Tag: Documentaries

Missed Movies: Project Nim (short review)

project nim nim chomsky documentary

Project Nim (2011) is a fascinating documentary that follows the life of Nim, a chimpanzee who was part of an experiment in teaching chimps to communicate. Nim Chimpsky, named with a humorous nod to linguist Noam Chomsky, became famous for his ability to use sign language as part of a study by Herbert Terrace, a Columbia University behavioral psychologist. The documentary shows the ups and downs of Nim’s life where he is repeatedly removed from his environment in the name of science. The film asks questions about the role of communication and our human relationships to animals.

Although the movie shows Nim repeatedly abandoned, it also features several people who cared very much about the chimp. Ultimately, it’s the human stories in the film that make the movie compelling. While Nim’s behavior is interesting to the scientists because it tells us about chimps, the behavior of the people in Nim’s life is what makes the film interesting. Because it tells us more about us.



Bonus Review (Because why should you trust me?): Ethicist Peter Singer wrote an interesting essay about the film, the science about animals’ use of language, and the ethics of scientific experiments on primates in the New York Times Review of Books.

What did you think of Project Nim? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Magic Johnson’s “Announcement” (Short Review)

    magic johnson the announcement

    This month, ESPN began running a documentary about Earvin “Magic” Johnson and his 1991 announcement that he was HIV-positive. The film is an excellent look back at the time when the Los Angeles Laker point guard shocked the world with his off-the-court announcment.

    The Announcement    , directed by Nelson George, is largely told from Johnson’s perspective as he describes his reactions to the diagnosis, including how one of the hardest things he ever had to do was to go home and tell his wife that he was HIV-positive. But while the film keeps a major focus throughout on Johnson, it also includes interviews with others who give their reactions, such as Johnson’s wife, Arsenio Hall, Pat Riley, and Karl Malone, the latter who had voiced concerns at the time Johnson returned to basketball.

    The documentary also captures a time in America where many thought only certain groups became HIV-positive and the general public did not understand how it was transmitted. The film takes us back to that time period and shows how Johnson’s announcement and his work in later years helped educate a paranoid America about the disease and the necessity of using protection when having sex.

    I remember the announcement and Johnson’s subsequent returns to basketball, and the movie made me realize how much that I knew about HIV came from Johnson’s struggles. At one point in the film, Arsenio Hall explains how the Magic Johnson you used to see on the court, smiling and joyously leading his team to victory, was the real guy. That is who he was all the time. And you get a sense from the film that Johnson is an all-around decent guy who admits his mistakes, forgives others, and has compassion for other people. The film tells us a lot about Johnson, but it also tells us a lot about ourselves.

    What do you think of the film? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Exporting Raymond (Short Review)

    Exporting Raymond If you enjoyed the television show Everybody Loves Raymond or even if you did not watch the show and are just interested how cultures differ, check out the documentary Exporting Raymond now on DVD and Blu-ray. The movie follows Phil Rosenthal, the creator of Everybody Loves Raymond, as he works with TV producers in Russia to make a Russian version of the hit American television show that starred Ray Ramano.

    Most everyone is familiar with television shows that have been remade for other countries, such as the American version of the British hit, The Office. While shows like The Office may morph into something a little different than the excellent original, it is interesting how different cultural concepts can change a television series when it travels across borders.

    In Exporting Raymond, we see Rosenthal’s frustration as he tries to convince his new colleagues to stay true to his original vision of the television show while also watching them incorporate changes to make the show successful in their own country. For example, Rosenthal must debate why the characters should not be dressed in the latest fashions when they are lounging around the house, as the Russian costume designer argues to make the show more attractive to viewers.

    There is not a lot of drama in the movie, as it is just about a TV show, but it is interesting to see the process of creating a new version of a successful television show in another country. One of the cool extras is that the DVD includes a couple American shows of Everybody Loves Raymond along with the Russian Everybody Loves Kostya version of the same stories. Like the half-hour television shows, we are happy to report that Exporting Raymond also has a happy ending and the two countries did not have to go to war to resolve their differences about the television show.

    The movie has also been reviewed by the NY Times and Leonard Maltin.

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  • Missed Movies: Project Nim (short review)

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    Dear Zachary (Missed Movies)

    Cover of "Dear Zachary:A Letter to a Son ...
    Cover via Amazon

    Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father
     (2008) is a moving documentary that filmmaker Kurt Kuenne made after his friend Andrew Bagby was murdered.  More than anything, the film is a tribute to his friend.

    Dear Zachary explores how one person may touch many others and how one tragedy connects to loved ones.  The film does address the solving of the crime.  But the movie is not a prolonged mystery, although it does follow the quest for some sense of justice.

