Docurama Film Festival I

Every now and then, an idea comes along that reminds us of the potential of DVD and fulfills the format's potential in a new way. But to the best of my knowledge, Docurama Film Festival I is the first box set to believably replicate the festival-going experience. Yes, there are fewer films than your typical film festival and the element of choice is removed, but that's part of the fun. If you have faith in Docurama -- as you should -- this is really just a good excuse to surrender control and allow them to introduce you to a lively, informative, and widely varied selection of documentary shorts and features. In a single box, you'll learn all about nut job disc jockeys, grown-up orphans, rebellious nuns, philosophical cops, and much more. And if that's not enough, there's already a sequel. -- JD

The Fire Next Time

Arguably the best film in the collection, The Fire Next Time is a complex, disturbing, and enlightening look at Kalispell, Montana, a seemingly idyllic town (population: 80,000) that is actually a bitterly divided hotbed of hatred, violence, and discontent. Although there are many dimensions to the conflict in this town, it's fundamentally a feud between loggers -- who are determined to cut down trees, whether it's legal or not -- and environmentalists, who are struggling to enforce local logging regulations. At the centre of this furor is failed politician John Stokes, a truly hateful, incendiary talk show host (he had to buy a radio station to get his own show), who uses his broadcast to generate anger and further divide the community, going so far as to read the addresses of his enemies (who he predictably labels "environmental Nazis") over the air. While mature members of the community try to settle their differences peacefully, Stokes's paranoid, gun-toting, militia-organizing listeners go looking for blood.

Anyone who has ever listened to conservative talk radio knows that this isn't the best place to find civilized, level-headed debate. But fortunately, most conservative talk radio focuses on generalized national debate and preaches to a) the converted and b) people who are pretty much powerless to impact the country on a national level. Local radio -- particularly in a small town -- is a different story. In this insightful and disturbing film, director Patrice O'Neill illustrates the tangible effects of Stokes's ranting and raving, effects that include the murder (or attempted murder) of several innocent people who, in some cases, aren't even among Stokes's many enemies.

O'Neill wisely follows people on both sides, allowing the audience to reach their own conclusions, without demanding that we take sides. As a result, O'Neill manages to present a multi-faceted portrait of the community. For example, the film identifies at least two distinct types of conservatives: those who want to provide for their families honestly, but have been victimized by a crumbling industrial base and those who just hate liberals and will seize any opportunity to spread that hatred and take violent action.

However, as the story unfolds, some members of the community are able to get beyond caricature perceptions of the opposition -- that people like Stokes thrive on -- and find some common ground. Ultimately, O'Neill makes a point that is far more realistic and humane than your average political documentary. Rather than dehumanize the enemy and focus on our differences, she seems to conclude, we should be working together and finding ways to peacefully co-exist. The disc's only feature is an interview with this skillful director. Movie rating: 9/10. Disc rating: 6/10. -- Jonathan Doyle

Aging Out

The transition from high school to adulthood is difficult for everyone, but it's particularly difficult if you don't have the support -- financial and/or emotional -- of a family. Aging Out tells the story of three teenagers who have "aged out" of the foster care system and must confront the harsh realities of adult life without the support or stable background that so many of their peers take for granted. David Griffin is the most troubled of the three, plagued by a violent temper and seemingly unable to deal with authority or responsibility of any kind. The most mature of the three, Daniella Anderson makes the transition to adulthood by having a child of her own. The most complicated of the three, Angelina Riso actually seems well on her way to success, as she graduates from high school with honors and enrolls at UC Santa Barbara. What follows -- a tragic downward spiral of drugs, mental illness, and worse -- is one of the most powerful and heartbreaking stories of decline I've ever seen in a non-fiction film.

