Troubled Waters

Delving into the Catholic Church’s seemingly systemic paedophilia problem doesn’t exactly make for an entertaining watch but Mea Maxima Culpa, directed by Alex Gibney, is definitely worth the effort. Gibney initially focuses on some harrowing cases at a deaf school in America before developing the story internationally and though it begins to chart the bureaucratic incompetence and obfuscation of the Church he admirably maintain a heart breaking focus on the victims. A well reasoned, step by step damnation of the Church’s response to a most horrifying, devastating epidemic.

 

Another talented documentarian, Eugene Jarecki, takes a similarly hard yet emotionally grounded look at the War Against Drugs in his polemic The House I Live In. Starting with a story close to home Jarecki begins to chart the dubious socio-political roots of our prohibition policy and it’s rampant escalation into a multifaceted war without end. Jarecki gathers an interesting bunch of talking heads, including police officers, prison wardens, users, academics, dealers & Wire scribe David Simon to detail the severe cost of utter failure of this approach to every part of our society.

Fatuous Infatuations

Stanley Kubrick’s famed attention to detail provides fertile ground for film nuts and the doc Room 237 proscribes some of the unusual theories circling his horror masterpiece The Shining. The quite barmy contributors posit various interpretations around the film taking in Holocaust, the Indian genocide and my favourite the faking of the Moon landing footage. Despite it’s niche subject matter it’s quite an entertaining watch and though I don’t agree with any of the theories offered or even the microscopic apophenia that lurks at their core it does highlight some interesting production anomalies in Kubrick’s film.

More amusing and much more obsessive behaviour is to be found in Chasing Ghosts a low-fi documentary which charts the rise and fall of professional arcade game players in early 80’s America. A nice companion piece to The King of Kong, the film interviews a number of star players who featured in a Life magazine article from 1982 about their game specialities, their rise to stardom and life after the bubble burst. There’s some quality nerds on display and though the film isn’t shy about poking fun at them there’s an affectionate, nostalgic tone to this fascinating glimpse at a bygone era.

American History X 2

Oliver Stone’s latest offering is a 10 part documentary called The Untold History of the United States. Covering the self styled ‘Amurican Century’ Stone weaves a somewhat supercilious narrative in and around the significant events of his country’s ascendance into it’s current militaristic and materialistic hegemony. It’s competently put together and does a decent enough job I suppose but it’s hardly Untold, occasionally simplistic and progressively less factual. Hats off to Stone for giving it a bash though as it’s a bold and brave thing to attempt and you never know it might even spark some navel gazing in the average Yank viewer.

Ken Burns' is considerably more talented documentarian and his latest, elegiac documentary The Dust Bowl provides ample evidence. A decade of drought and the ravenous agricultural expansion throughout the prairie lands of 30’s America led to a devastating, quite unfathomable series of dust storms that frequently blotted out the sun, eclipsing towns and even cities and impoverishing a generation of Yank farmers. Over the 4 hours Burns slowly charts the devastation and desperation this tragedy caused relying heavily on some rather moving testimony from a the few remaining witnesses to colour his austere cinematography and archival sources.

Hard Realities

The artful documentary The Impostor is a look at the baffling experiences of a 20 something Euro-drifter who assumed the identity of a missing Yank teenager. A murky, quite disturbing undertone is unfurled along with the facts of the story but none of the well handled interviews with the key players manage to clear up the central mystery, done deliberately I presume, to keep things light and breezy. Still this is riveting, quite barmy viewing that’s presented with some nice flourishes of style.

There’s nothing light or breezy about Kirby Dick’s new documentary The Invisible War which is an unflinching expose of the epidemic of rape in the American military. The testimonies from the victims, mostly women, are harrowing but it’s the systematic obfuscation and half hearted investigations by the authorities that are somehow almost harder to bear and though there has been some policy changes it’s a woeful state of affairs – I hope our own Services are better policed. Tough going but an admirable, entirely necessary watch.

Dark Dabbler Docs

Maya Deren’s hypnotic footage is the basis for the documentary Divine Horsemen about Haitian Voodoo.

