Liven Up Yourself

“Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds.”

Marley is a pretty straight forward biography of Bob Marley’s life, from being born of a white man in St. Ann Parish in Jamaica to his final treatments for melanoma in the mountains of Germany. This documentary doesn’t take many risks when telling us about the life of Bob Marley, but it does manage to infuse the movie with Bob’s irrepressible spirit. Or maybe it’s just that Bob’s lyrical music is playing throughout making it seem so joyous and sad at the same time. Knowing that this great man who had so much energy and musical genius, who had such an impact on not only the world of music but on issues relating to the poor and violence in his country, died at a mere 36 years old seems so very wrong and so sad. I couldn’t help loving Marley and don’t think it’s just because I love Bob Marley.

Two Documentaries

Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles
Documentaries can be so wonderful because there about real things and often tell stories that if they were fictional, no one would believe it. This is so true of Resurrect Dead. This movie tells the story of tiles, tiles that a mysteriously show up throughout the Eastern United States and South America.

(see a picture of one here) They show up on busy roads, smack dab in the middle of the road. Not only is this the story of cryptic tiles, but also it is the story of those who seek to solve the mystery of the tiles, in particular one man named Justin Duerr. While getting the answers to the mystery are worth watching this movie for, the portrayal of Duerr is another compelling part of the movie. He becomes obsessed in this kind of low key way. If an obsessed person can be low key, that is. I think this movie tells us something about the nature of obsession and what makes people pursue an endeavor that to others seems pointless. Suspense builds as Duerr and his companions get closer and closer to the answers of the tiles and while the answer may or may not be everything we hope for, we realize that the journey was pretty cool.

Project Nim
Project Nim is the story of one cute, sad, and abused little chimpanzee and the freaky folks who took turns trying to care for him. Nim starts out as a test subject in one university doctor’s effort to teach a chimp sign language. Nim’s first host family is a 7Os hippy mother who goes as far as to try to breast feed Nim but not discipline at all and Nim rules her strange household. The Doc in charge, who by the way previously had an affair with hippy mom, decides Nim needs a new home and finds a secluded mansion that he stocks with eager graduate students ready to teach Nim sign language. The egotistical doc has an affair with one of the students. Meanwhile Nim grows up gets violent and unruly. Finally, unable to care for him, the doc moves him again abandoning his language project. This time Nim is sent to a crazy place that houses chimps and does experiments on them. There’s more to Nim’s story and while I won’t give away the ending, it does end in a satisfying way, sort of. The movie is full of real people, most who turn out to be shmucks (from the documentarian’s perspective, of course) but a few turn out to be heroic in their small way.

Summer Update

My gosh, is it August already? I have not written one blog entry this whole summer! What’s wrong with me? It’s paradoxical that I am more productive during the school year than my work free days in the summer, but sometimes the lazy days of summer get away from me and I find it’s almost dinner time and all I did for the day was pick raspberries and go on a walk (oh and other trivial activities like that). Or watch movies which I have been doing. Here are comments about some of the movies I’ve seen since the end of May.

Midnight in Paris – I really enjoyed Midnight in Paris especially after having just visited Paris. Woody Allen depicts a beautiful world of artists and writers amid romantic nostalgic Paris. How could I, Parisophile/ Francophile that I am, not like immersing myself in this romantic world of intellectual Paris?

Bridesmaids – I wanted to say so much about this movie – I had a whole diatribe rehearsed in my head, but sadly I did not get it written down. Because of its novelty, a female buddy comedy movie, I was excited to see it and while it’s hilarious in parts and original in other ways, I think they really botched it in the area of female friends. The long standing cliché about women is that they’re catty back biters who sabotage other women for self-serving reasons – usually having to do with a guy. And sure there were some nice friend moments that seemed real in Bridesmaids, though mostly I didn’t recognize these childish women. I love comedy, I love women comedians, but I didn’t love where they took this movie. Can’t women be funny and act like grownups at the same time?

Never Let me Go – based on a Kazuo Ishiguro novel, a stark look at a world where children are raised to be organ donors. It’s disturbing and very well acted especially by Carey Mulligan.