There's a tendency to lose all sympathy and compassion for troubled young people as soon as they turn eighteen but, as Aging Out illustrates, the scars of a lonely, troubled youth have lasting resonance. Without substantial support of any kind, these teens are crippled by the challenges that await them in the adult world. If Daniella seems to make the transition more smoothly than David or Angelina, it's undoubtedly related to the support she receives from her boyfriend, who understands exactly what she's going through (he's also making the transition from foster care). When all is said and done, Aging Out offers a sobering view of an institution in desperate need of repair.

Those looking for more of the same, need look no further than the extra features. Docurama has included a pair of lengthy shorts -- Case Closed and With No Direction Home -- from the same filmmakers, each of which tells the story of another orphan making the transition to adulthood. Presumably, these were the fourth and fifth teens whose stories were considered for inclusion in Aging Out, but they remain compelling as stand-alone shorts. Movie rating: 8/10. Disc rating: 8/10. -- Jonathan Doyle

Sister Rose's Passion

This medium-length doc analyzes Catholicism's creepy anti-Semitic tendencies through the eyes of a feisty, contrarian nun named Sister Rose. It turns out that Sister Rose -- who has a definite Aunt May vibe going -- published a devastating dissertation in the late '50s about how Catholic school curriculum contained heavy doses of anti-Jew player-hating. This daring dissertation catalyzed the forces leading to the Second Vatican Council in 1965.

This doc deals with a subject people should know more about and it's sincere, informative, and accessible. However, after the first 25 minutes, you feel kind of guilty or sick, like you've pulled over to look at a Catholic car crash. Watch Sister Rose tell a room full of nine-year-olds about Christian Europe's cold-hearted Hebrew slaughter and remind them of collective Christian shame and you'll know what I mean. Altogether, Sister Rose's Passion is a presentable, fascinating doc that takes pleasure in pressing Catholicism's sorrow/shame button over and over. While it may elicit precious reactions if it were viewed by a conservative Catholic audience, the rest of us secular-humanists will be left saying 'meh.'

Extras are worthwhile: we get a 10-minute discussion lead by Sister Rose, 4 minutes from the Tribeca Film Festival Awards (where Sister Rose's Passion won best documentary short), 21 minutes of zany outtakes/deleted scenes, 12 minutes of director Oren Jacoby on Charlie Rose, a Jacoby bio, and a written statement by Jacoby. Movie rating: 6/10. Disc rating: 9/10. -- Neil Karassik

Legacy

Originally shown as part of Cinemax's "Reel Life" documentary series, Tod Lending's 2001 Oscar-nominated Legacy is a five year family portrait that shows the ups-and-downs of the Collins family, as they struggle with a grisly death in the family, drug addiction, poverty, and academia, among other incredible hardships. The film opens on a somber note: fourteen-year-old over-achiever Terrell is inexplicably shot and killed in his neighborhood. From then on, the film follows the family and tells their story using the voice of Terrell's cousin Nickcole.

While the film focuses on both the heart-wrenching tragedies and uplifting successes of the family, nothing truly hits us as hard as that profoundly harrowing first note established in the opening scenes. Terrell's death is an important catalyst in the overall devastation and salvation of the Collins family, but the film momentarily loses some focus and drifts a little too much towards the older family members, mainly Nickcole's mother. Another small gripe: the score has a tendency to rely on heavy-handed theatrics.

The film tastefully dances around the topic of Terrell's murder without ever getting into the sensational details of the incident. By the end, we learn why he was shot, but that provides no comfort at all because of the irrational nature of the crime. Another major asset of the film is its ability to articulate emotions when the subjects have difficulty expressing themselves.

We get a good assortment of extras: a 7-minute interview with the director and a 12-minute follow-up with the Collins family. Lastly, the most disturbing, fascinating and frustrating feature is a brief interview with the boy who killed Terrell. Movie rating: 7/10. Disc rating: 8/10. -- Neil Karassik

The Wobblies and
Broken Rainbow

While this DVD film festival highlights several fascinating new documentaries, older documentaries are also well-represented. These two historical documentaries date back several decades and tell stories of injustice that go back even further than that. 1979's The Wobblies is a kind of oral history of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), the radical labour organization that fought to civilize American working conditions (introducing the eight-hour work day, improving wages, etc.), in spite of intense opposition and brutal reprisals from those in positions of power.