Interesting if amusingly muddled BBC documentary about English Witchcraft circa 1971.

A surprisingly even handed but brief documentary about the life of Aleister Crowley.

Hip Hop Historicals

Ice T uses his clout to gather the heavyweights of rap for his excellent documentary Something From Nothing. The focus is squarely on the craft of writing rhymes and his own legendary status ensures his interviewees are happy to relax and share their writing secrets with a fellow rapper. There's a few notable absences and a little too much Kanye West for my tastes but overall this is a thoroughly entertaining history of rap that, thankfully, eschews the macho posturing and bling that sullies their art.

Run DMC and the Beastie Boys collaborate in the 1988 nonsense thriller Tougher Than Leather. DMC gets released from prison and rejoins the band with the prospect of a new tour but when their friend is murdered they go looking for revenge instead. The plot, performances and production are pretty awful but it’s fortunately  festooned with cracking old school performances from both bands and steeped in some badass period ‘charm’. Great fun but for fans of the music only.

Mavericks Monographed

Wilhelm Reich, a colleague of Freud & Jung's, was an unusual, grandiose thinker whose theories of sexuality and political freedom have largely been ignored by the scientific community, eclipsed as they were by his later more er, esoteric work but they did find a resonance in the counter culture movement of the 60's and 70's. In 1971 Serbian director Makavejev created W.R. Mysteries of the Organism, a chaotic, kaleidoscopic view of Reich's theories interspersing various documentary pieces with fairly insane narrative sections all mashed lovingly together with a LSD fervour and revolutionary zeal. If you're unaware of Reich I wouldn't start here as it's more of a dialogue about his work than an exposition (and it's 70's styling probably an acquired taste) but it's a surprisingly entertaining watch with a bravado and intellectual ambition seldom seen these days. It's a shame there's not a 'straight' examination of Reich's work but this film succeeds at the very least in matching it's subject's idiosyncrasy.

R Buckminster Fuller, another unique intellect, was successful in a number of scientific fields and is probably most famous for his Geodesic Dome design, however his theorising went well beyond normal disciplines and still seems startling groundbreaking today. The World of Buckminster Fuller initially seems to take a more traditional approach, with Bucky himself explaining his theories straight to camera but 10 mins in and it becomes apparent that the film makers thought a cut and paste approach to the editing equalled style and it suffers badly without a coherent progression to the segments. This scattergun effect combined with the aging Fuller's slightly eccentric manner and speech, made me think, occasionally, of Rowley Birkin from The Fast Show which is a bit of a shame as though it lacks the panache of W.R, if you stick with it, it does offer an interesting, more comprehensive look at another neglected thinker's work.

Funk Redux & Blues Reflux

Thunder Soul is a documentary charting the career of the highly successful Kashmere High School Stage Band and their funkalicious musical output. The predominant focus is on the band leader/teacher, Conrad Johnson, and his influence in changing their performance from the usual standards to cover versions of James Brown and their own compositions and the culminates with the inevitable reunion performance held in his honour. I think the film would've benefited from some more of the music given I imagine most people are unfamiliar with their work but it's still a lovely watch with some genuinely touching moments and laughs as the band gather again and dust off their mojo but in the end a little bittersweet as Johnson's health deteriorates throughout the filming.


I've never been a huge fan of post-Cream Clapton but the documentary Eric Clapton & His Rolling Hotel is quite interesting for it's unguarded frankness, with Clapton appearing drunk and/or high throughout and coming across, mostly, as a bit of a tit. Filmed while on a train-based European tour there's some nice performances scattered throughout the film but it's the one on one interview segments with Clapton which are most revealing, particularly the discussion of Hendrix's death and the writing of Layla. It's not bad, a nice look at the life of a megastar on tour but I can't say it's worth watching unless you're somewhat interested in the career of Clapton. In this era of media management I can't help but suspect it's appealing candour is what's impeded a DVD release but if you are interested a VHSrip is out there.