The Tillman Story – great documentary about professional football player and soldier Pat Tilman and his mysterious death in Afghanistan. This movie, like Fair Game which tells the story of Valerie Plame, makes you seriously question the integrity of our national government. Can there be that much subterfuge and hypocrisy in Washington and in our military? I don’t like to believe it, but this movie makes you wonder.

The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (2007) – This movie definitely belongs in my list of quirky documentaries (see below because I just added it to the list). It’s about two middle aged guys who pursue a Donkey Kong high score. It’s weirdly wonderful and takes me back to my days of having the high score on the Donkey Kong game at the Bayfield arcade (it’s true!)

Super 8 – Kyle Chandler and references to Stand by Me got me to see this movie and while it wasn’t entirely what I expected nor my “type” of movie, I’m glad I went. The cute earnest kid ensemble was great and the nostalgic take on the late 70s made the movie worth seeing, oh and Kyle Chandler.

The Yellow Handkerchief – forgot it -- does that mean it is forgettable? Maybe it was good?


The Switch – another stupid romantic comedy by Jennifer Anniston. I like Justin Bateman so I thought, well maybe, but no, maybe not.

Babies and Knight and Day

Babies – ooh those cute little babies with their cute little gurgles and cute little tootsies. A French film maker peeps into the world of four babies from four different countries. Two are from rural developing countries and two are from cities. The movie has no narration – rather a pleasant and friendly camera tells the story of these four beautiful babies. Pleasant, really is the word for this movie.

Knight and Day—forgettable. I saw it a few weeks ago, and I forgot about it – I had to check my Netflix account to remember what movie I saw. I think Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz were it in though.

Waiting for Superman

I had to mull over David Guggenhiem’s (the Inconvenient Truth guy) Waiting for Superman for a while. Waiting for Superman is about our nation’s failing public school system and while it asserts that charter schools are not THE answer, they may be an answer for some. And the other answer is better teachers -- it heavily puts the burden on teacher performance as a way to save our nation’s schools.

As a documentary intended to capture the audience’s attention and persuade them into a point of view, it definitely did that – it really makes you think, argue, wonder but also fear that you are being strongly manipulated. Guggenheim even uses cute, worthy, poor children to create the central dramatic tension of the movie. The resolution of the movie is when we find out if these kids get into some of the successful charter schools and are not forced to return to their squalid, worthless schools.

But is Waiting for Superman a credible source for information about the state of our educational system? I’m not so sure. Yes, there are some terrible schools in a lot of our major cities, and yes, a lot of teachers should be fired who aren’t because of the power of teacher’s unions, but is that alone going to fix the schools? And what percentage of schools need fixing?
Diane Ravitch in the New York Times wrote a scathing article slapping around Waiting for Superman and taking offence at the burden that teachers were given for fixing the problem of schools. Instead, she points out that poverty and other ills are more to blame:

“…research shows that nonschool factors matter even more than teachers. According to University of Washington economist Dan Goldhaber, about 60 percent of achievement is explained by nonschool factors, such as family income. So while teachers are the most important factor within schools, their effects pale in comparison with those of students’ backgrounds, families, and other factors beyond the control of schools and teachers. Teachers can have a profound effect on students, but it would be foolish to believe that teachers alone can undo the damage caused by poverty and its associated burdens.”

Hear, hear! Even as a teacher at a charter school, I feel the weight pressing upon me as if I alone am in charge of fixing all that ails schools. Believe me, we get this pressure enough of the time at school – now we are getting it in the media. And indeed the prevailing mantra about fixing schools is better teachers, better teachers! What’s wrong with those darn teachers? It’s enough to give one heart palpitations.

