. The film does a great job of showing how Amy wanted to get better and even does for a while but highlights the difficulty of addiction and how easy it is to fall back on drugs and alcohol. The two most memorable moments of the film are the beginning and end. The film opens with an establishing shot on some home video footage with Amy and her friends on her friend's birthday. They begin to sing Happy Birthday and immediately Amy's voice takes over and controls the song. While any death from alcohol or drugs is tragic, her's was especially sad because she was such a talent and so much great music was lost through her death. The film ends on Tony Bennett, a collaborator of Amy's, speaking over scenes of her funeral. He says, "Life teaches you how to live if it if you live long enough". This leaves viewers thinking that if she could just have gotten help and escaped some of the pressure of being famous, she could have matured and gotten better. I enjoyed this film thoroughly and, while it was a bit long and tedious at times, was greatly affected by it. I would definitely recommend this film and it will likely, along with Brie Larson for Room, will bring A24 Studios their first Oscars.

I freaking loved the Martian. When I first heard about it, there was really no appeal to me because I thought it was going to be another sci-fi movie like Gravity (personally just didn't like it). I was very wrong. When it got an Oscar nomination I was honestly surprised, but thought I better give it an actual chance and watch it.
          We start out in a tense scene, obviously on another planet, and what looks like the beginnings of a very bad sand storm. The special effects are already greatly used here. Because of the trailer I knew that Matt Damon had survived but for how long and to what extent was still a mystery. This is the first time we really meet Damon's character Mark Watney. This is why I love movies like this in comparison to full on comedies. Watney's character provides the perfect amount of comedic relief, while still upholding the tension of the predicament he has been put in. This movie is the normal hero movie, where the audience waits on pins and needles, thinking the protagonist is going to overcome his obstacle, only to be flailed in the opposite direction. This happens when another storm occurs on Mars, mirroring what got him stuck in the first place. We then see a shift in Watney's persona. Before this he had almost been surprised by his ability to stay alive for so long, and had conjured up some hope of getting off the planet. After all of his supplies are wiped out, it would be hard even for the most optimistic person in the world to stay hopeful. He does of course get off the planet through a weird unlikely amount of events, but then again the whole likeliness of any of this happening is already thrown out the window. The inspiring tale of survival is something we've seen time and time again, but with the slight differences made by the actors and director, it is definitely a movie to remember.
         I really enjoyed the way the vlogs were set up within the movie. It made the audience feel as though they were apart of Mark's experience on the planet, and it was also a smart use of time logging on the director's part. This way years could be passed with short vlogs in between covering the differences. Again, the special affects were fantastic, and the panoramic views of space and his travels across mars were a nice break from the big amount of close ups. This movie also had a nice variation considering it was focused on one person for most of the time. Also I already had a respect for science because it is amazing, but this movie gives you somewhat more of an inside look of what goes on in these situations, and I have so much respect for the innovative technology we even have today.
I loved this movie and give it a 9.5/10

For my Oscar nominated movie I watched  Mad Max: Fury Road. I chose it because it was the only one I had at my house. I liked the movie well enough but it wasn't that amazing. I liked the costume design and set/props. Charlize Theron was amazing in my opinion and a really good heroine. Tom Hardy was good too but I felt his character didn't do as much for the plot, at least not as much as I thought he would. Also on a side note I have not seen any of the originals. I really liked how the women in the movie are big characters and aren't just letting themselves be walked on. At first I didn't think I was going to like Nux very much but he was actually one of my favorite characters. His mind set and determination make for a very interesting character, and I was actually kinda upset when he sacrificed himself. The movie touched on a lot of different themes, like home, redemption and family/unity. I liked this movie but I definitely thought it focused a bit more than necessary on the fighting instead of the story, then again the timeline for the movie is only a few days and I don't know if seeing any of the originals would change my opinion. I'd give it a 6.5/10

Lauren Slouffman