    Much of the drama of the film, though, comes from attempts to return the alleged perpetrator to the United States from Canada.  And then, there is a twist. Bagby’s friends and family learn that he left behind a son, who is the Zachary in the title.

    The film then becomes an attempt to tell the son about the father he will never know. Much of the movie focuses on Bagby’s parents.  It recounts how they have dealt with losing their only child.  Their agony is genuine throughout the movie, as they face additional hurdles and heartbreak.

    My one criticism of the movie is that it over-simplifies the legal issues involved in the attempts to extradite the alleged perpetrator.  The movie makes an argument that Canada needs to reform its bail system. And it argues for an automatic rule that might not work in all cases.

    While it is true that the system did not work in this case, the failures may have been more from the actors in the system than the system itself.  It was fairly clear that the woman who killed Bagby was mentally ill.  And the movie only briefly notes her psychiatrist’s misconduct that led to her release. Thus, the movie ignores part of the problem with the system.  It also avoids the question of whether putting more potentially innocent people in jail is the solution.

    Along these lines, the movie may attempt too much by tacking on a political statement that the filmmaker is not willing to fully explore.  But it is an understandable oversight in light of the personal story.

    The movie’s appearance and lighting reveal that the film is not an expensive Hollywood vehicle.  But it is compelling and a good story.

    Although the movie goes in some different directions, those directions are driven by the narrative of real events.  The film is a very good documentary about the tragedies that befall when individuals die too soon.  And it reminds us of the love that can live on after their deaths.

    {Missed Movies is our continuing series on good films you might have missed because they did not receive the recognition they deserved when released.}

    If you have already seen Dear Zachary, head over to the movie’s website for an update.  If you have not yet seen the movie, wait until after you see it before checking out the update, which contains spoilers.

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    An Industry Attempts to Prevent Gasland from Winning an Oscar (Mad Movies)

    {Note: On February 21, 2011, Chimesfreedom posted the following discussion of the documentary Gasland, but for some reason the blog post disappeared in early July 2011. The web hosting company does not know what happened, so we are re-posting the review, which is still relevant in light of recent debates in states like New York on the practice of fracking.}

    With this post and a post about The Tillman Story, Chimesfreedom starts a series on “Movies that Make Us Mad.” These movies expose information that we might not otherwise know about, revealing misinformation, lies, and hidden stories that make us angry.

    Gasland movie With the Academy Awards later this week, we are starting with a movie that has an industry so upset the industry is trying to prevent the film from winning an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. The movie is Gasland (2010), a documentary about the natural gas industry that is available on DVD and Blu Ray.

    The movie begins with the filmmaker, Josh Fox, getting an offer of more than $100,000 from gas companies to be allowed to drill on his land, and the offer sets him off on a cross-country journey. Fox visits the homes of a number of people who claim to have been affected by natural gas companies in their areas. The movie explains how the gas companies drill into the ground and then pump tons of water mixed with numerous chemicals into the ground to get the natural gas. The homeowners in the movie claim to be affected by the air pollutants and they show the effects on their drinking water, ranging from health problems, livestock and animals losing hair and dying, and being able to light the gas coming out of their water faucets.

    America’s Natural Gas Alliance, i.e, the natural gas industry, has responded to the documentary by saying there is no link between their drilling for oil and the problems shown in the movie. One oil and gas industry organization has even tried to get the Motion Picture Academy to revoke its best documentary Oscar nomination for the movie.

    While watching the movie, I did wonder what the other side to the story was, as things are not always black and white. There is a problem sometimes with taking anecdotal evidence, such as a few people having contaminated water, and drawing a big conclusion without using the scientific method to reach that conclusion. But there is also a problem that individuals have no power, and big industry has all the power. That’s why movies like Gasland are important. Even though the truth may be somewhere between the self-interested response of the gas companies and the stories shown in the movie, the documentary is an insightful look that raises important issues that most of us probably never would think about otherwise.

    The gas industry memo does not respond to the information in the movie about how the industry was made exempt from several national environmental laws by a bill that Pres. George W. Bush signed into law in 2005. The movie also asserts that the exemption benefited the vice-president’s former company, Halliburton, which developed the drilling technology of “fracking” or hydraulic fracturing which involves using high pressure to fracture shale to release the gas underground.

    The movie does an excellent job of telling the stories of individuals in middle America who are largely powerless against corporate interests. By contrast, the state of New York worked toward a moratorium on shale gas drilling [July 2011 Update: It now looks like New York may allow this type of drilling]. Most importantly, the movie makes you more aware of the issue and want to learn more. And it makes you mad. Fracking mad.

    Did you see the movie? What did you think? Leave a comment.

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