Using a wide variety of archival material -- including old cartoons and union songs -- and interviews with the surviving participants, directors Stewart Bird and Deborah Shaffer crafted a thorough record of an all-too-often-ignored period in American labor history. While this is a valuable historical document, particularly for those interested in U.S. union history, The Wobblies is also quite dry and functional in much the same way as the nutritiously educational documentaries we all remember watching in grade school. Still, it's a worthwhile film about an important subject.

Similarly concerned with a dark (but still ongoing) chapter in American history, Broken Rainbow deals with the forced re-location of 12.000 Navajos from their homeland to make room for American business interests. Essentially, this film is a deeply reverential celebration of the Navajo and Hopi people and a condemnation of the mistreatment they have faced at the hands of the American government. While the film's activist bias is understandable, its unorthodox methods famously lead Roger Ebert to slam Broken Rainbow when he reviewed it twenty years ago.

But don't feel too bad for the filmmakers: Broken Rainbow went on to win an Oscar for best feature documentary. To some extent, this seems like a case of rewarding intent over achievement, but the film is not without merit. For one, if you-re a fan of the great Laura Nyro, you get to hear one of her songs repeated no fewer than ten times throughout the course of the film. I'm probably in the minority on this one, but I actually found this repetition quite effective. It's also interesting to hear Captain Willard -- I mean Martin Sheen -- bring back his inimitably intense narration style from Apocalypse Now to tell the story of another oppressed group of aboriginal people. But seriously, this is an intermittently moving tribute to indigenous traditions in peril.

Both discs feature worthwhile extras that add valuable perspective decades after these films were completed. The Wobblies includes an interview with the filmmakers, another interview with historian Paul Buhle, original recordings of several IWW songs, and a gallery of stills. Broken Rainbow only includes one feature -- a short documentary detailing the current state of the people depicted in the film, as they face new threats to their land and heritage -- but it functions like a sequel, leaving little need for additional extras. Movie ratings: 7/10. Disc ratings: 8/10 (The Wobblies), 7/10 (Broken Rainbow). -- Jonathan Doyle

The Police Tapes and Doing Time: Life Inside the Big House

Docurama dips into the archives again for this impressive, cinema verite double bill from Alan and Susan Raymond, the filmmaking duo best known for the landmark PBS documentary series, An American Family (which Albert Brooks brilliantly parodied in his directorial debut from 1979, Real Life). In this pair of films, the filmmakers examine some of the darkest recesses of American life and the results are surprising, disturbing, and engaging. However, rather than designate blame for the various wrongdoings on display, they offer a tangible sense of why violence and injustice exist, both among criminals and the authorities that punish them. In the best observational filmmaking tradition, their goal is compassion and understanding, not didacticism.

1977's The Police Tapes is an extremely rough -- its video source shows signs of wear right form the start -- observational look at police officers and their interaction with criminals, victims, and victims' families. Essentially, it's Cops as directed by Frederick Wiseman, but long before Cops existed. To be honest, the film jumps back-and-forth between the fascinating and the mundane, but at its best, The Police Tapes is perception-altering cinema.

One remarkable, cliche-breaking officer -- who is clearly a cultural historian and philospher at heart -- speaks at length and with great passion about the social and economic ills that cause crime in the ghetto, alluding to everything from Aristotle and "A Clockwork Orange" to B.F. Skinner (whose incredible book "Beyond Freedom and Dignity" was actually a major influence on Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of "A Clockwork Orange"). This breed of officer may be a rarity in 2006, but something tells me there's still a few guys like this hiding at precincts across the nation, quietly making their presence felt. You know, like Serpico.

