One of the grimmest & most despicable subjects is granted one of the most stellar documentations from US director Ava DuVernay. 13th (a reference to the 13th Amendment which prohibits slavery, unless of course you’re a – convicted “criminal”, which then makes it apparently just fine) examines the USA’s screamingly-obscene prison industrial complex (the commercialization, cultivation & profiteering from mass incarceration by private companies & conglomerates) & the racism/racially prejudiced appendage that targets a grossly disproportionate demographic of black & latino people. Continue reading 13th
Category Archives: Documentaries
Cowspiracy-the sustainability secret DVD:
Still one of the best documentaries about if you ask moi! In terms of sheer exposure of subject but also for it’s multidimensional disclosures that almost infer multiple documentaries (with concomitant but differing focus) condensed into one single picture. There’s nothing vague about the results either & the factual revelations & statistical figures (not to mention that so many of those figures come inadvertently from those that would rather you didn’t know) are overwhelming & resoundingly rock-solid (it’s the kind of indisputable expertise that will proselytize many nay-sayers/opposition-figures even). Continue reading Cowspiracy-the sustainability secret DVD:
Still The Enemy Within DVD:
Good gracious! An exponential, roof-raising dazzler of a doco on Britain’s unprecedented 1984-1985 Miners Strike from Owen Gower (who doubles as both director & co-producer). Stupendous archival footage, film & photography along with riveting personal accounts from key participants, all loaded & edited with great care & tinges of genius into an astonishingly poignant grand-finale. Continue reading Still The Enemy Within DVD:
How to Let Go of the World and Love All the Things Climate Can’t Change (Josh Fox)
This is the most recent addition from environmental activist & documentary maker Josh Fox following his impossibly important & phenomenal Gaslands & greater still – Gaslands 2, a Fracking documentary of staggering trenchant clarity & devastating factual exposure. Climate Extinction or Disastrous Climatic Shifting (“climate change” is a political euphemism of staggering inadequacy that does not capture what is unfolding & impending) Continue reading How to Let Go of the World and Love All the Things Climate Can’t Change (Josh Fox)
Manufactured Landscapes:
Here’s one to shock, stun & suplex the senses in a continents worth of rubble & refuse. The core on this occasion is China’s “utterly unprecedented” urbanization extravaganza as captured by esteemed photographic artist Edward Burtynsky & director by Jennifer Baichwal. “mega projects” & truly herculean manufacturing terminals stuffed with humans resembling mechanical equipment arduously assembling endless quantities of largely unnecessary goods for the worlds prodigal profligacy… Continue reading Manufactured Landscapes:
Our Daily Bread
Horror, surrealism & reality from Nikolaus Geyrhalter’s (with editing from Wolfgang Widerhofer) superb (I would say even classic) 2005 documentary on modern large-scale food production (it will thus be an even more disturbing & abstract affair nowadays no doubt). Surrealism & reality sharing the same lens may sound like an oxymoron, but the facts of how industrial supermarket food is generated & prepared is a bizarre, deeply unnatural & shocking Continue reading Our Daily Bread
Terms And Conditions May Apply:
An extraordinary’ extraordinary piece of work from director Cullen Hoback. So much is crammed into this documentary that it’s probably best digested in sections & is the kind of film that benefits from multiple viewings, – for compression & retention purposes but also to remind of what’s behind the mask. A rough & reduced premise, – this film is about the digital “user agreement”/”terms of use” that is generally a mandatory preliminary for all online “accounts” Continue reading Terms And Conditions May Apply:
The Divide
“What happens when the rich get richer?” so posits the cover of this excellent documentary. Fire up the disc & the first statistics that emerge are
“35 years ago an economic project in the US & UK was supposed to provide a better life for all.
Today, in both countries, inequality is at it’s highest level since 1928”
The Price We Pay
“Throughout the world inequality is soaring to new heights. And the wealth of nations that once provided prosperity for the majority has gone missing. This is the story of powerful forces deepening the divide between the few and the many”. So begins one of the most urgent & informing documentaries you have never heard of (& if you have, congratulations is required). Director Harold Crooks brings his attention to the malady of The City Of London, tax havens, British Common Wealth satellites, offshoring & tax evasion, if not more accurately “tax negation” or some 99.99% equivalent. It’s an Continue reading The Price We Pay