Documentaries

So, I’ve been on a bit of a documentary binge recently – primarily because I’ve got exams in a month or so and don’t want to be distracted by falling in love with a tv show (though there’s a new show called Kings which is quite interesting).

Anyway, here are three mini reviews of the ones I’ve seen so far:

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart

I really like musical documentaries (or rather rockumentaries). There’s some really interesting about watching a band in their space, as the dynamics bob and weave and you see musicians doing what they love while trying to tackle the serious aspects of it as well (recording, management etc).

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart is about Wilco and their almost universally heralded 2002 album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Essentially it runs through the band in their loft and then studio writing songs, having issues regarding mixing, and the now legendary drop from their label Reprise Studios. It takes you halfway into the head of one of contemporary America’s most important songwriters, Jeff Tweedy, and shows you the more maniacal, always-looking-for-attention side of musicians.

In The Shadow Of The Moon

So, here’s the thing: If when you were a kid and you did not possess a burning desire to venture into outer space, to have your shoes imprint their marks on the surface of the moon, then you had no imagination and no soul. Simple as.

If you still do not have that same desire, then you still possess neither of those two things. Or maybe you’re just an insufferable realist (like House, but without the sexiness or the wit).

This documentary takes us all the way back to the 50s, to the era of the test pilots. From there, it takes us to Kennedy’s “by the end of the decade we will put a man on the moon” speech, to recruiting astronauts to making the lunar module and the orbital shuttle to the journey itself and to their return, and the subsequent outpouring of utter joy.

There’s no real narration here, unless you count the 27 odd members of the various Apollo crews who journeyed towards the moon (Apollo 13 it was, I believe, who couldn’t land on the moon). It’s inspiring, geniunely heart-wrenching and one of the greatest stories mankind as a whole can ever hope to tell. Full of stunning images, beautiful and funny anecdotes as well some really lovely noise (the rockets firing up at Cape Kennedy – aural orgasm!). Really is worth watching if even 1/10th of you has some essence of adventure.

The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara

The essence of this film is Robert McNamara’s life, and in particular 11 lessons he gleans from it. Considered by many to be a fairly controversial character, he comes across as anything but in this documentary/interview, admitting mistakes frankly, while never trying to outright lay blame on someone else (though he does try and do it in a subtle fashion).

It’s a bit telling that his eleven lessons aren’t particular pieces of new, insightful knowledge that’d shake your socks off. In fact, they’re probably nothing more than common sense, or eons of knowledge that now is common sense. Yet, it leads me to think how tough certain circumstances are, and how tough making decisions in those circumstances are. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but as McNamara alludes to, a ‘Fog of War’ exists within war-related decision making, or dare I say security-related decision making. In other words, one cannot look at the whole board, or most of it. In such situations, the common sense knowledge he passes on throughout the documentary seems to rather missing.

He also, perhaps only to my ears/mind, seems to speak with a subtle fondness of Wilson’s statements about how WWI was the end of wars as we knew it – that the US helped win the war to end all wars. Maybe, just maybe, if JFK had lived we might’ve seen a brighter challenge to Realism in that era.

It’s a must watch for anyone interested in politics or even history, for it’s an ‘expose’ of sorts into the mind of one of the brightest political minds of the past half-century, whether you agree with whatever the use of that mind was or not. Some of his words have almost seemed prophetic as well, regarding Bush jr – seeing as though the film was released in ‘03 (or 02), I’ve read around that the interviews concluded before the Iraq war.

Anyway, when you couple the extremely interesting content with great montages and superb music from Philip Glass, you’ve got a documentary worth watching.

Women drivers.

Yes. This is a post (with a youtube link) taking the piss out of women drivers. Now, I may or may not be pilloried for this, but at least it’s a good laugh.

I’d just like to clarify by the way that i’m NOT sexist. Really. But (wahey!), I do believe women are shocking drivers and equally terrible when it comes to directions. There are some terrible male drivers as well, but some of the things female drivers do are simply beyond belief. Doesn’t mean I believe that women shouldn’t be allowed on the road or anything though, for there are a few sane, if not good, female drivers.

And now for something different…

Brazilian Catholic Church contests abortion for raped 9-year-old

RIO DE JANEIRO, March 4 (RIA Novosti) – Brazil’s Catholic Church has spoken out against plans for an abortion for a nine-year-old girl who was raped by her stepfather, national media reported citing church representatives.

After the girl from the northeastern state of Pernambuco complained of stomach pains, a medical examination showed she was in the 16th week of pregnancy, and was carrying twins. Police say the girl had been routinely raped by her stepfather since the age of six.

Medics say the girl’s life could be in danger if she gives birth, but Catholic priests have threatened to go to court to prevent an abortion, the reports said.

“We recognize the ‘unjust’ nature of this pregnancy, but we have to save lives,” local Archbishop Jose Cardoso Sobrinho told journalists.

Brazilian laws ban abortions, but make an exception when there is a threat to the life or health of a mother.

Now, I’m pretty pro-choice, but I can understand some of the arguments made against abortion. Despite the sabre-rattling of lots of nutty religious folk, abortion simply cannot be thrust under a blanket ‘women’s right’ issue. My point being, it’s more than just that.

But, what I cannot fathom, is that on the other side of the aisle, the pro-lifers just seem to get nuttier and nuttier, with wanton disregard for what the women (or in this case, a 9 year old girl FFS) wants. For them, apparently, if a woman wants an abortion is because she likes killing fetuses and is basically a slut; that she could NOT have come to this decision with regret and remorse, after contemplating it for days and days. Amongst other things, this is what I find most umbrage with.

Anyway, case in point. It’s a 9 year old girl. Raped, consistently, by her stepfather. For starters, she might even die in childbirth. Is her developed life so useless to these fuckwit Catholic nutjob priests? What about the two children who’d be born as well? Can you imagine how they’d feel once they’d realize how they were conceived? Should anyone be burdened with THAT?!

SHE IS 9 FUCKING YEARS OLD YOU SORDID, MESSED UP ASSHOLES.

I’m not religious, but I AM a muslim. I do believe that religion has a positive role to play in society, but I’m my faith in that belief is now wavering. Yes, we can point to countless ‘good’ things that exist, but religion is not about averages and numbers. It’s not utilitarian. If a world without organized religion means shit like this doesn’t happen (or as in Africa, the AIDS epidemic is accentuated by the Catholic Church’s stance on contraception – for the love of god, there are children being BORN WITH AIDS), then I’m going to have defeatedly say; sign me up.