Lies & Liars

The Tillman Story neatly describes the tragic turned tawdry scandal of the US military attempt to exploit the death of a NFL star who joined the Rangers and his bereaved family's dogged pursuit for the truth. With few frills this documentary soberly unravels the propaganda and official obstinacy that finally caved to reveal he'd been killed by his own trigger happy squad mates in a shambolic, tragic confrontation. Powerful, sobering stuff about the meaning of integrity and a government's lack of.

Errol Morris lightly spins the tale of a 1970's sex scandal in his documentary Tabloid. A one time rent a whip, nudey model kidnaps her true love, a bespectacled Mormon who's over here for a bit of missionary work and kickstarts a classic red top feeding frenzy much assisted by the verbose and quite loopy central figure, Joyce McKinney. Morris isn't too concerned about relaying the truth in this film as much as the colourful story and lurid characters involved and it's a highly entertaining bit of fluff.

Art & Magic

Werner Herzog's quiet, thoughtful documentary The Cave of Forgotten Dreams offers a rare glimpse of the prehistoric art in the Chauvet cave system. Accompanied and informed by a clutch of scientists, Herzog explores the works and our current understanding of how, when and why they were made. The cinematography is stunning and the film has a wonderfully meditative atmosphere, assisted by Werner's ambling drone and infectious wonderment.


Brion Gyson and his Dream Machine are the subject of documentary Flicker. An innovative artist and close chum of Burroughs Gyson tinkered with calligraphy, printing, poetry but most famously developed, with Ian Sommerville, the Dream Machine device, which oscillates light at the magical 10hz frequency and causes mild euphoria and hallucinations. It's an interesting film which, along with the the requisite biographical information about this curious, undervalued artist, has plenty of testimonials from celeb and otherwise machine advocates.

Ortho & Pseud Docs

Defamation is a fascinating documentary journey of an Israeli born Jew who sets out to investigate anti semitism. As he trundles along with the usual talking head spots with politicians, campaigners & heretic academics he eventually becomes accused of self hating when disagrees, quite rightly, with the lobby's current folly of insisting any critique of the State's policy/actions are obviously masked antisemitism. It's an interesting 90 mins that maybe could have done with a little more weight but the fact that the ADL slammed it is reason enough to watch.

Blooded is a crappy faux documentary about the kidnapping and hunting of 5 friends staying at the home of a dickish prohunt activist in the Highlands. Split between the "real" participants talking in-studio and a dramatisation on location with "actors" it's singularly fails to rouse any tension or excitement as it bumbles through a ridiculous plot and sports a astonishing array of ropey acting. Really can't see why they bothered making it.

Rememberings

Inside Job is a powerful, comprehensive documentary examining the financial clusterfuk/circle jerk/meltdown of 2008 from Charles Ferguson who also directed the excellent No End in Sight. Most people, I hope, are depressingly familiar with the narrative of deregulation, greed and idiocy that has led to our current piteous economic conditions but if you're not this film covers all the lowlights in a considered fashion and still has time to throw in some fresh titbits to stoke your outrage, for instance I was unaware quite how many well regarded academic economists had been selling themselves to the Mammonites as mouthpieces in their endless quest for More but then I've always been a bit naive. Anyways with a tonne of unrepentant interviews with bankers, regulators and morally bankrupt cnuts and an interviewer with a handful of balls this got me thinking about Roasting Pits, Judas Chairs and Spanish Ticklers and it's a film that should be broadcast nightly.

Fair Game is a desperately earnest slice of Hollywood liberalism about that time when Scooter Libby outed one of Dubya's covert CIA agents in a petulant feud about Iraqi Mayhem 2 and then pardoned him of all the charges. Sean Penn and Naomi Watss star as Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame, the victims of a spin/war frenzied government on the defensive and though it's well made and has a healthy cast of familiar and talented faces it's dull and utterly toothless, wavering unsatisfactorily between limp thriller and family drama. It was an interesting sideshow to the terrible events but I think the story would have more impact told by the characters themselves, maybe in conjunction with other tales of Whitehouse pwnings, documentary style, rather than this hammy interpretation from a bunch of rich thesps.