Fourteen years later, the Raymonds took their study of law and order one step further with the Oscar-nominated Doing Time: Life Inside the Big House. Again, their sympathies aren't simple -- the authorities and the prisoners clearly come in many varieties -- but, like Frederick Wiseman's best films (Titticut Follies, Hospital), Doing Time shows the paradoxical, catch 22 injustice of an institution gone wrong. Yes, these are hardened, generally unsympathetic, and occasionally remorseless criminals, but the Raymonds' unsparing camera offers a glimpse of how the prison system aggravates the problem.

It's particularly interesting to observe the fine line between those in prison and those presiding over them. Doing Time suggests that some prison authority figures are actually motivated by the same sadistic appetites that put many of these prisoners behind bars in the first place, though they've found a legal -- but still extremely harmful -- outlet for those appetites. Both discs feature a brief director interview (Alan and Susan on The Police Tapes, just Alan on Doing Time) and nothing else. Movie ratings: 7.5/10 (The Police Tapes), 8.5/10 (Doing Time). Disc ratings: 6/10. -- Jonathan Doyle

Omar & Pete

Omar has just been released from prison...again. For thirty years, he has been in and out of the joint. However, things are now different, as Omar is extremely committed to making things work. With the help of his newfound religion, his family, his parole officer, and his long-time friend Pete -- who has also spent much of his life in jail -- Omar manages to get a good start upon his release. However, things slowly start to turn sour as this former drug addict continually relapses.

As the title suggests, the film has another major subject: Pete. Released ten months before Omar, Pete has continued to persevere. Through his disciplined lifestyle and ability to articulate well and help others, he earns his freedom and even finds a girlfriend. The juxtaposition of these two characters is handled with much grace: Pete's success story adds depth and further understanding to Omar's struggles. It just makes the film flow better (there's an excellent sense of pacing throughout).

Omar & Pete is another absorbing documentary from Oscar nominee/Emmy winner Tod Lending, who creates a brutal, intimate, and honest portrait of these two middle-aged, African-American men. This is enriched by several great extras on this disc, namely four deleted scenes, a written statement by Lending, a Lending bio, and a 36minute Lending interview. Non-anamorphic widescreen is bothersome, but understandable. Movie rating: 8/10. Disc rating: 9/10. -- Neil Karassik

Full Frame Documentary Shorts, Volume 4

Full Frame Documentary Shorts, Volume 4 gives us another diverse assortment of six short docs from around the world (for a look at Volume 3, go here). With the aid of Jonathan Demme, Martin Scorseses, Ken Burns, and Barbara Kopple, the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival has become a huge event that now showcases over 100 original documentaries in just four days. All good film festivals have a short film component and this disc is the Docurama Film Festival's attempt to fulfill that requirement.

The first entry in this volume, Miles Above, uses footage of the Columbia shuttle crash to create an interesting narrative, as well as daringly show us the final moments of Columbia's disastrous re-entry. In the Shadow of Eden is a Tarnation-esque coming-to-grips with family trauma by Rachel Romero about her abusive, religious father and, consequently, her shattered childhood. The third entry, Good Morning Yokohama, is a visually lyrical, entertaining, and funny portrait of rush hour Japan. The number of Japanese businessmen that can fit into a train is truly baffling.

Small Town Secrets, is another film that stitches together home movies, photos, phone conversations, and web cam footage. In this case, the collage of visual and aural resources are used to tell the personal story of growing up with closeted gay parents in a small Midwestern town. Next up is Cheeks, the story of a man named Joe (Cheek), son of two schizophrenics but, first and foremost, folk musician extraordinaire. Lastly, we get Good Times, the 2005 winner of the Full Frame Jury Award for best short film. This doc centers around Israel's security wall, which runs through the middle of the town of Abu Dis. The doc contains many interviews with Palestinian store owners, along with Israeli soldiers. Without ever coming across as preachy, the film shows us the personal effect that the wall has on the daily lives of the locals. Unfortunately, this DVD is featureless. Movie rating: 7/10. Disc rating: 3/10. -- Neil Karassik