This is Spinal Tap

As much as I enjoyed the other documentaries that we've watched this semester, it's nice to have something a bit more lighthearted this time around. I'll admit that while I'd never seen This is Spinal Tap before, I had heard a few things about it (mainly just the "Up to 11" bit and the fact that it was about a fictional band). Unfortunately for me, I don't really follow the history of any rock bands (or any band in general really), so I feel like I'm missing out on most of the jokes that directly parody those bands. However, from what I've heard many other bands at the time the film was apparently so "realistic" that they actually couldn't see it as a comedy. With that said, I still found the film to be pretty funny. I think that my favorite parts would have to be whenever they screwed up onstage, my personal favorites being them needing the stage hand's help in order to move around on the floor, when one of them got stuck in the pod, and when they somehow got lost backstage. I also found their pretentious little "end" speech to be pretty amusing.

Restrepo

         I'll admit, my knowledge on the U.S. military (and most other militaries for that matter) is rather lacking. After watching the film, I can say that Restrepo does a wonderful job of humanizing these soldiers fighting in Afghanistan. It does this especially well in how it shows the grief the soldiers go through, how it affects them, and how they have to cope with it in order to continue the fight. To me, some of the most moving scenes are when one soldier is being recounting his experiences and just then just blanks out for a few moments, saying that "I need a time out". Another moment is when the soldiers talk about how they had felt terrible about the civilian deaths from Rock Avalanche. Another is when one soldier just breaks down in the battlefield after the death of Sergeant Rougle. Another sad thing is just how they apparently have it so bad that there has to be new research into PTSD and other conditions because of how long it's been since was a war like this.

Food Inc.

         After the shocker that was The Cove, the acts depicted in this film didn't seem quite as disturbing. However, that doesn't mean that there wasn't a lot of disturbing moments. One of the main things that creeped me out were just the horrible conditions that the chickens and cows were living in while in the slaughterhouses. I mean, living knee-deep in their own waste to the point that it's caused more outbreaks of e coli in the past decade than ever? That's a almost as disturbing as the great lengths that they go through to stop people from finding out about what goes on, as well as the other things they do (granted, not quite as bad as The Cove). The worst would either have to be the horrible conditions that the workers have to work with in the factories, or the whole story about how Monsanto just relentlessly tries to ruin anybody who is even suspected of using their seeds. I also liked the film's comparison of the meat factories with those in the early 19th century.

         With that said though, the film still managed to have more moments of hope than I thought it was going to have. It showed that there are still actual farms that are able to thrive in spite of the huge companies running the food market. It also shows that these farms are still able to stick to their morals such as with the Polyface farm. It also states that the organic market has not only been able to start up, but has actually been growing to a phenomenal level while still being very profitable.

       

          On a  side note, was anyone else really disgusted by that one scene where they just reach into the cow's stomach and take out its food, possibly more-so than any other image from the film? I'm not sure if the fact that it apparently can't feel a giant, gaping hole it its stomach makes it more sickening or more bearable.

The Cove

To be honest, I thought that with the reputation the film has had and from what I'd heard about it before watching it that it would have focused a lot more on the actual violence against the dolphins than it did. Granted, what they did show was still pretty appalling (really, who wouldn't be horrified at the sight of a large bloody pool of water or a bloody dolphin trying to escape), but for the most part they focused more on getting prepared to take the footage, the hazardous effects of the dolphin meat on humans, and the cover-ups and excuses by the Japanese government and other residents of Taiji. The effect of the actual violence is amplified by showing that dolphins are far more intelligent that many people give them credit for (and the story that caused O'Barry to rail against keeping dolphins in captivity is just tragic)

Another thing that causes outrage is how they are actually able to take the much more hazardous dolphin meat and put in with the rest of the whale meat, and just how few Japanese people are aware of it. That said,  Mr. O'Barry's campaign has had an impact by actually causing more protesters to show up at Taiji, and people are starting to get more aware of the problem.