Bogeymen Real & Imagined

The intersection between true crimes and urban myths are explored in the documentary Cropsey. Two Staten Island filmmakers start investigating the truth behind the local legends of a child snatcher that surround an abandoned mental asylum and soon uncover a complicated, tragic history at the very heart of their neighborhood. It's a decent film, well made with plenty of face time with key individuals but they failed to get the one interview that would tie the whole thing together so by the end it all seemed a little fruitless and more like a special on Crime & Investigation.

The Troll Hunter is a cracking Norwegian found footage flick about some documentarians who try to make a film about rogue bear hunters but discover far more deadly, mythological predators in the wilds of Norway. It's great fun with some nice creature effects and a well thought out mythos that's gradually unfolded as the filmmakers dig deeper into their government's secret Troll management scheme. These found footage films rely on poorly lit, shaky cam action to build the tension and it does get a bit tiresome but the film's quality pushes through and it's well worth a watch. There's plenty more juice in Trolling so I hope they make a sequel, shit I'll probably be happy with a prequel.

Facing Our Future

Into Eternity touts itself as a film for ther future and it's this aspect that works and irks in equal measure. The documentary concerns the humongous subterranean nuclear waste facility being built in Finland called Onkalo. As the radioactivity willl last approx 100,000yrs the engineers and designers must plan for the seriously long term and the discussions and considerations are fascinating - if only all public policy was as thoughtful. Sadly the director intends to entomb the film on site and asks most of the participants to film a message in case it's discovered which was a little cheesy to say the least and Madsen's pieces to camera, filmed by match light, a little over dramatic. None the less it's a excellent film that illuminates a terrible problem for the proponents of nuclear energy.


The schooling of our children has provided fertile ground for documentarians but Waiting for Superman is certainly one of the most powerful I've seen. A devastating critique of the American school system it lays out the terrible facts of illiteracy and innumeracy in the world's "greatest" country and the turgid bureaucracy & unions that hinder improvement. The facts are bolstered with the heartbreaking stories of three families as their kids progress towards the lottery for places at the best schools in their area. Maybe it's effectiveness is down to our inexorable educational decline but this excellent film ably demonstrates the serious consequences for society when we don't embiggen the minds of the young.

3 Documentaries 9 Directors

Catfish is an annoying documentary about Facebook and our shiny, digital relationships. A trio of film makers decide to investigate the backstory of a young girl who has been making paintings of one of the groups photography after incongruities appear in their online communiques. It's taken a lot of flack about it's authenticity recently and I'm not surprised as some of the segments reek of staging and all the characters involved seemed remarkably happy to appear on screen, it's not terrible but I found the trio quite irritating- they are American dimwits though, and ultimately I just wasn't too interested, not being that sort of intertube user. As for it's truthiness either it's real and is kind of exploitative or it's fake and it's just another meta-movie swipe about reality in our electronic lives.

There's no shortage of real life however in Last Train Home, a good old fashioned warts 'n' all social documentary about a Chinese family's struggles to return home to their family for the New Year's celebrations revealing the tribulations of your average Chinese factory worker's life in the process. Described in the film as the world's largest annual human migration the scenes at train stations & platforms are quite staggering but the film is strongest when it exposes the generational differences developing in Chinese society as the young teenage daughter drops out of school for factory work but spends her cash on trinkets and nights out instead of sending it home. Though I guess you could question it's authenticity too as there's at least one scene where the role of the filmmakers comes to the fore it's nonetheless a beautifully shot, fascinating film.

Freakonomics is a multi-director documentary based on the best selling economics book of the same name. Over the five segments there's bits on name correspondences, sumo corruption, incentivism and the correlation between pregnancy & crime and it's all banded together with the two authors in a room and some kooky contemporary animations. Given the talents of Gibney, Jarecki and Ewing I had high hopes for this but the individual contributions are of mixed quality and the whole thing is a bit underwhelming - I appreciate maths is a pretty hard sell at the best of times but maybe if they'd chosen more congruous chapters from the book or used a single director even they could have told us a better narrative from the complex-ish numbers.

