Every film on this list was broadcast on PBS, except for one
Disney animation. After perusing the awards lists for last year I was able to
add some to my library queue. They will start filtering in over the next
several months. Maybe some older films will be sprinkled into my library holds.
Call the Midwife Christmas Special 2016 – 2016 (3.3). This special episode of the series
gets a separate mention because it takes place in a totally different setting
and because it is very good. It is 1961 and many of those associated with the
clinic in England spend the holidays in South Africa helping with a struggling
clinic. They encounter apartheid, impoverished and oppressed Africans, the
doctor who has dedicated her life to the African people and is now ill and a
seriously bitter white resident, and they are moved and enriched by the
experience.
The Witness –
2015 (3.2). Filmed over several years this documentary follows the youngest
brother of Kitty Genovese as he investigates whether the iconic story of 38 eye
witnesses watching for 35 minutes without calling the police while she was
brutally attacked and murdered in 1964 in New York City. The Genovese family
had moved to Connecticut but Kitty stayed in the city. She was 28 at her death
and her youngest brother 16. When he graduated high school he joined the
marines because he did not want to be a passive bystander to that American War.
He stepped on a land mine and lost both legs so extensively he cannot wear
prosthesis. Though fifty years have passed, he does an excellent job of
tracking down the story, the witnesses who are still alive and many of the authorities
and journalists who were involved. All this is very interestingly documented
with archival and current footage and excellent animation.
Tower – 2016
(3.1). The sniper shooting from the tower on the campus of the University of
Texas in Austin is the first major mass school shooting in American history. On
the 50th anniversary of that rampage this documentary chooses not to
tell the story in a way quite different from the usual news style presentation
of the chronology of events with a look back at how the perpetrator became so
deranged, how the sequence of the tragedy transpired, how law enforcement and
the victims reacted and what was the final legal outcome of the case. Instead
the filmmaker tells the story from the point of view of a few of the victims,
witnesses and police involved, using a compelling style of rotoscoping animation
(drawn over live footage) interwoven with archival footage all narrated by the
participants. About halfway through the movie, we start to see the actual
narrators as they appear 50 years later. Telling how the experience of that
tragic day affected their lives and how the participation in making the film
has also affected them seems to be the ultimate purpose.
Victoria (Season One)
– 2016 (3.1). This Brit series starts with a Victoria we rarely see, the lonely
young teenager who is about to become Queen. The usual excellence of writing,
production values and acting is present. The female writer studied history at
the university level and was given Victoria for a thesis, at first being
disappointed at being assigned an uptight old lady dressed in black, but then
being excited when she read the diaries of the young Victoria. Real and
re-created venues enhanced with some computer work, sumptuous period costumes
and courtly surroundings are the backbone of the production. I doubt there is
even one mediocre actor in all of England and once again we have every role
from top to bottom portrayed with excellence. The young actress who plays
Victoria captures wonderfully her rise from ingénue to Monarch and the young
man who plays Prince Albert at first seems dorky until we realize that is how
Albert really was at first look, but then he becomes quite appealing and they
turn an arranged match into a true love and emerging ruling team. With her long
reign this series stands to be around for many highly enjoyable seasons. One
downside, the inclusion of subplots involving the servant class is not
essential and often seems a bit clichéd.
American Experience:Rachel Carson – 2016 (3.0). Personal biography and professional career are
naturally blended in this documentary movie celebrating the woman who should be
considered the mother of the environmental movement. Her scientific training
and superb writing skills enabled her to bring the scientific wonder of nature
to the attention of millions of people. When she wrote Silent Spring warning of
the dangers of pesticides, she was attacked both by government officials and
chemical industry shills, but her research and writing was so effective that
many scientists rose to her defense and the world was saved from a continuation
of the massive overuse of these dangerous chemicals. Archival footage of the
indiscriminate application of DDT is chilling, particularly the use directly on
people to fumigate them.
American Experience:Oklahoma City – 2017 (2.9). White Supremacists and anti-government militias
are linked in this movie which sets the background of how the Oklahoma City
bomber of the Federal building became a radical domestic terrorist and killed
more people than any other such terrorist. This all happened before the
Internet and social media became so prevalent, but the ignorant racism and
anti-government sentiment have always been present. Back then it was spread by
word of mouth and expedited through gun shows where the weapons of terror were
readily available. Excellent police work by the FBI is documented with the
swift apprehension of the terrorist surprising many people when he turned out
to be a native born American white man who was a US military veteran. Somehow
his execution seems like letting him off the hook.
