School of Life

I have found over the years that I am definitely a visual and interactive "learner".  What I love about Documentaries is that you really have to put down your i-phone, i-pad, or tablet, watch and learn.  I know I strive to better myself as a being contributing to the world.  It may not be, by my recycling prowess or volunteering, but certainly, when you know better you do better, right?  While I may never have kids that doesn't mean I don't want to learn about how the world treats them.  I may never be a professional sports athlete but I can certainly discover the dedication, hard work, and sacrifices it takes to be one.  I can understand that someones journey may have nothing to do with their destination.  Everyone has a story, here are some of my favorites:


Sports

Senna

Ayrton Senna was a successful and dedicated Formula One Race Car driver during the 80's & 90's. This documentary depicts his life and death.  I knew Formula One was a dangerous sport and this film truly depicts the lengths drivers go to become #1.  It's chilling watching him speak up for the safety of the riders, when in a string of accidents over the course of a weekend, takes his life during a live race. It's also interesting to see how cars have evolved over decades.  This film won a BAFTA for Best Documentary and can be found, in full, on Netflix and is worth a watch.








Crash Reel

A recent HBO Documentary about Snow Boarding...or is it? Kevin Pearce was at the top of his game and getting ready for his first major Olympics until tragedy strikes and he finds himself recovering from TBI (traumatic brain injury). Not only does this film depict his hard fought recovery but, an in-depth look at how precious your noggin really is.  Kevin's entire family also deserve a tremendous amount of credit and left me with a new found respect for x-games athletes and the sacrifices they make for success.












Arts

Mad Hot Ballroom

Ballroom dancing in an inner city and kids?  For many this program keeps them off the streets, for others it builds confidence, and for some an appreciation to an underestimated art form.  These children care about each other, their community, and their futures.  Told from 3 different neighborhoods Washington Heights, Bensonhurst, and Tribeca.  I dare you to watch this clip and not smile!

First Position

Another dance documentary featuring children but instead of engaging in something extra curricular these kids revolve their whole lives around being the best at ballet.  Set against competing at the Youth American Grand Prix this film revolves around several youths and the work it takes to achieve your dream.  I was amazed and a little intimidated at the level of dedication a 9 year old that revolves their world around dance. My favorite kid is Aran you can tell that he does Ballet because he loves it, not because he is forced to do it, and damn is he good!

Children

First Circle

An intimate, informative, and often heartbreaking look at the US Foster Care system told by a woman who went through it herself.  The documentary opens up with an arrest at a meth house and an officer taking a young boy to health and welfare.  The female investigator is so sweet, I think to myself, she sees this all the time, how do you find hope in dealing with parents who don't do the one thing they are meant to do?  My heart breaks for these kids.  There is also another side to this film about parents who do the fostering.  One story resonated with me of a woman, who at one point had young girls and a teenage boy at the same time, found the boy in the girl's room, and had to call to have him removed.  What would it take to make that phone call :( A hard film to watch but I feel important to do so.


Rough Aunties

I think about this HBO documentary often.  As I've said I don't see children in my future but that doesn't mean I don't care about how they are treated and cared for.  This amazing documentary is about a group of women who treat, care, and rescue abused and neglected children in South Africa.  There are traumatized girls who have to touch a teddy bear (Bobbi Bear) to show where there were hurt so they can begin to heal.   Children who have to re-tell horrific things done to them and can recount with such chilling and gut-wrenching detail.  The women that run the organization have to be tough but the strength they find must come from the faces of these children who have no one else.  This is probably one of the most difficult films I have ever seen but so important to take in and have been forever changed by.






Animals

Buck

I have always been fascinated by horses since I was little, I even got to take a few riding lessons as a child.  I always knew and had respect for their power and grace.  Buck is not a horse, but a man that has a special way with them.  People call him the Horse Whisperer.  I hesitate to use that term because the "Dog Whisperer" that is popular in America, in my definition, is the exact opposite of Buck.  Buck's talent is in understanding horse behavior and using modification techniques I have never seen before.  He is kind, gentle, stern, but always fair...a lot different to the treatment of how he grew up.  Buck talks about his father's child rearing skills or lack there of and you cannot help but feel a sense of awe in how he chooses to interpret and live life.  He is also the inspiration behind the studio movie the Horse Whisperer, with Robert Redford, Kristen Scott Thomas, and Scarlett Johansson which is great film.  Everyone needs a Buck in their life.