Stralia's former Most Troublesome Journalist

John Pilger has a new doco out called The War You Don't See and it had it's premier on ITV this week. Wow I actually watched ITV and enjoyed the experience for the first time in years. Anyways it's Pilger doing his usual digging around in our current iraq/afghan fiasco, pulling in the folly of embedding journalists, media distortions, wikileaks etc etc. It's quite good but you can make your own mind up below.

Curtis' Critique Continues

The Trap: What Happened to our Dream of Freedom is yet another excellent Curtis documentary series charting the theories dominating our notions of liberty. Over the three parts he digs into game theory & the rise of the DSM, Labour's statistical reductionist obsessions and Dawkins' Selfish Genes and finally concluding his theory of state/market psychological manipulation with discussion of Isaiah Berlin's +/- liberty and the unfortunate consequences that have been meted out to us all due to Bliar & co's experiments. Though Curtis occasionally gets distracted in his longer series this 3-parter is tight and quite focused and as usual it's all expertly enmeshed with audio snippets, film stock, archive footage etc a filmy trademark he pretty much owns now surely. I will try to stop banging on about Curtis soon - I've only got one series left - but if you want further evidence of his worthiness he'd just posted an excellent piece about B.F. Skinner, Camo & a systematised future.

Marines & Campers

This Is War is a video diary documentary filmed by US Marine Mike Scott on his journey into Iraq. It's ok I guess as a personal testimony but it adds little to our understanding of our latest militaristic folly and for the most part is just footage unthinking jocks reveling in the weaponry to the terrible cost of the local citizens.

Well I've finally seen The Rocky Horror Picture Show and for a musical it was quite entertaining but still a musical. It's hardly worth discussing the plot as it's little more than stitching to hold together some mildly amusing songs belted out cartoon characters in some mad sleazy supercamp stylee. It's certainly got brio though and the cast seem to be having a blast.

Box of Delights

Pandora's Box is an early documentary series by Adam Curtis. First aired in 1992 it's a typically idiosyncratic overview of the social engineering theories that dominated so many lives in the 20th Century all wonderfully mashed together with archive footage and talking head interviews. Over the six episodes Curtis discusses Soviet machinations, American game theory, British Economic jiggerypokery, DDT and the science/industry interface, Ghanaian industrial dreams crushed and nuclear power, phew. Though it's dated a bit since it's airing and he's covered some of the material in following programmes this is still a fascinating series that should be lapped up by documentary lovers. And check out his blog.

JFK & the Oil Biz

I had to really dig around to find Executive Action - a solid political thriller in a docu-drama stylee that's nicely acted by Burt Lancaster and Robert Ryan - hard to find I guess 'cause it's about the rather obvious conspiracy to assassinate JFK. Presumably Ellroy's seen this at some point because the film's cabal of big money, shady spooks and disgruntled ex-Cubans seems awfully familiar nonetheless it's the straight forwardness of this film, the simple stating of the facts that makes this a much more effective film than Stone's over long effort 18 years later.



Collapse is an alarming documentary about our peek oil problem & geopolitics. Apparently the film makers had contacted Michael Ruppert regarding his investigative work on CIA drug running in mainland USA but both thought this was the more compelling subject. It is decent film and Ruppert is quite the interesting chap but sadly it feels a little tin foil hatty to me at times. Maybe if they'd bolstered Ruppert's pieces with some other talking heads or something it would have felt less a rant and more of a theory.

Gashole on the other hand takes a much broader view of the oil problem with a focus on the duplicitous industries that lie behind our addiction. It maybe doesn't have the polish or the intensity of Collapse but there's some interesting titbits strewn along the way like the fact that Rudolf Diesel's original engine ran on peanut oil and Ogle's '77 patent for a 100mpg engine. I'm not personally convinced by the bio-diesel solution trumpeted here as it requires stretching our already exhausted agriculture even more but it's still the more effective film of the two.