American Experience:Ruby Ridge - 2017 (2.9). The way Federal Law Enforcement became involved
with the Weaver family and eventually engaged in a deadly confrontation and
standoff at Ruby Ridge in Idaho is clearly explained in this documentary.
Adopting a fundamental biblical belief that the end days were near, the family
left the Iowa farmlands for remote Idaho where they befriended the members of
the white supremacist Aryan Nation. Caught in a weapons law violation by an ATF
sting, Randy Weaver refused to become an informant and then failed to show for
his court appearance on the weapons charge, leading to US Marshalls being sent
to apprehend him. Archival footage is combined with current interviews from
authorities involved and most interestingly from the oldest Weaver daughter who
provides effective memories of the mindset of the Weaver family during the
standoff. The end result of this case is probably inaccurately known to most
Americans.
Six Wives with Lucy Worsley – 2016 (2.9). Historian Lucy
Worsley uses historical dramatizations combined with visits to the historical
sights to tell the story of the wives of King Henry VIII in this entertaining
and informative mini-series. Lucy narrates and also appears in dramatic scenes
as a servant who observes what happens, as she tells the stories of the wives
more from their point of view and expresses her professional opinions on the
personal strengths, weaknesses and motivations of the women.
Zootopia -2016
(2.9). Disney animation with heart and a contemporary message without the
cloying cuteness is refreshingly delivered in this story of a city populated by
non-human animals The underlying friction between the predators and the prey
leads a new police recruit to uncover a plot to exploit prejudice for political
power. Hmm.
Accidental Courtesy
– 2016 (2.8). Daryl Davis is a large African-American musician with an
interesting background and a personal mission of matching interest. Born in
1958, his father was a Secret Service agent who transferred to the Foreign
Service which meant Daryl spent his childhood living in numerous foreign
countries and attending schools with a diverse student body of the children of
diplomatic personnel from all over the globe. With a Howard University
education, quick wit, winning personality and deeply mellifluous voice Daryl
has dedicated himself to embracing and loving all Americans, even members of
the KKK, many of whom have come to embrace him as a great friend. Over time,
many of these once high ranking Klan members have rejected the KKK and Daryl
collects their robes and hoods as historical souvenirs.
The head of the Southern Poverty Law Center discusses the
Klan with the Daryl and says the goal is to eradicate the entire KKK and Klan
members only leave the organization when they themselves decide to do so. While
the documentary captures these successes faithfully there is a disturbing scene
where Daryl sits down with young black activists in Baltimore and is not able
to connect with or charm them and actually ends up seeming to treat them with
disrespect he is never shown delivering to KKK members.
Maya Angelou and Still I Rise – 2017 (2.8). Archival footage and interviews with her son and
famous people who knew her result in a straightforward biographical
presentation of this celebrated African American poet, writer, entertainer and
teacher. Her life passed from the Jim Crow south through the struggles of the
civil rights movement and she was a perceptive observer and explainer of it
all. Traditional family life seems to have eluded her, perhaps in part because
she never experienced it as a child and also because it would have interfered
with her personal mission as a visionary.
Birth of a Movement
– 2016 (2.8). The Birth of a Nation
is justly celebrated as a cinematic masterpiece for creating new film
techniques, but the 1915 movie is also rightly condemned as pro KKK racist
propaganda. Protests over its showing in theaters came to a head in Boston
where a prominent African-American newspaper publisher organized demonstrations
and tried to pull political strings ultimately without success. But though the
film was shown, this documentary presents the view that the reaction to the
film was in effect the start of the civil rights movement in the black
community. The presentation is perhaps spread too thin between personal
biographical sketches of individuals involved and putting many aspects of the
matter into historical context, all using archival film and a plethora of
historical commentators.
Mercy Street (Season
Two) – 2016 (2.8). I was hoping this series would not have a second season
but am pleased to report that much of what was so annoying in the first year
has been eliminated or at least toned down considerably. As we become more
familiar with the characters, they also are showing more nuances and the
historical context of the Civil War turmoil become more believably interwoven
with their lives. As is typical, a few new characters come and some old ones
go, but the central players remain and become more familiar even as they
develop with the shifting people and events. One might argue that the series is
a bit judgmental about the Confederacy, but the fact that so much of what was
bad about the "Lost Cause" persists in America even after 150 years
seems to indicate a lot of good judgement is long overdue.