An Apology to the Elephants

Another wonderful HBO documentary about the evolution of the treatment of performing elephants.  It packs a punch against the cruelty of zoos and circuses and the psychological and physical trauma elephants have endured solely for our entertainment.  **Insert soapbox moment**  I feel this documentary and others as The Cove & most recent Blackfish open a much bigger conversation about the state of modern day humanity.  When people stop seeing dogs as retail, stop supporting roadside zoos, stop wanting animals to "entertain" us.  Then change and preservation may really come.  Do we not care about the emotional well being of other living creatures?  This film makes you look deep and maybe you'll think twice about supporting anything other than organizations like the WWF






Crime

West of Memphis 

3 Teens convicted of brutally murdering three 8 year old boys.  The "ringleader" Damien Echols sent to Death Row.  His fellow convicts Jessie Miskelley and Jason Baldwin sent to life in prison.  Why I chose this documentary instead of HBO's Paradise Lost Trilogy is it brings us to present day.  The trilogy of films are absolutely worth a watch as it starts from the beginning.  This documentary meets us at the end.  It's a story of cultural hysteria, criminal injustice, and all the people it took to get these three wrongly accused men out of jail.  Produced by Peter Jackson (Yes, Lord of the Rings director) and Damien Echols himself, this film provides a wonderful debate about right and wrong and the pursuit of justice.  There will also be a feature filmed called Devil's Knot based on this story starring Reese Witherspoon and Colin Firth.  P.S. If you are on Twitter follow @damienechols his daily mantras kick my butt some days into gear.




The Ganja Queen

Did she or didn't she, I still am not sure?  The story of Schapelle Corby, an Australian woman convicted of trafficking almost 10lbs of cannabis into Bali.  This HBO film takes us through the trial, her conviction, and the devastating outcome.  I think this film raises more questions then answers and should be shown in schools about never, ever having illegal substances in foreign countries.  I am a big fan of National Geogrpahic's Locked Up Abroad because of Schapelle's story.  She is still in prison and makes me very thankful for the life I live...free.









 Double Act

World Famous Actor Ewan McGregor and buddy, fellow actor, Charley Boorman take the audience on two very amazing, profound, exhausting, thrilling, sometimes comical motorcycle trips across the world and then down the world.  While I'm taking some liberties with this being a documentary since it was a tv series, I have watched both films in one sitting, several times over, so they needed to be on this list.
 
Long Way Round

From London to New York City heading through Western Europe, Asia, Canada, and the US.  I really wanted to call them, the Best Bromance, since Ewan and Charley seem to have a true friendship with each other.  Along for the ride is a crew of producers, medical experts, and cameraman, featuring the always silly Claudio.  We watch them struggle with terrain, miss their families, and discover the world in a way I never could.  It's so entertaining and heartfelt that if you don't already love Ewan, you will now!

Long Way Down

Charley and Ewan are back!!  This time they are driving from Scotland to South Africa, oh my!   Same crew, same cameraman Claudio, different journey.  They even get to meet the Rwandan President!  Africa can be a dangerous place so I found the border crossing and different issues in each country fascinating.  In this film I found myself really enjoying Charley's journey. Grab a brew, watch, and enjoy.

So here you go...you'll laugh, you'll cry (ALOT) but my hope is you learn something you didn't know, look at the world and the people that live in it a little differently, in this documented story from a video store.

Best Movies from Around the Globe

One of the things I love most about movies is that you get to learn nuances about different countries. Maybe it's countries I've been to, want to go to, will never go to, or on my bucket-list, I am always fascinated about how other people live.  The movie industry means many different things in many different places.  Some small countries (France comes to mind) produce wonderful films.  Bollywood is world-wide phenomenon.  Here are some of my personal favorites:

Europe:

Love + Hate


This poster does not due the movie justice.  A wonderful hard-to-find independent movie about finding love in a prejudice society, you can watch, in parts, the whole movie on YouTube.  A modern day Romeo and Juliet detailing race relations in Britain.  Adam and Naseema are youths trying to grow up in a world that pays more attention to preconceived notions of cultures without actually knowing anything about them.   Adam and Naseema are drawn to each other in ways that neither of them expect questioning everything they know about life, love, and the pursuit of something greater.


