BootsnAll Travel Community

I watched Born into Brothels for the first time last night and it an amazing look into the lives of children who live and grow up in the Calcutta, India brothels. It deals with poverty, and the inevitable fate these children face..there is no 'hope' there as one of the children says.. The journalist gives each child a camera and these children take photographs of their surroundings..its like a birdseye view of what these children see/feel/think etc. The children express themselves through this art and for once there may be a glimmer of light at the end of a very very long tunnel for them. It is an incredible documentary and I highly recommend it to the documentary lovers out there.

I agree 100%...saw this at a film festival and it was amazing. I can't wait to get the dvd. There is also a book of the kids' photographs.

I would like to see this Bob Dylan one directed by Martin Scorsese, "No Direction Home," part 1 is coming on PBS tonight. One media source went so far as to say it may be the greatest musical documentary ever made, but how it could top Ken Burns' Jazz I dont know

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/20...AR2005092501249.html

I saw The Aristocrats last week and loved it.

Please keep in mind the tagline is: No Nudity. No Violence. Unspeakable Obscenity.

They mean it, so if you're sensitive to talk about defacation, incest, bestiality, pedophilia, and mimes -- often in the same joke -- this may not be the movie for you.

However, I think the film was brilliant and does an excellent job at examining the mores of society and the psychology of a joke.

Saw My Flesh and Blood last night. Another good one. Deals with a single mother who cares for 11 children..some of them having physical disabilities/disfigurements, some have diseases, others have emotional issues. Really interesting movie..an emotional rollercoaster for sure.

I also looked for The Aristocrats and couldn't find it anywhere! Not everyone wants to watch hollywood blockbusters...the movies stores around my home need to get more documentaries. My Flesh and Blood was at a video store an hour away from my home..and yes I did the drive.

The Aristocrats had fairly wide release, but one of the big chains (GKC? Loews? I don't remember) refused to show it because of the subject matter. It's still playing at a few indy theatres around here though. You might have to watch for it on DVD. Of course, don't count on buying it at Walmart.

Did anyone else see "Spellbound"? It's about the National Spelling Bee and is both interesting and very funny.

So funny...got my "Born Into Brothels" dvd (and there are lots of extras like directors' commentary, kids commentary on watching themselves in the film three years later) and there was a preview for "Aristocrats". It was a little hard to determine what it was about but I really like some of the comics.

"Fog of War" about former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara is very interesting too. It's a bit controversial with some who consider the man to be relative of Satan, but I enjoyed it and took it at face value -- an old man looking back on his life and feels the need to explain his life.

I saw Promises recently, about Israeli and Paletinian children's POV before and after meeting each other.

Born into Brothels was fantastic. But also heart-breaking.

If you're into the docs, Mad Hot Ballroom is cute.

I think it's interesting that people have such different reactions to Born into Brothels...while some moments were without a doubt very sad, I wouldn't personally categorize it as heartbreaking. I think the fact that this situation exists (children of sex workers have almost an impossible time getting a decent education and are discriminated against because their parents are considered criminals) is terrible, but I found the film inspiring.

These seven or eight kids had an opportunity to take part in a class they enjoyed and currently are able to receive money for their education from the proceeds from the sale of their photos. More importantly they had a chance to see that they can do something successfully besides enter the same trade as their parents. I found it interesting that although they have incredibly difficult lives and uncertain futures (and they seemed to be pretty conscious of this during their interviews in the film), much of the time they were smiling and having fun with eachother!

Three years after the film was released, some of them are in good schools and NONE of them have gone into prostitution. The producer and the ngo she created - Kids With Cameras - are building a school specifically set up for children of sex workers so more of them can get a good education and learn about the arts.

I don't want to direct this at the last person who posted, because others I have talked to have said something similar, but I think it is unfortunate if people don't see the film because they think it is "too sad" - the sale of the dvd/book/soundtrack go to benefit the kids. I was also inspired to see that one person really could make this huge difference in their lives, literally almost by herself, without funding from the peace corps or an existing ngo.

I second the vote for the Aristocrats. TunaJuice and I went and saw it one hungover afternoon and giggled our asses off. Seriously, Bob Saget is too too funny. (Never thought I'd write that!)

I have to add the Fog of War. It's one of my favorite documentaries ever. I even own it. McNamara is so interesting and insightful while recounting his very important role in some of the most interesting events in modern American history (whether you agree with his actions or not). I appreciate his ability to process his own past with ambiguity and shades of gray.

And Ghengis Blues is another one...about a blind blues musician from San Fran who teaches himself Mongolian throat singing from hearing it on the radio and travels to Mongolia to compete in a huge throat singing competition. Watch it.

Ah hell Skobb, I'd somehow not seen that you'd added Fog of War as well. I should have known.

crackerjillian, I have a huge recommendation to watch Ghengis Blues from my NY-based Big Boss.

I have a question for you guys -- where do you watch these documentaries?