The Up Series

In 1964, British filmmaker Michael Apted chose an assorted group of English 7-year-olds to film and chronicles their lives every 7 years. Now, those "kids" are 49 years old. I had seen some of these “episodes” many years ago but had never saw the 1964 version and certainly hadn’t seen 49 and UP. So over the last month or so I watched all the whole 7 and Up series. And, believe me, it is fascinating. You can’t wait to put in the next DVD and find out they are doing at 21 or 42. It’s reality TV at its finest. I think Apted had some preconceived ideas what he would reveal about England and the class system when he started the series, and while many of his hypothesis held true (like the upper crust will follow a plan laid out for them with private schools etc. and the East enders will never make it out of dead end jobs), the most fascinating revelations were those “kids” who broke out their mold.
The most successful lives were the ones who possessed a mixture of practicality and drive. And I am defining successful as those who had good marriages or raised happy children or were satisfied with their lives. One of my favorites was this scrappy little ruffian, Tony, who at 21 one said that all that mattered, “was mom and dad and love.” And I don’t want to give away what happens to all of them because that’s where the suspense comes in but Tony was an example of someone who has amazing resources and ambitions and a lot of love. Tony isn’t the only captivating character of the bunch. There’s feisty fellow East Ender Jackie, sad-eyed Paul, compassionate Bruce, and the future physicist Nick who ends up in Madison Wisconsin of all places. And the most, I don’t know the word, maybe heartbreaking or thoughtful, or unpredictable of all the kids is Neil, who at 7 skips across the street with glee.
One thing that is kind of annoying is the repeat of the earlier footage at each stage. I did some skipping of that when I watched it on DVD. I watched the last bit on Netflix instant play, so I was not able to skip ahead. Also, sure, Apted is a manipulative film maker, he presents the “kids” as he sees them, but I like how he occasionally gets called to task by one of his subjects. Jackie really gives him an earful in 49 and Up.
So if you’ve got some time on your hands and want to watch one of the most fascinating documentaries that I’ve ever watched, give The Up series a shot.

It Might Get Loud

It Might Get Loud profiles three accomplished guitarists: Jimmy Page, The Edge, and Jack White. I went to it with my friend and her 8 and 10-year-old kids and the 10-year-old's friend. The 10-year-old is a budding guitarist, so his mom wanted him to learn from the legends. So, from the pre-teens view the movie was a little long and at times confusing. The friend thought it would be more fun if they were playing Leggo’s while listening to some of the music. The 8-year-old was aghast at Bono’s leather pants: “He must get sweaty in those pants.”

From an adult perspective, one who was wondering if she was going to be bored, I thought that overall, the film was not boring. It zipped around from guitarist to guitarist like a flung bouncy ball in a classroom, which was often jarring. And there were parts that were too guitar-wonky, snooze, but there were also some amazing scenes. At the center of this zig-zagging is the three interesting men filmed on what looks like a living room scene on a stage talking about playing the guitar and doing some jamming. What makes the movie come alive are some great moments that are captured on film: Jimmy Page playing a classic tune while Jack White and The Edge look on and beam with pleasure. And there’s fantastic concert bit of U2 playing Sunday Bloody Sunday (which I wish could have lasted longer). Plus, there were charming first guitar stories. I wanted more stories about their lives and guitars and more of them playing together. I think the film makers were trying to create a very stylized and unique documentary that looked cool, but they did the overdo on the stylishness and ended up with some good, some boring, but some amazing.

P.S. Saw this movie at the Zinema, our new independent theater. Love it! Plus, you can get free refills of popcorn! Bonus!

Joe Strummer, The Future is Unwritten

Joe Strummer, The Future is Unwritten captures the punkin', politican’, rockin' RAD Clash member through testimonies around the camp fire from former early band members, women who loved him, and celebs like John Cusak and Bono. I knew a lot about the music of the Clash but very little about Joe Strummer. This documentary, while all a mish mash of video clips, remembrances, and even scenes from the animated Animal Farm, gave me a good idea of who he was and what he was like. And Strummer seemed like the kind of guy who would be very fun to hang out with but not so easy to live with. I really enjoyed learning about this sad and crazy musician.

Grizzly Man

Last night I watched the DVD version of Grizzly Man. I wanted to watch it -- mainly because I wanted to be in the know about weird and wackly documentaries (my favorite kind), but yet didn't want to also. I thought it might be too scary. We wouldn't actually see him get mauled by a bear would we? My friend Deb assured me that there would be no mauling and that I should watch it just to appreciate its oddities.
And indeed it was odd. I found Timothy Treadwell, the man who lived unarmed with grizzlys in Alaska for 13 summers, to be really out there and probably disturbed. His repeated use of the word "love" was particularily annoying. He loved those grizzlies, the foxes who lived near him, and even his stuffed bear that he slept with.
All in all, worth seeing if you like to watch movies for the weird factor. And, as many people say when they have nothing else to say about a movie: the scenery is beautiful.