Film Reactions - The Thin Blue Line

I am really grateful to have viewed The Thin Blue Line because I had read about the impact it had follow its initial release. As a documentary filmmaker, I dream about making films with the power to change lives. I also dream about making films that pioneer a new style which influences many other subsequent films.

Errol Morris uses recreation to examine the possibilities of how the murder of a Dallas police officer played out. By repeating the same scene with slight variations, I could see how so many witnesses and so many factors influenced the wrongful conviction of Randall Adams. Here, the dramatic recreations do not feel manipulative but merely an exploration--almost a trial and error until the truth is unfolded. This way the film makes no assumptions but only seeks to uncover what really happened.

Morris also demands the viewer pay close attention to details. He allows us to determine our level of involvement. He does not even include the name titles on the screen to tell who is talking. We have to be attentive and learn who they are from the information that precedes or follows each interview. This makes The Thin Blue Line a documentary for those willing to work for answers.

Film Reactions - An Inconvenient Truth

An Inconvenient Truth, directed by Davis Guggenheim and presented by Al Gore, is a documentary that directly calls any viewers to immediate action. The film presents a live presentation to a studio audience while incorporating personal commentary and experience by the former Vice President.

To convince viewers of the extreme danger of global warming, the film presents scientific facts, emotional stories, and well-crafted charts, images, animations, and photos. There were points where I felt arguments were valid and where I felt manipulated. Al Gore at one point uses the emotional attachment of the September 11th attacks to show how global warming could cause the ocean to cover the World Trade Center monument. Also the footage of Gore's presidential campaign, political career, and personal life made me wonder if this was a film about global warming or a film about Al Gore's public accomplishments. His deliberate jabs at the Bush Administration seemed personal and meant to elicit emotional responses and not to aid in presenting global warming as a danger to humanity.

Aside from the contrivances, I think the concern Guggenheim presents in this film is valid. I understand the need to bring a convincing public figure to present the issue. If I were to feel so strongly about an issue I would want professional help as well. In the sense of presenting a well-made argument and calling people to action, An Inconvenient Truth does an excellent job and gets audiences to really wonder what they personally think.

Film Reactions - Who Killed the Electric Car?

For Who Killed the Electric Car?, director Chris Paine takes an active look at the rise and fall of the electric car at the turn of the twenty-first century. Using narration by film star Martin Sheen, emotional interviews, diverse sources of media, and original narrative segments, this film successfully conveys a message that is convincing and worthwhile.

At the end of this film I found myself believing in Chris Paine's message. He takes great care to look at several different angles to come to a final conclusion. He interviews consumers, former and current GM employees, government officials, politicians, celebrities, hydrogen fuel cell experts, automotive marketers, and oil company affiliates. This wide range of views gives the film a healthy mix of academics and emotion.

That mix of fact and feeling is present in segments of former EV1 owners watching their beloved cars taken away, learning that all the EV1s have been destroyed, and protesting to save the remaining electric vehicles. One of my favorite segments is when the EV1 is paralleled with the Hummer H2. In a dramatic creation the two vehicles race to "Life's Been Good" by Joe Walsh. As different statistics are presented on screen, one vehicle takes the lead of the other until the H2 pulls far ahead.

Great moments of fact include talking to the hydrogen experts who reveal that fuel cell technology is still twenty years from marketing. The film also reveals the increasing profits of oil companies year after year as well as actual corporate, California government, and national government documents pointing toward the removal of electric cars.

What left me most impressed was the optimistic ending. I enjoyed this because this was not a "the earth is doomed" documentary but a "there is still hope" documentary. The future for an electric car still looks bright according to the film. I do not feel this film manipulated me into its message but successfully got me thinking. After the film ended I still had questions I wanted answers to and so began my own research. I discovered that the film was right about the future. Nissan will be releasing the LEAF in December of this year--a fully electric vehicle.

Film Reactions - The Cruise

Bennet Miller takes an observational stance to tell the story of Timothy “Speed” Levitch in The Cruise. To the viewer, Timothy seems to be telling his own story and the camera follows him around whenever he might be. Timothy’s always seems to be talking and his voice dominates the minutes of the film—so Miller’s approach seems appropriate. The subject seems to have so much to say that there is no room for questions or the voice of a director butting in to prompt the next segment.

The film creates a montage of Timothy’s life without being very linear, however, his emotions do seem to culminate in a segment on the Brooklyn Bridge where he lists the offenses he has carried for much of his life. Timothy is such a showman that I wonder how often he is genuine and how often he is performing for the camera just as he would for the passengers on one of his double-decker busses. Miller chooses to show a very consistent version of Timothy. One of the few quiet moments is when Timothy types something unknown on a computer. For the first time, I did not know what he was thinking and enjoyed that moment. In that space I could draw my own conclusions about Timothy Levitch.

While Miller and Levitch collaborate on many scenes to tell the full story such as dizzily spinning in the World Trade Center Plaza, I do enjoy the fast pace of Timothy’s mind and there is great, quick editing to complement him. To truly do a film about this character, Timothy had to be in control and this film certainly lets him cruise his own life and lets us see some of the most interesting sites of a personality as busy and complex as New York.