The Documentary Thread

[Adipost]

https://www.amazon.com/Without-Charity-Payne/dp/B01J4SRDDA/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

Just in case you want to see a film made by a fellow CCS board member.

Some of my favorites:
Dear Zachary
Burn
Election
Titicut Follies
The King of Kong
The Parking Lot Movie
The White Helmets
Living Dolls
Death By Fire
Lake of Fire

Dear Zachary was great. So you created the film in the link?

 

[ruprecht]

There's Something Wrong With Aunt Diane

This film investigates the 2009 Taconic State Parkway crash. 36 year old Diane Schuler was driving a van with her daughter, her son, and 3 nieces. She was driving the wrong way for almost 2 miles at 80 mph until hitting an SUV head on. All 3 in the SUV died, and everyone in the van died except for her son. She was found to have alcohol and marijuana in her system. Her husband denies that she was intoxicated, and focuses all of his energy on defending his now deceased wife. The film chronicles what actually happened that day step for step to try to figure out what really happened. It's also heartbreaking watching the husband trying desperately the toxicology results.

[video=youtube_share;Trck8tVtYyo]https://youtu.be/Trck8tVtYyo[/video]

Watched that as well. So tragic.

 

[Ares]

I watched The White Helmets yesterday.

Very short... probably very difficult to get in there and document anything, much less get enough content for a long documentary.

 

[TheeUndyingFan]

I watched Batman & Bill on Hulu a couple nights back.

Worth a watch for Batman fans and a good doc in its own right.

Bob Kane was a scumbag.

 

[Ares]

Not a documentary, but the movie Founder about the origin of McDonalds and Ray Croc was good.

I wouldn't mind watching documentaries on the origins of some of our large modern corporations.

 

[Adipost]

Life Itself

From the director of Hoop Dreams, chronicling the life of Roger Ebert. While this is a biography, the film was also meant to follow Roger Ebert's life in the present. Unfortunately, right before filming, Ebert's health turned for the worse and he was confined to a hospital. This adds a layer about illness and death, as well as love.

[video=youtube_share;z4SgwBRq-fU]https://youtu.be/z4SgwBRq-fU[/video]

 

[BlackHawkPaul]

Dear Zachary was great. So you created the film in the link?

Yep.

Working on my new one about parents raising special needs children.

 

[Ares]

Yep.

Working on my new one about parents raising special needs children.

You should do a documentary about Michael Moore making documentaries and just follow him around lol

 

[Jester]

Yep.

Working on my new one about parents raising special needs children.

That's fantastic BHP, I will definitely watch without charity now.

 

[Ares]

I watched Where to Invade Next last... interesting stuff.

I think one thing Michael Moore lacks in his films is the other side of the story much of the time.

One part he shows how Italian workers where he is filming will always go home for lunch... spend more time with family.... I agree this is great, but the other side of that story is where workers commute too far for that to be feasible, even if it is allowed. Or in general how such a notion in the U.S. is not outlawed, but just happens to be impractical.

He also goes over German worker's rights.... they have laws about bosses not being allowed to bother workers after hours.... that sounds great, but something tells me that isn't the deal 100% of the time... how about doctors/nurses if they are needed for an emergency? How about data center employees if their 24/7 stuff goes down? What if your boss also happens to be a friend or family member, is it still illegal for them to contact you after work? What if you simply forgot something important like your wallet and they want to let you know? Are there loopholes for these kind of situations? If so are they exploited/abused?

The film covers a broad range of topics and it has lots of interesting information, but I will say Michael Moore tends to ignore the grey areas of economic/social problems a bit...

I also started watching Tell Me and I will Forget.... got 40 mins in and the Advil PM KO'd me, I will finish it today.

 

[Jester]

Michael Moore misrepresents the facts and is an outright liar. He is a PoS of the highest order.

 

[Ares]

Michael Moore misrepresents the facts and is an outright liar. He is a PoS of the highest order.

I understand him misrepresenting the facts, I noted it myself.

Where do you find he is outright lying?

I am not advocating for him, I am genuinely curious.... I think he makes decent films, but is obviously very biased in how he presents the content.

However, I am not noticing him blatantly lie in the films I've seen.... or maybe he has and I did not notice it.

 

[number51]

I understand him misrepresenting the facts, I noted it myself.

Where do you find he is outright lying?

I am not advocating for him, I am genuinely curious.... I think he makes decent films, but is obviously very biased in how he presents the content.

However, I am not noticing him blatantly lie in the films I've seen.... or maybe he has and I did not notice it.

