Documentary Features and Shorts

A Note About Today's Blog Post!

Due to the GREATLY decreased time between the Oscars announcements and the show, there are a very limited number of days available to post and share about all of the movies with nominations.  Sadly, that means combining, combining, combining.  So, today, I present to you 10 films - all of the documentary features and the shorts.  This year's crop of documentaries of both lengths were excellent.  Truly not a bad one in the bunch.  There are lessons on cruelty, democracy, the changing nature of business, bravery, and love.  Please try to see a few (many are on Netflix!) - they are worth it.

THESE ARE THE DOCUMENTARY FEATURES

American Factory finds a town in Ohio devastated by the closure of a car manufacturing company that provided the majority of the jobs in the town revitalized by the arrival of a Chinese company that makes glass for cars.  At first, the employees are grateful to have jobs.  But the Chinese model of how you treat employees and what you can expect from them is very different than the United States' model, including the high value placed on safety.  When the Chinese owners begin to take advantage (for much lower wages) and violate safety rules on the job.  The employees begin to discuss forming a union.  So, are the owners the villains?  Or the American employees?  Without any spoilers, we know that whether people work more or less, they will never be as good as machines.

The Cave is an incredible story of a medical hospital in Syria located underground where victims of violence can come for treatment.  The place is run by an incredible woman, which is particularly impressive in a world where women are not meant to be in charge.  These doctors stay in a town that the regime seems determine to wipe out, just to make sure that everyone stranded there can get medical treatment.  It's a task far too big for anyone to have a hope succeeding, and yet, who else will do it if these doctors leave?

The thing about The Edge of Democracy is that it's such a lesson for the United States, and yet, I'm certain that Democrats and Republicans will see this film so differently.  We discover the fragile state of Brazil's democracy in a place steeped in governmental corruption with coups and impeachment trials and scandals, and any American watching this film has got to be at least slightly haunted.

A female documentarian shares her life and her choices with her young daughter as she reflects what it's like to live in Aleppo, Syria.  As part of the resistance in her younger years, she could never have anticipated what it would be like to stay, to fight, to try to resist an oppressive and tyrannical regime with her husband, a doctor who feels he must stay to help.  Having already escaped, her parents try to convince the young couple to escape and emigrate with their young child, but they have a connection to the land and feel they must stay.  This film is part history, part apology, part explanation for the daughter from the filmmaker who knows that this life has been insanity.

Nobody I know who has seen this film thinks it is an actual documentary because of the incredible scenes the filmmakers caught and recorded.  The main character is a woman beekeeper in Macedonia who lives off the land.  She sells her honey at the market, and relies on living in harmony with nature to keep her bees thriving.  When nomadic squatters become her neighbors, they bully her into sharing her production secrets, and they undermine the natural order and affect her livelihood.  They don't care about her, about longevity, they care about making money right now.

Honeyland is also nominated for International Feature!

THESE ARE THE DOCUMENTARY SHORTS

Afghanistan is not a safe place to be a girl, even today when the Taliban are not in power.  Girls are not really supposed to learn, and so these girls who go to school every day are taking their lives into their own hands.  Their mothers see a world of possibility for their daughters because they are getting the education their mothers never could have under the Taliban.  While at school, the girls are also taught courage and grit... and skateboarding!  This is a powerful documentary about bravery and teaching girls to take back their power.

The lives of refugees are just not easy.  Coming from places with governmental corruption and commonplace murder if you displease the regime (or any dangerous people), families have found refuge in Sweden.  But for those coming from extreme danger with their immigration status still uncertain (and in many cases, having been denied asylum), young children are coping with the very strange "Resignation Syndrome."  That is to say, they go to sleep and they don't wake up.  They must be fed through a tube, washed, walked, receive physical therapy - they have simply checked out completely unable to cope with the reality of their uncertain futures that may very well include being sent back home to a place where people actually want to kill them.  There are over 200 children suffering with this syndrome in Sweden, and it is now beginning to appear in refugee centers in Australia.  

St. Louis Superman follows the incredible journey of Bruce Franks who was inspired to run for state representative after the shooting of Michael Brown.  He works to declare gun violence a youth health crisis navigating the tough streets he came from (where his own older brother was shot and killed at the age of 9) and the professional life working the system of government.  Carving out a small piece of justice is Franks' act of leadership in his community, all while being a great dad.

Exploring the lives of a couple married for over 50 years and their history escaping Vietnam.  But they have a secret to their long marriage and to their love story - they have learned how to dance and compete professionally in that world.  This film was so charming and even though their story of their young lives is difficult, immigrating to the United States changed their lives very profoundly.  My husband and I are signing up for dance lessons as a result!  (I want one of those fancy dresses and definitely the shoes!)

In the Absence is the film that is the hardest to shake when you leave the theater.  It retells the story of the Sewell, a passenger ferry in Korea that was sinking for several hours while nobody did anything to evacuate the hundreds and hundreds of passengers on the boat.  In fact, the Captain of the ship was the first to be rescued, leaving an absence of leadership.  Not to mention that the government spent more time trying to get cameras on the scene rather than doing anything.  They even sent away fishing boats who came to try to help rescue passengers.  The haunting moment when one of the teenagers on the boat (videotaped by a phone camera) recounts a story of another disaster when the only people who didn't listen to the instructions given by leadership were the ones to survive... The outraged families and volunteer divers who were involved in the rescue rally the entire nation and help unseat the country's President as a result.