Amazing documentary film

Exit Through the Gift Shop - Go see it!!!
Brilliant social commentary on street art and art business and just a great film all around!

This Is It - Michael Jackson's last performance

Fans had been waiting for this film ever since footage of Michael Jackson's last rehearsals made their appearance on TV screens around the world as headlines announced the King of Pop had died.
In the months following his death, rumors have floated around that MJ did not have it in him to go on for the 50-concerts tour that had sold out within hours. This Is It - his last performance, dispels any rumors that would have you that Jackson could barely walk or speak and that at age 50, he had lost his magic. On the contrary - through close to two hours of footage, fans rediscover the Michael they remember from previous tours, and get transported into a show, that no doubt, would have blown their minds away.

Michael Jackson's perfectionism and talent can be felt through every step he takes and every note he makes. After dazzling his own dancers and technicians through one of the routines, he finishes with a casual "that's just to get the feel for it", leaving us in awe, to imagine what an amazing show the real deal would have been.

As an 80s baby, I grew up listening to a Michael Jackson at the height of his career. By that time though, Michael had already been breaking records for 20 years. Like many, I can associate countless of his songs to various memories of my life. Up to the most recent, when a few days after his death, I came across a gathering on Union Square, in New York. Someone had improvised a DJ booth and was playing all of the classics, as all of us, strangers from all walks of life, danced and sang in one last celebration. As David Segal wrote in the New York Times,

"Watching this spectacle, you had to wonder: When will this happen again? When will another pop culture figure mean so much to so many that people are moved to assemble, hug and dance?", concluding that "fame on the level that Mr. Jackson achieved is all but impossible for pop culture heroes today, and quite likely it will never be possible again."

Yet, as the media world rode the Michael Jackson wave for weeks on end, as if the rest of the world had stopped to move, and images of Iranians fighting for democracy in the streets of Tehran faded in our memories, people began to complain about the Jackson overload and asked for a return to serious matters. Others, like Don Gomez, an Iraq war veteran, felt Michael Jackson deserved the attention, one last time. He wrote in his blog:

"One of the strangest things I experienced in Iraq during my two tours there was the multitude of "Michael Jackson" stories I brought home.
I remember watching Baghdad children moonwalk during lulls in our foot patrols to try to get our attention.
I remember children waving to us and simply saying “Mike-kal Jack-son” to express affection and get us to look at them."

Now Michael Jackson makes his final appearance on the world stage. He will be remembered as an unsurpassed entertainer, as a music and dance genius, and as a unique soul- at his best and at his worst. No matter what, he brought people from all corners of the world, all social classes, all colors, and all ages together through the talent he shared with all, despite a high personal cost. This Is It shows us a side of him that few ever knew, a demanding professional yes, but one who always concluded his requests with a smiling "LOVE".

Eternal Moonwalk.

CRUDE

Just saw another amazing documentary: CRUDE.
Films like these are the reason why I want to work in documentary filmmaking. To bring light to social injustices, give a voice to the voiceless, raise people's awareness about issues and hopefully enable CHANGE to happen.





Crude, by Joe Berlinger, explores the lawsuit - now in its 16th year- being fought by a true hero, lawyer Pablo Fajardo against ChevronTexaco on behalf of 30,000 inhabitants of Ecuador’s rainforest. Since Texaco's first arrival in Ecuador's Amazonian jungle in the 1960s, its indigenous populations have been suffering from serious environmental damages, fatal health issues, and the disintegration of their community, as a result of the oil magnate's lack of safe practices and lack of caring and respect for the indigenous population.

As expected now the multi-billion corporation just doesn't want to pay for the damages it has caused.

A good article on the whole case was featured in Vanity Fair in 2007.

Chevron's technique is to have the trial spread over years, even decades, knowing that sooner or later the plaintiffs will run out of money for the lawyers. This is the same technique used by food giant Monsanto against small farmers, as highlighted in Food Inc. One by one farmers go bankrupt, as they cannot sustain the legal fees to battle the giant.


Just 5 days ago, the judge in charge of the Chevron trial had to step down after attacks from the corporation. The trial which was only months away to being concluded will now go on indefinitely as a new judge comes in.


While many characters in the film were inspirational, others came out as the face of the "evil" corporation and all that is wrong with it. Chevron's environmental scientist (find the oxymoron!) interviewed in the film claims to see no relation between the oil leaks and toxic wastes all over the region and the cancers and skin diseases that have since plagued the locals and their young children. According to the filmmaker himself, the woman interviewed not only seemed sincere but, he thinks, actually really believes every word she said. Another case of the banality of evil? No matter what excuse we may find her, I don't know how some people sleep at night.