Staff Picks: Movies
Staff-recommended viewing from the KPL catalog.
The animated film Waltz With Bashir is a magnificent film that reminded me of the recently adapted graphic novel Persepolis, especially the way in which memoir, history and social turmoil are woven together not only as a compelling narrative form but also because in both works, the primary characters struggle for certainty, meaning and peace in a world of war, conflict and confusion.
The main plot takes place in contemporary Israel, where a man who was an Israeli soldier during the Lebanon/Israel War of the early 1980's sets out on a journey to rediscover his lost memories of the war and to determine what role, if any, he played in the Sabra and Shatila massacres. The film's director and protagonist Ari Folman depicts the war as a horrorific act against humanity, where neither side was innocent of committing atrocities. Winner of many awards in 2008 and nominated for a Best Foreign Film Academy Award, Waltz With Bashir is a haunting and visually rich meditation on memory, war and healing.
Learn more about this piece of history by accessing the library's information databases. They can put you in touch with the information you need to understand today's vital issues.
Movie
Waltz with Bashir [videorecording]
COL28993D
Ken Burns’ latest film “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea” premieres on PBS Sept. 27, and I'm looking forward to watching the series. (Check the schedule on WGVU.)
Burns’ approach to documentary filmmaking completely revitalized the art form. It wasn’t just the techniques of camera work, narration and writing, but the drama and emotional weight given to the subject matter, the placement of people and events into history’s long view. Offering more than the facts of events, his documentaries give us the how and why. The result is beautiful and riveting. The films have generated a host of companion books and CDs.
Ken Burns came to the fore with “The Civil War,” a monumental achievement, and continued with other works (among them “Lewis & Clark: The Corps of Discovery,” “Baseball,” “Jazz,” “Mark Twain,” “Thomas Jefferson”), all of which have explored facets of the American experience. It’s fitting, then, that Burns and long-time collaborator Dayton Duncan tackle the subject of our magnificent national parks.
And the parks themselves is the other reason I’m excited to see the series. The summer before my senior year in college, I worked as an interpretive naturalist at Theodore Roosevelt National Park. There, in the Badlands of western North Dakota, I gave tours of TR’s Maltese Cross Cabin, roamed the Park’s 30-some mile loop on a moped (being fully warned that a moped cannot outrun a bison), and worked the desk at two visitor centers. I occasionally had to explain to visitors that this was not the park to “see the faces” for Mount Rushmore National Memorial was in another state, South Dakota.
The experience was one of those defining moments that helped me figure out the next direction of my life. It was a privilege to work with career, seasonal and volunteer park staff, most of whom forfeited job security and domestic stability in return for transitory service at one seasonal post or another, year after year. (One National Park Service employee set her mystery novels in national parks. The Anna Pigeon series of novels by Nevada Barr take place in such locations as Isle Royale and Mesa Verde.)
I hope you’ll watch the series, check out KPL’s many resources about national parks, and plan your next visit to a national treasure.
Book
The National Parks: America's Best Idea
best-idea-cover-160
http://www.pbs.org/nationalparks/
For weeks after watching The Cave of the Yellow Dog, my daughter and I would play “Cave of the Yellow Dog”, our own make-believe game based on the movie. She would pretend to be Nansal, the plucky young protagonist of the Mongolian/German film who, against her father’s wishes, really wants to keep a stray puppy. “But Papa,” she would say, “I really want to keep the dog. “Sorry Nansal,” I would play along. “Where there are dogs, there are wolves. Wolves will eat the sheep.”
This quietly beautiful film by Byambasuren Davaa portrays daily life for Nansal, her younger siblings, and their parents - also a family in real life. Nansal finds a black and white dog in a cave and names it Zochor (Spot). Her father forbids Nansal from keeping the dog, warning that wolves may follow and attack the family’s livestock. In an effort to find Zochor after he has run away, Nansal becomes lost and takes refuge with an old woman who tells her the story of the Cave of the Yellow Dog.
Many elements of this film on the edge of documentary work together to make it special. There is the realistic representation of kids being kids. Real life siblings Nansal, Nansalmaa, and Babbayar Batchuluun and their parents are shown, well, being a normal family. Then there's the sheer pluck of Nansal who, accompanied only by her dog Zochor, heads off on horseback to graze the sheep. Yet when Zochor runs off and Nansal herself becomes lost trying to find the dog, the movie never loses its calm feel. Finally, a subtle yet important theme of the film is contemporary Mongolia's creep towards consumer culture. Davaa explores this theme more overtly in The Story of the Weeping Camel.
Set under blue skies with a backdrop of mountains and windblown steppes, The Cave of the Yellow Dog is captivating for adults and children. The dialogue is Mongolian with a variety of languages available as subtitles if you and your kids don’t understand Mongolian. The great thing about foreign language films with subtitles is that they allow you - force you, really - to read the movie aloud to your pre-reading children when you choose to watch with them. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that kids under two years old not watch any TV and that those older than two watch no more than one to two hours a day of quality programming. This programming would be a great choice. I think reading the film aloud to my own pre-reading daughter may be what opened the movie up for make-believe games long after viewing.
