The film was a heart felt film , which I literally had few drops of tears. It brought up a lot of questions like ; is this true? Because If I get a proposal from the city , I would have taken it too . The city makes a lot of money and so does the government so it wouldn’t be that hard for them to secure me. But after watching this film it made me feel like I can’t trust anyone. I was touched for the mere fact that they invested years and time into this corporation from generation to generation for it to be taken away from them just like that. In this documentary all the voices were used such as; logos where the people that have been affected spoke, ethos which taken place in the courtroom and pathos a lot ( I think pathos played a lot at the end when they got the chance to speak to us in person) I felt it and was actually persuade me to believe whatever the film maker wanted us to believe. Knowing the person I am , I took a ride to the location two days after viewing the film and only five shop had been removed ( but in the film they said one hundred and fifty something shops had been shut down and that isn’t true.. there are countless shops that is still doing business and I felt like I was fooled and wasted my tears for something that wasn’t true and the film maker had me believe because the film was very convincing. Maybe that family was apart of the five shops that had been vacant but it’s not the amount that was mentioned in the film and I felt like it was staged , after sawing that it wasn’t true. Read more →

I really enjoyed getting to hear from a filmmaker. Prior to hearing from Kat Vecchio I didn’t know much about what it’s like to create a film. I was very surprised to find out how expensive it is to make a documentary. I know movies are very expensive to make in general but you would think a documentary isn’t so expensive in comparison to an action movie. An action movie or a scifi movie involves stunt doubles, computer graphics and a lot of detail and skilled professionals to put it all together. A documentary typically involves raw footage which you would think is cheap to obtain. As Kat explained its not as simple as it sounds. I was also surprised to find out how many hours it took to create a film that lasted about 45 minutes. Filmmaking requires a lot of dedication. I think it was a great addition to the class to hear from her. It brought a better understanding to me about what it takes to make a film. I have a lot of respect and admiration for Kat Vecchio and all filmmakers. People don’t often think about how much work goes into making a film when they are watching but I feel like after hearing from Kat Vecchio I have a greater appreciation for the work being put into films especially documentaries. Her visit also opened my eyes to the content of her film. I didn’t know much about roller derby, and especially about male roller derby teams. I now have a little more knowledge on the terminology used in roller derby and I know more about the sport in general. I like that she used a controversial subject such as male involvement in a predominately female sport. It brought a more intriguing aspect to the film because it makes you think about what if it was the other way around and people were not allowing a female football team. It would be wrong for females to do to men what has been done to them. I really enjoyed learning more about filmmaking and about the content of the film with Kat Vecchio’s visit.

In my Criminal Justice class we watched a documentary film called What I Want My Words to Do to You by Eve Ensler.  The film offers the audience a look into the minds and hearts of the women inmates of New York’s Bedford Hills Correctional Facility. Eve Ensler conducts s writing workshop consisting of 15 woman, most of whom were convicted of murder. The woman had a series of excersies and discussions that would expose their reality and the crime they committed. For example they be assigned a topic to write about like the crime they committed or to write a letter to their mothers and more. Then they would meet in a classroom, sit in a circle and each would read aloud what they have wrote and the rest of the ladies would give commentary on how they could make it better. Actors then came in to give an emotional performance of the woman’s writing in front of the entire prison. My teacher was amazing enough to bring in one of the woman from the film. Her name is Keila Pulinario she was 20 when she first entered prison and was featured in the film. She served 20 years, her conviction was first degree murder. It was nice to get clarification on the myths about prison to hear from someone who has been. Keila shares her experience to bring awareness on how the criminal justice system doesn’t always do it’s job. She also does it to show the mistreatment of the woman go through in the prisons. This film definitely falls into the category of participatory because the director, Eve Ensler sits in on the discussions and sometimes gives the ladies feedback. I believe she uses pathos because the film is emotional, the woman are talking about their crimes and coming to terms of their harsh realities.

Child of Rage is a film about how severely abused children can not love or accept love in the future years of living. It shows the devastating effects of abuse on a child. It is in a real phycological session between a little girl named Beth and her phycologist. There are no acted out scenes in this film only stories from the past told by Beth and her family. It also shows her transformation into feeling like a regular human-being again. It breaks my heart to think of the extreme abuse she was put through to have this out come in who she is today. She was molested and not fed at only one years old and after being adopted takes it out on her little brother and her mother and father. I looked more into where Beth is today. She is helping other children out who have been put through abusive situations overcome their mixed emotions.

