Confederate States of America

I was going through the mountains of West Virginia when I first heard of this film. The premise intrigued me, what would the world be like if the South had won the Civil War? I finally got to see it a year later and was not disappointed. The film is set as a documentary of sorts tracking the history and modern life of the Confederate States of America. The South wins the war in the 1860’s spreading slavery through out the United States. It ends up conquering all of Latin America and instituting Jim Crow laws in Mexico.

The film is most interesting when it shows how closely related the United States of American and the Confederate States of America are. It follows a famous politician around as he pontificates about modern issues as they affect the CSA. He could easily be mistaken for a far right religious conservative in his assumptions and belief in his own righteousness. Commercials parodying COPS, shown instead as a show about slave catching, and highlighting brands that really existed in American history, such as Niggerhair cigarettes, the film shows us just close we resembled the CSA for during some portions of our history.

It was a good film, the film is low budget but well executed. It quite enjoyable, being interesting and informative at the same time. The Confederate States of America is worth purchasing and I would recommend that you do so. The director, Kevin Willmott, is a professor at Kansas University and is currently working on a film about a young Native American who escapes the Haskell internment camp.

The End of Suburbia

Oil and the suburbs, that’s what this film is about. The End of Suburbia is a film that explores the history and future of suburban America. We are a nation that is dependent on foreign oil, but this was not always the case. When America was awash in its own oil resources the automobile was seen as a way to utilize this natural resource. The creation of the American suburbs was made possible by the car, and peak oil may be the end of it.

The film, The End of Suburbia, is a fascinating study of how the limited resource of oil an our culture of consumption may have vast and far reaching consequences on our future. Various scientists and futurist discuss how the quality of American life had declined due to suburban life and how it is likely to continue to do so because our lifestyles are not sustainable.

I would rank this a rent. It is a good film, but probably does not have a great deal of re-watch value. It is useful for any students or political scientists who are working on papers regarding our depleting natural resources, but is a little dry at times. Check it out.

Cocaine Cowboys

This is a fascinating documentary about the rise of cocaine in the United States, mostly focused on Florida. It describes how some entrepreneurial, and morally lax, people managed to turn cocaine into a multi-billion dollar industry in the U.S. It explains how Miami, Florida became a dangerous place to live because of the wars between cocaine smugglers and the drugs immense social costs. It also shows how some people profited from the suffering the drug caused.

The film does not glorify the smugglers; it simply shows how they gained their wealth, and eventually how they lost it. What you will find most interesting is the amount of jail time that these big time drug peddlers received when they were finally caught.

In any case, the documentary was very thorough, and will keep your attention throughout. There is a sequel that I will definitely have to watch. I would rate this as a rent. I liked it but doubt I would watch it very often. I highly recommend checking it out.

Unchained Memories

Who were our ancestors? We know they were slaves and that overcame a great number of difficult circumstances. We know they loved the idea of freedom and survived things that would have broken weaker people, but what about their personal stories? What about their day to day lives? HBO’s Unchained Memories is the recitation of slave narratives that were collected from former slaves during the Great Depression and has famous stars such as Samuel Jackson voicing the slave’s stories.

The actors do a brilliant job telling powerful stories from the slave perspective. The former slaves talk about their owners, losing relatives to the auction block, and their efforts to become free. I rank this a buy. It is worth owning, watching, and sharing if for no other reason than to hear the songs of our ancestors, the slave songs, and see the pictures of beaten down people, and learn about the people survived hardship so that we could be born.

Born Rich

How does the other half live. Often when we focus on how one’s environment affects one’s life, we focus primarily on the impoverished. Born Rich is a film that does the exact opposite. It is a documentary by Jamie Johnson, an heir of the Johnson and Johnson fortune, who focuses on people who have inherited their wealth and what their lives are like.

What struck me about the film was the sincerity of the people who spoke with Jamie. The spoke of their advantages in life, how it feels to be born to so much privilege, and what their family lives are like. It was a very honest portrayal of human beings who have been lucky enough to inherit extreme wealth. Some of them were humble and hard working, others were arrogant and self centered, but they were all fascinating.