I would actually like to watch all of above recommended documentaries but it's impossible to get them here.

Tis a huge pity. I love documentaries!!

Funnily enough, this weekend, I'm organizing an international film festival for a local nature society that I volunteer for. We were lucky enough to obtain copies of these films (including all the copyrights to publicly show them) but that doesn't happen often.

It's free to the public and I'm hoping that we'd get a good response.. but I have a feeling that most people would rather watch King Kong over a documentary on say, the forest destruction in Indonesia.

Some of the films that will be shown this weekend include:

Tears of Wood: This is a beautiful film of the Indonesian jungle from the orang utan point of view.

Kanuku, Mountain of Life, Guyana: Stories from the people of Guyana who want to protect their natural heritage.

The 18th Elephant: A powerful and distressing documentary on the plight of elephants and also the mercernary attitude of modern man to life and habitat of other wildlife species. The elephants tells their stories in Malayalam, with English subtitles. This was shot in many locations in Kerala, India. It is horrifically demonstrated and shatters the idea that the elephant is well treated and looked after in temples for use in the ceremonies and celebrations.

A Crocodile Pond: A true story of an elderly Chinese couple who takes care of some Yangtze crocodiles in their pond.

In Portland we get a lot of documentaries in the theaters. Nearly every local video store has a decent documentary section as well. Several have absolutely insanely extensive, inclusive documentary selections. I browse the aisles drooling and plotting how I'm going to find the time to watch every single one of them.

Other recommendations:

*Spellbound. Following several contestants through the national spelling bee.

*DiG. The story of indie bands the Dandy Warhols and the Brian Jonestown Massacre as one nearly "makes it big" and one implodes.

*Inside Deep Throat. A look at the making and phenomenon of the porn movie. Very tongue in cheek.

*Latcho Drom. Follows the music through the migration of the gypsies over thousands of years from India to the Middle East into modern day Spain. A beautiful movie, not very nerdy.

Nearly half of my next 20 netflix movies are documentaries, so maybe I'll have some new ones to add soon!

Katelr...

I have a tendency to get verbose about these things, heartbreaking was as good as any word to sum up.

My understanding was that one of the girls ended up in the line before production on the film even finished.

Yes, a dozen or so children get to go to school, some of them stay in, they enjoy themselves in all...but that's not what I was really thinking of. NGOs such as kids with cameras (there are a few other similar organizations setting up shop in places like Cuba) are expanding their programs - but this is a problem that is **never** going to resolve itself. It reminds me how foolish and idealistic I am to think that humanity is anything but a bunch of charmingly smart, cruelly selfish animals.

I totally agree with you about the serious nature of the underlying problem. I still felt that the film itself was not heartbreaking but inspirational. And I think the path the producer took with the kids - trying to get them into private schools - did attempt to alleviate part of the underlying basis of the cycle of prostitution (or cycle of poverty ect) which is a lack of education or access to education. Like I said, I agree with you that some of these problems will likely never "go away," but that doesn't mean that they can't change or improve.

I also think that there is a tendency in many cultures - icluding in the US- to believe that individuals just can't make change or do certain things and it takes a government initiative or tons of money to make a difference. Yet here Zana Brinski (?) did something very substantial basically on her own - and most of it before the Oscar came into the picture.

(I saw this film a few months before I went to India - hence my perhaps increased interest in it - and have watched it again on dvd as well as the extra interviews, and what I took from this was that one girl who was part of the photo group wasn't included in the film because she disappeared during the filming, but she did come back later and I believe is attending school. The producer did mention another group she tried to work with that just fell apart...and sadly some of those kids did end up being forced into prostitution. My memory could be wrong, but I still feel that this supports my idea - the film was about this group of kids who generally did well.)

And to be fair, this was something I had been thinking about a lot independent of your post, I was just reminded of it here.

I recently watched "Orwell Rolls in His Grave" on DVD--it's a documentary on the U.S. media, but it's scarey enough to be classified as a horror film.

The U.S. media has become the largest special interest group lobbying in Washington, DC...

...but while the media might expose the doings of other special interest groups...

...it's not going to expose itself. So its actions pretty much remain invisible--until it's too late.

If all major media outlets are owned by 4 mega-corporations, then a handful of people control what we see and hear.

quote:

I have a question for you guys -- where do you watch these documentaries?

I would actually like to watch all of above recommended documentaries but it's impossible to get them here.

Tis a huge pity. I love documentaries!!

Netflix is my source. They have a good selection.

To answer your question:

I usually find these docs on DVD at the library. I'm currently living in a fairly conservative community in Arkansas. Yet the local library has some very liberal documentaries on DVD.

"The Corporation" was also very good.

So I just watched Murderball last night and while it was very good, we couldn't help feeling like it was a little too good. It seemed like some of it was a little staged. Either they had quite the team of cameras out following these guys or got really really lucky catching what they did (a heart attack and subsequent surgery!!) Has anybody else seen this movie? Did you notice this too?

It is definitely worth watching though.