I have this sense that Herzog saw Treadwell somewhere and kind of just asked who is this man, what drives him to do what he does or did and set out to answer it. He provided with an un-biased look into his life, into who Treadwell was. Although there are some negative opinions on him in the film such as the pilot that said he deserved to die. There are many who simply saw him as a man with a goal in mind. Whether he went about it the right or wrong way isn’t really the point of the film and I do feel like that is left up to the viewer hence why Herzog provided us with many different viewpoints from various people. Although it should be taken into account that Herzog tends to focus on people who are borderline obsessive, and towards the end Treadwell did seem to be consumed by his work. The outcome of this work seems to simply be a truth full semi biopic of Treadwell who sadly didn’t have the time to really represent himself or put out his own words on what he did or why he did it. He left his mark and that speaks out to what he set out to do, Treadwell wanted to recreate himself for the better and he sure did. Going from whatever troubled life he had previously held, to teaching children in schools for no personal gain. He brought attention to the bears, and shed some more positive light on them. There is a bit of a tale of caution within, Herzog specializes on these obsessive subjects for a reason. There is a definite outcome of educating viewers on who Treadwell was as a person in an honest light, there is a cautionary tale within that can be seen through Treadwell’s unedited work. That of a man consumed by his work in search of something more, he had a great heart but like the local native had stated. There Is a line that he eventually crossed and sadly ended in a gruesome death. I don’t think Herzog wants to discourage anyone to be an activist or attempt the work Treadwell did. If anything, he may be seeking to get people to see what he did and be inspired by him as a person with all the good and bad that we come with as people, flawed in nature but very capable. What I gather from the film is that people should seek to have an impact like Treadwell did but to also become informed and understand the impact they are trying to have and how to interact with whatever they may be getting into. 

Tonight I watched Children In Prison for Life Sentences. It is about Kenneth Young who committed an armed robbery when he was 15 years old and sentenced to life in prison on four accounts. He has already served 11 years and now is fighting during a re-trial to be released. This documentary film really makes you stop and think if the punishment that is given to children really does fit the crime that has been done. People evolve mature and change every single day. I have done further research since being appalled with this outcome at the end of the film. CANYONRANCH.COM states “Like the rest of your body, your brain changes with each passing year. From the time we are infants, our brains are adapting, learning, making memories and more. We become smarter and sharper, earning the wisdom that truly only comes with life experience. ” So what makes it right to in-prison someone with a undeveloped brain? Especially someone that needed to get money to feed his family at the age of 14 years old. Very sad film!

Grizzly Man was my favorite film that we watched in class . I admired Treadwells passion and determination to understand the grizzly bears . I am an animal lover and I love exotic animals . I think that we must understand that Treadwell had a darker past than what it may have appeared ! He lost a scholarship . He was involved in alcohol and drug addiction . I think his new calling was a connection to how he truly felt inside . Misunderstood ! The bears are seen as vicious and fearful but Treadwell wanted to understand them , live them and protect them . He died loving what he did and he was aware of the danger . His passion became his reality and he shouldn’t be judged for it. I love how the film was realistic. However I disliked the fact that instead of people trying to continue Treadwells study they became very fearful. The scene where the men were throwing rocks at the bears showed that the bears are used to being provoked . The only human interaction they know is when there lives are being threatened . How else would they react to someone who genuinely wants to be around . We need to take into account humans are the most priveleged . Yet when we act and invade their space we feel as if the animals shouldn’t react in the manner they do . We know right from wrong where as animals goes off of instincts . I think the way he died was tragic but he died by the hands of his passion. When someone wants to be a doctor and lawyer we encourage that, what’s the difference by understanding an exotic species . After all humans are more destructive than animals are . Yet we aren’t portrayed as the predator. In reality, any situation can go wrong. It’s up to you too see if it’s worth it.

The documentary “The Gleaners and I” directed by Agnes Varda, captures the age old practice of gleaning. Gleaning is the act  of gathering and repurposing  garbage, such as produce and in cities broken televisions. Most of the actors being documented glean out of necessity.  Some of the actors did this because it was the way they were brought up. What was striking about the film, is it showed just how much food we waste.  When people were gleaning in the cities, you can see trashcans filled to the brim with unwanted food. It shows how much food is wasted by people day to day.

The documentary “Grizzly Man” directed by Werner Herzog, follows the life in order to get an insight , on the late grizzly bear activist, Timothy Treadwell. Herzog shows Treadwell’s life, interviews his family and friends in order to show him as a person. On the outside he was very youthful, almost childlike. He’d talk to the animals as if they were people and couldn’t hurt him. He had no grasp on the dangers he was putting himself almost like a child.  In a lot of his clips, he would try to get up and close with the bears, as if there were no danger. He seemed to almost believe he was one of them.  In fact, one of his friends who was interviewed said that he wanted to be a bear. One of the scenes that was very interesting to me, was when he saw a baby bear dead and started crying, almost like he couldn’t grasp the reality of nature. Upon further interviews with his parents, it was discovered that part of the reason Treadwell was this way was because he was trying to become a new person, because he wasn’t happy with the person he was.

Having an Intrest in detective novels, Errol Moris an american documentary filmamker created the film A Thin Blue Line . I believe his attention in someone who was wrongfully accused of muder  brought out a good outcome for the accused , david harris . From 3 witness testimonies a man was being put to death . Discrediting all the testimonies without stating anything about them, morris let the audience decide how credible these witnesses really were. He also brought awareness without being bias on the ideology of police man . There way of thinking and purposely leaving out obvious irregularities in the statement of the partner of the killed policeman led to a wrong conclusion of david harris. I think he was trying to show the carelessness of the value of someones life.The actions of the people blaming Harris for the murder went against his rights of innocent until PROVEN guilty.The film was enjoyed on my behalf and persuaded me to want to see more of errol morris’s films.