Good Bye Lenin!

A delightful German tragicomedy.  Starring Daniel Brühl as Alex, recently know for playing Formula One driver Niki Lauda in Ron Howard's Rush.  What if you live in East Berlin, you're mother has a heart-attack and goes into a coma, only to awake and the Berlin wall has fallen, but she cannot endure any physical or mental shock for fear of another heart attack?  Keeping up appearances of a communist society when everyone around you experience freedoms for the first time?  This film and it's actor won critical acclaim during it's 2003 release and is worth a view.










Rust & Bone

Starring Academy Award winning Marion Cotillard and virtual unknown Matthias Schoenaerts as the leading characters.  What drew me to this movie was the fact the Marion's character Stephanie is a killer whale trainer that gets hurt from a freak accident that is very similar to documentary Blackfish and the dangers of working with orcas.  Matthias's Ali is a down on his luck single father who needs cash fast.  He meet Stephanie at a club, while working as a bouncer, prior to her accident and escorts her home.  A depressed Stephanie calls Ali after her accident and the two form an interesting friendship that evolves into something much deeper than they both expected.  I love the gritty feel of the film and what strength you can find in the impossible.






Asia:

3-Iron

A Korean movie about a drifter and an abused housewife that doesn't include much dialogue because it frankly doesn't need it.  You can feel her pain and their connection.  Tae-suk breaks into people's apartments based on take-out menu's being left on door handles.  He fixes their broken appliances, washes their clothes until one day he breaks into Sun-hwa's house.  Here the tables are turned and she watches him, while he is unaware someone is also in the house.  Together while her abusive husband is away on business they begin to break into people's homes.  They get into trouble, he goes to jail, gets release from jail and goes to Sun-hwa's house.  The rest is too hard and creative to even begin to explain so please just watch.  This film will stay with me forever as one of the most imaginative pieces of cinema I have ever seen.






Shall we Dance

I was first introduced to this movie while working at West Coast Video.  This is NOT the Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez version, that was made because of this Japanese film.  It does not compare to the original.   Shohei Sugiyama is a successful married businessman that sees a beautiful forlorn soul looking out from her dance studio.  Mai Kishikawa is a well known dancer and Shohei becomes obsessed with her.  He has to find out more about her so enrolls in classes at the dance studio.  Again, this movie is more about the surprises that life hands you in a way you never thought it could.












Australia:

Strictly Ballroom

I guess I have a dance theme going on but this is a different story about an ugly duckling turned into a beautiful swan by the love of dance and the journey of realizing your true self both inside and out.  Fran is an employee in the dance studio that by chance gets to partner with Scott, a destined to be champion, who has gotten jaded in the ballroom world.  Together they discover the magic of dance and take on the Australian Dancing Federation at the Pan-Pacific Grand Prix.  This is the first of Baz-Lurhmann films that I have seen and as with his other films, uses music for emotion in a way that no one else does, and I am totally bought in.  Now with Dancing with the Stars and Strictly Come Dancing people have better appreciation of ballroom and the moves in this film won't disappoint!









Tomorrow When the War Began

I like to equate this film to Australia's version of the Hunger Games or even Red Dawn would be a better example.  Twenty somethings off to a camping spot for a weekend of fun only to come home and find their town without power and their parents, neighbors, and loved ones held hostage by a foreign military group.  A plan is formed, chaos ensues, bonds are made, broken, and tested.  I love a good action film, I love a good teen novel, and I love me some foreign viewing!  It's an easy movie to watch and it is supposed to be part of a trilogy.  I really hope 2 and 3 are made!  One notable actor that American audiences would know is Phoebe Tonkin of the CW shows Vampire Diaries and The Originals.







Bollywood:

Bride or Prejudice

An Bollywood re-telling of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice full of India's culture, music, dancing.  Starring Martin Henderson, from the Grudge, and Aishwarya Rai, once known as the most beautiful woman in the world!  As characters Darcy and Lalita we are once again taken on a romantic roller-coaster of, I love you, I hate you, I love you.  As I've said in previous blogs, I am a Jane Austen fanatic so I am willing to watch any movie based on the books.  This is fun, a little cheesy, and all things Bollywood!  The end credits are really fun and worth watching. 








So, here you go...why go outside in this winter weather when you can travel the world from the comforts of your own home in this sometimes subtitled story from a video store!