Inside Job

While watching the film, I had already heard to a small extent what had caused the financial crisis (and plenty about the corruption of Wall Street), and the information presented in the film had matched up with that pretty well, so it seemed trustworthy. On the other hand, I have little to no experience or knowledge of economics, so most of the stuff presented was entirely new to me. Not to mention, the film was pretty obviously biased (granted, it's nearly impossible not to get outraged when one finds evidence for that level of corruption, and I'd already heard a few of these stories before) to the point of being just plain comical at times, mainly with the numerous times they mentioned that "X declined being interviewed" (after the fifth time, I just started wondering how different the scenes would've been had at least half of the people that declined actually decided to be interviewed). All joking aside though, the movie is very effective and clear in getting its message across that we need to do something to change the corrupt practices of the financial industry.

On a side note, I actually remember when I was in the seventh grade (or sixth, my memory's a bit fuzzy on when it happened) around 2007 or so, somebody from Merrill Lynch had come to talk to our class on stocks and bonds or something along those lines (again, fuzzy memory). Looking back on it and realizing that it happened about 2 years before they went out of business, I find it kind of amusing.

Koyaanisquatsi

For a film with no words, Koyaanisqatsi sure does manage to get its views on humanity's relationship with nature across well. I'd say that it's even a slight bit over the top at a time or two (the translations of the prophecies and the title that were shown before the end credits and the scenes of the desolate, abandoned city come to mind, as well as the truck covered in its own exhaust fumes.). That said, I'll admit that it managed to keep my interest throughout most of the movie (the biggest exception being the scene with the planes on the runways which ran a bit too long), and many of the shots and especially the music were quite beautiful, with my favorites being the views on the lake and the overhead shots of the city at night. I also like that the Mr. Reggio, the director, supports the ability to interpret the film as you like rather than forcing one down our throats (no matter how much it seems like the film is at times).

Paragraph Revision

Before:

Over the course of the film, Herzog makes it quite clear that he disagreed with Treadwell’s view on the natural world and Treadwell’s actions towards the bears in general, and that he thought Treadwell was also very misguided in his actions. Herzog does this by clearly stating his own views on nature as having this “invisible borderline” that Treadwell ended up crossing during his work. His clips also showed that almost everybody he interviewed that was not already a close friend of Treadwell’s (and even some that were, such as Mr. Queeny), disagreed with Treadwell’s actions. Dr. Haakanson even noted that not only did Timothy probably do more harm to the bears than he helped them by decreasing the bear’s fear of humans, but that he thought that Timothy had performed “the ultimate of disrespecting the bears and what the bear represents” and he too thought that Treadwell crossed an invisible boundary. Herzog also frequently contrasts what he perceived Treadwell’s view on nature to be with his own views on the subject (“I discover no kinship, no understanding …I see only the cold indifference of nature…But for Timothy Treadwell, this bear was a friend, a savior.”). He also tended to portray Treadwell as very naïve and unable to comprehend Herzog’s view on nature (“He seemed to ignore the fact that in nature there are predators”). He also contrasts Treadwell’s views on how in danger he thought the bears were with the statements in the interviews that poaching was not really a large problem in the area, especially compared to the poaching in other places around the world.

After some Revision:

Over the course of the film, Herzog criticizes Treadwell’s view on the natural world and his actions towards bears in general. He does this by stating his own view on nature having an “invisible borderline” that Treadwell ends up crossing during his work. His clips show that almost everybody he interviewed that was not already a close friend of Treadwell’s (and even some that were, such as Mr. Queeny), disagreed with Treadwell’s actions. Dr. Haakanson even notes that not only had Timothy probably harmed the bears by dampening their fear of humans, but that he had performed “the ultimate of disrespecting the bears and what the bear represents”. Haakanson too thinks that Treadwell overstepped an invisible boundary. Also, Herzog frequently contrasts what he perceives as Treadwell’s view on nature with his own views on the subject (“I discover no kinship, no understanding …I see only the cold indifference of nature…But for Timothy Treadwell, this bear was a friend, a savior.”). He portrays Treadwell as very naïve and unable to comprehend Herzog’s view on nature (“He seemed to ignore the fact that in nature there are predators”). He also differs with Treadwell on how threatened the bears were, with statements in the interviews revealing that poaching was not really a large problem in the area, especially compared to poaching in other places around the world.