I finally got to a list of documentaries I've been meaning to see.
Lake Of Fire
http://en.wikipedia....Fire_%28film%29
This is a documentary giving both sides of the abortion debate. There is no bias in this film, giving advocates for either side their chance to state their views. Personally, I'm amazed that this ever became such an issue. On one side you have Catholic Christians who 'think' the bible is against it, and then you have every other group/religion who give women the right to chose what happens to their body. The reason I say 'think' is because it's quite obvious the bible can't be trusted with some of the statements it makes (the world is 6000 years old, the world was created in 7 days, creationism), so when is loosely states that a life begins as soon as the sperm enters the egg, the science behind it just can't be trusted. And some Catholics even believe sperm dying without impregnating an egg is a sin and needs to be stopped. Sorry, I got a bit ranty, but the reasoning behind one side of this debate by a small yet loud group is completely flawed. The film goes over the introduction of abortion clinics in America during the 90s and the rage it ignited. Especially when so called 'pro-life' supporters started to murder doctors who performed abortions. Christian groups would also buy up the surrounding properties of abortion clinics and picket women who are already making a significant heavy weighted decision. There are numerous interviews giving logical and philosophical advice as to why giving women the right to have an abortion is beneficial to society (significant drop in crime rates since legalised), but it's like debating with an autistic child having a temper tantrum. I know this review got a bit lengthy, but it's a topic that angers me because innocent women and doctors have been died for no sensible reason.
Artifact
Artifact (film) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jared Leto from 30 Seconds to Mars began filming the progress of creating the next album for the band. However soon into this project there were contract problem with record company EMI, and the documentary took a turn to show the legal struggles musicians face when contacted to international record labels. I'm sure people into music will get a lot more out of this than I did, as it's gotten great reviews. As someone who doesn't know much at all about the music industry, it was eye opening to see how the money moves around. Basically the band is just a cow ready for the milking for all the middle management and production companies. After the first few albums after everyone has been paid off, bands are in so much debt that they have to keep producing albums for decades before they break even. This film also gets into the restructuring of the EMI hierarchy where people with no music experience are calling the shots. If you're a fan of the band or the music industry you'll like this.
Mansome
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mansome
A Morgan Spurlock documentary about male grooming. It lightly touches on topics of metrosexuals, beards, shaving/hair and creams for down there. After the documentary I was feeling like I hadn't really watched much of anything, but a few barely famous men in their own circles talk about nothing in particular. It turns out the critics thought the same, as no one really liked this. I guess the film had no real direction, statement or question it was trying to put forward, which is something I've noticed with a lot of Spurlock documentaries. This feels like a made for TV 1-hour special stretched out to a feature film. I wouldn't bother with this.
Born Into Brothels
http://en.wikipedia....n_into_Brothels
From one documentary that didn't really have a point to one that will really get to you and have you doing hours of research the moment it finishes. Zana Briski moves to India short term to make a documentary about the lives of prostitutes in Calcutta. Her documentary soon changes direction as she has inadvertently found a bigger issue, the children of the prostitutes. With India's cast system, these children have no rights, are refused entry to schools and are expect to be prostitutes themselves as soon as they're physically possible. After befriending the children, she embarks on getting the necessary paper work to send the children to boarding schools where they have a chance at a normal life. During this lengthy process, she gives the children cameras and teaches them photography, allowing them to tell their stories through photos. Some children even get photos selected for an art gallery where the proceeds could get them out of poverty. This was filmed 10 years ago, so it was interesting to see what has happened since. I highly recommend this.
Jesus Camp
http://en.wikipedia....wiki/Jesus_Camp
Lastly, another Christian politically driven documentary about the indoctrination of children during summer camps. I had heard about this for some time and had a hard time finding it. This film really is a thing of beauty in the way it's filmed. If you were an ultra conservative Christian, you would watch this and think it's excellent at showing Christian beliefs and should be watched by everyone. If you're a hardcore atheist you also would think this is an excellent film and should be shown to everyone about Christian extremists. There are so many jaw-dropping moments in this that I can barely scratch the surface. The camp leader is disappointed that Christian children aren't as passionate as Muslim children who willingly give their lives up for their religion, climate change isn't an issue because Jesus will fix it when he comes back, a 5 year old breaks down in tears because he was directionless in life but has now found Jesus, and adults wanting to get to children before they turn 7 years old as once something is in their head, it's set. There is just so much cringe worthy content here. You'll be screaming out for an opposing view point when the Christians are preaching and using their logic, but because the film stays neutral, it makes this something special.