Born Rich would have probably benefited from a more professional production, and I would have liked subtitles for some of the harsher foreign accents, but all in all it was a fascinating and unique movie. I would recommend renting or purchasing this film.

One Day in September

The Munich Olympics were one of the most tragic events in the games history. Israeli Olympians were killed by Palestinian terrorists as they attempted to compete for their country. One Day in September is a documentary that shows how German incompetence, Israeli intransigence, and Palestinian extremism led to the death of athletes who wanted to compete at the pinnacle of their sports.

One of the Palestinian terrorists, the only survivor of the events and Israeli reprisals, is interviewed and shares his point of view. Countless German officials give their perspective as they were trying to get the hostages free and redeem the image of their nation in the first German Olympics since Hitler’s Berlin propaganda games. Israeli’s who watched their loved ones and country men being held hostage and murdered shared their stories as well. It is a unique and heart wrenching portrait of the high costs of the Israeli and Palestinian conflict.

I would highly recommend viewing this film. It humanizes every actor in the conflict and shows us just how devastating and far reaching violence and oppression can be. Frank Herbert wrote that we cannot escape the violence of our ancestors. This film showed just how accurate that statement is.

Life and Debt

I got a chance to go to Jamaica this year and it is a beautiful place. The people are nice and the Atlantic is wonderful. I was catered to in the resort where I stayed by locals which was a nice, if peculiar, experience for me. I also got a chance to see the poverty of that nation. I saw houses without electricity or plumbing. I bought curry goat from a place that could be described as a shack. And I knew before going that many people there aren’t able to enjoy the things I enjoyed on their island. Life and Debt explains why that is.

Jamaica is a nation whose climate allows for the production of vast quantities of food, its people are hard working, and it is close enough to other nations to have profitable trade with them, but it is also very poor. The film, Life and Debt, explores how the first world’s loans and economic theory have impoverished the nation. Jamaica is in debt to the IMF and the World Bank and these institutions have established policies that have only harmed the country. Jamaica is not allowed to give farm subsides to its agricultural sector but has to compete with nations, such as the United States, who heavily subsidize production.

Life and Debt does a brilliant analysis of this problem and explains how post-colonial Jamaica has been devastated by policies created to keep the first world empowered at their expense. It is a must see and I would recommend viewing this film to anyone who is interested in why the post-colonial world is suffering economically.

What Black Men Think

Wake Up!

Carter G. Woodson wrote a book called the Miseducation of the Negro about how African Americans were being taught to think in ways that were detrimental to the health of their communities and that blinded them to freedom. Harriett Tubman said if she could have convinced more slaves that they were enslaved she could have freed thousands. In the film What Black Men Think, Janks Morton says “Wake Up!”

The film was made on a budget around $8,000 dollars and was shot solely by Janks Morton. Despite this fact, or perhaps because of it, the film is of very high quality, moves at a brisk pace, and continuously awes the viewer as it destroys stereotypes that have been proliferated in the African American community. It then goes on to find out why the stereotypes have been created in the first place and why leadership in the Black community has failed to disprove them.

The film interviews African American political thinkers as well as brothers off the street and asks them their opinion of where the African American community has gone wrong and what we need to do to fix it. There are newsworthy names and intellectuals on the film such as NPR correspondent and author Juan Williams, Linguist and author John McWhorter, and author Shelby Steele who all make appearances throughout the film commenting on their hopes and concerns about the African American male.

What is probably the most powerful part of the film is the destruction of the myth of African American underachievement. Janks asks numerous people, including children, whether there are more African American men in jail or in college. Their answer is probably the same as yours if you haven’t seen the film or the PSA. He then destroys this myth and shows that our people, African Americans, are better educated then we believe.

Now I can’t say I agree with everything in the film. Janks is a little further to the right than I am, and my opinion of utilizing the government for advancement and his are very different. However, his passion for reuniting the African American family is awe inspiring. What he has created is a film that will help African Americans better understand one another and I commend him for that.

I was very moved by the film and would encourage anyone who is concerned with the African American Community to purchase the film at his website. Some of you movie critics out there might think that this review is a bit too glowing and that I might be trying to sell the film too hard, but this film opened my eyes to some facts about my people that have lifted a burden from my heart in many ways. Go check it out..

Wake Up!