Conservative web sites have long lists of all of Moore's lies. They are just as disingenuous and biased as he is. Pure right v left stuff, kinda boring. I enjoy Moore's films because I agree with him on a lot of issues, and he is entertaining. It's best to think of him as a long form Jon Stewart, entertaining but not the place to get your news.

 

[Ares]

Conservative web sites have long lists of all of Moore's lies. They are just as disingenuous and biased as he is. Pure right v left stuff, kinda boring. I enjoy Moore's films because I agree with him on a lot of issues, and he is entertaining. It's best to think of him as a long form Jon Stewart, entertaining but not the place to get your news.

Honestly I mostly enjoy the people he goes out and films.... in Where to Invade Next, hearing the perspectives of people in other countries on various important issues like education, healthcare, gender equality, worker's rights/benefits, justice systems, etc.... that was interesting.

Moore's perspective is obviously "They are doing it right/better, we are doing it wrong"... in some cases I agree, in others I disagree or I think there is nuance/grey area he is ignoring... but the content he gives you is interesting IMO whether you agree with his ideas/conclusions or not.

I will say this, in most documentaries I watch, I feel you often get 1 perspective on an issue.... I do enjoy it more when they manage to get both sides of a proverbially story.

Inside Job did this the most IMO, they tried to get every Wall Street person involved in the financial crisis to tell their side, and most of them refused. If you refuse to present your side of an argument/story, you concede it to the perspective of the other side.... and with the Wall Street crooks probably rightfully so.

 

[Adipost]

Honestly I mostly enjoy the people he goes out and films.... in Where to Invade Next, hearing the perspectives of people in other countries on various important issues like education, healthcare, gender equality, worker's rights/benefits, justice systems, etc.... that was interesting.

Moore's perspective is obviously "They are doing it right/better, we are doing it wrong"... in some cases I agree, in others I disagree or I think there is nuance/grey area he is ignoring... but the content he gives you is interesting IMO whether you agree with his ideas/conclusions or not.

I will say this, in most documentaries I watch, I feel you often get 1 perspective on an issue.... I do enjoy it more when they manage to get both sides of a proverbially story.

Inside Job did this the most IMO, they tried to get every Wall Street person involved in the financial crisis to tell their side, and most of them refused. If you refuse to present your side of an argument/story, you concede it to the perspective of the other side.... and with the Wall Street crooks probably rightfully so.

They showed us his film Roger and Me in high school.

 

[Ares]

They showed us his film Roger and Me in high school.

Never saw it.... thoughts? Good, bad?

 

[Adipost]

Never saw it.... thoughts? Good, bad?

I think it might have been his first film. It's about the GM plant shut down in Flint, Michigan. Moore goes around the entire film trying to get an interview with the GM CEO Roger Moore. Kind of gave us a sneak peak into the real world.

 

[Ares]

I think it might have been his first film. It's about the GM plant shut down in Flint, Michigan. Moore goes around the entire film trying to get an interview with the GM CEO Roger Moore. Kind of gave us a sneak peak into the real world.

That was an interesting thing about Where to Invade Next.... I was surprised how many high level people talked to him.

CEOs of companies... high level govt officials... the President of a European country had a sit down with him, but I am forgetting which one... Slovenia maybe?

You go to any large corporation in the U.S. and ask to talk to their CEO, they will laugh you (and probably drag you) out the building.... you go to govt bodies and ask to talk to a Congressman, Senator, or high level member of our Executive branch, they will laugh you out of the building.

Though this is very likely another representation with black/white and no grey in Moore's films, but he certainly tried to go talk to people in the U.S. in some of his stuff and they stonewall you.... in Europe they seemed happy to talk to him, but I would bet because his perspective was very favorable to them.

 

[number51]

I think it might have been his first film. It's about the GM plant shut down in Flint, Michigan. Moore goes around the entire film trying to get an interview with the GM CEO Roger Moore. Kind of gave us a sneak peak into the real world.

Obviously you meant General Motors CEO Roger Smith. Moore grew up in Flint Michigan so this was very personal. It had some humor, lot's of sadness, the scenes that generated the most interest were at GM headquarters and the woman that was raising rabbits for "pet's or food".

[video=youtube;G6ff68dXFsc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6ff68dXFsc[/video]

 

[modo]

I understand him misrepresenting the facts, I noted it myself.

Where do you find he is outright lying?

I am not advocating for him, I am genuinely curious.... I think he makes decent films, but is obviously very biased in how he presents the content.

However, I am not noticing him blatantly lie in the films I've seen.... or maybe he has and I did not notice it.

If you are presenting a piece of work as a documentary and intentionally mislead people into believe something that is false....that is lying.