Movie
The Cave of the Yellow Dog
UMVTV2029D
The documentary film Bergman Island is an intimate portrait of one of the most influential, post-war film directors. Swedish auteur, Ingmar Bergman, known for his revolutionary work in cinema, television and theater created some of cinema’s most recognizable and enduring images over a long career, ending with his death in 2007. Known as a reclusive, solitary figure (he lived alone on an island off the coast of Sweden for many years) who rarely spoke about his life or the details of his creative achievements, Bergman Island explores the enigmatic director’s relationship with his parents and those he collaborated with on films, raises questions about his turbulent personal life and bares new insights about the muses, themes and inspirations behind his work. Bergman is best known for his films and television programs, The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries, Through a Glass Darkly, Persona, Fanny and Alexander, and Saraband.
Movie
Bergman Island
ICRCC1817D
There are times where days saunter along, one into the other, with few distinguishing characteristics and where inspirational interactions with the world are either muted or altogether absent. But then comes along a work of art, a photograph, a film, a poem that strikes you dead in your tracks and summons your mind, heart and attention to its power. For me, this is what life is about, the continuity of learning, where if one chooses to open themselves up to new experiences and previously unknown data, one will always find a kind of psychic renewal in such discoveries.
I was unaware of the work of photographer Sally Mann up until several days ago but on a whim, I checked out a documentary film about her life, family and work from the library. Mann’s photography has been largely hailed by art critics as some of the best photography in the nation. Time Magazine dubbed her “America’s Best Photographer in 2001.” What the documentary does so well is bring her family life into the frame so that we have a broader, more nuanced understanding of her creative influences, philosophical concerns and goals as an artist. Mann’s photography centers on both universal themes (life, mortality, family, love, hope) as well as regional specificities (Southern motifs, landscapes e.g.). Her work has been described as moody, ethereal, haunting, preternatural, and dream-like.
Once again, sometimes the rewards of learning derive rather simply by taking a chance, picking up a book or film that you know nothing about and finding along the way that life continues to surprise and inspire. This to me is what libraries are all about.
Movie
What Remains
ZEIZ1098D
Roses in December is the heartbreaking tale of the murder of a young woman (Jean Donovan) who gave up her privilege, educational opportunities and a high paying job so as to serve the violently oppressed people of El Salvador during that nation's civil war of the 1970’s. It is also a film about the redemptive quality in serving a higher purpose beyond our inclination toward navel gazing and the struggle to locate both lasting peace within ourselves and the world afar by giving assistance to those denied vital resources, political power or access to justice. Also, learn how the Reagan Administration, staunch supporters of the brutal El Salvadoran military, worked to obstruct justice for the families of those murdered. A somber film but one that affirms the humanity of those who give of themselves to advance peace and justice.
Movie
Roses in December
FRF912969D
Filmmaker and mother, Lori Benson, received a diagnosis of breast cancer and – on a suggestion from her filmmaker husband, Jonathon – decided to have friends film her experience. In Dear Talula, we, the viewers, get to see Benson’s struggles, decision-making, treatment, beautiful relationships with friends, family and one-year-old daughter, Talula. I urge you to take the time – just 34 minutes – to experience this inspiring documentary.
Ms. Benson also travels the country to speak at film screenings. It would be wonderful to see her in Kalamazoo someday.
Movie
Dear Talula
FRF913560D
Philippe Petit’s incredible 1974 wire walk between the towers of the, then newly completed, World Trade Center is an act not to be repeated, not only because of the fate that befell the towers, but because I don’t believe another human being is capable of such an act of daring and grace. Mixing rare footage, interviews with Petit and his accomplices today, and staged reenactments, Man On Wire is a thrilling piece of documentary film making. The film thrills, not only because of the great footage of Petit’s incomprehensible wire walk itself, but because of the wild-eyed, madcap, bank heist like approach that the group took to pull it off. Petit and his walk is also the subject of the wonderful kids book The Man Who Walked Between the Towers, but no matter how you view this event you can’t help but marvel at the artistic commitment and pure audacity of what Petit refers to as "his dream". Magnificent!
Movie
Man On Wire
MGP10156D
If you have even a passing interest in the use of typeface, and really who doesn’t love to change the tone of their message with a carefully selected font - big shout out to Verdana!, you should make a point to checkout the fascinating 2007 documentary Helvetica. The film focuses on the typeface for which it is titled, the font celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2007, and its now ubiquitous use worldwide. Major figures in the graphic design world share either their love or absolutely hate of helvetica, and the reasons behind these extreme reactions provides a launching point for examining the use of type in the modern world and the fascinating significance of that use.
Movie
Helvetica
ADM40042D
After spending the first nine years of my career as a Teen Services librarian, I was very anxious to watch the documentary American Teen. The film is an honest look at five specific teens living out their senior year at a high school in Warsaw, Indiana. Director Nanette Burstein (Kid Stays in the Picture) expertly depicts the lives of a "jock," "queen bee," "heart throb," "nerd," and a "rebel" trying to cope with growing up in a small town facing down adulthood. If you are seeking out an introduction of Midwestern teens that is filled with angst you could do no wrong with watching this movie. If you have tried to stay away from reliving your high school years, you may want to graduate to another flick.
Movie
American Teen
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