Up the Yangtze, With a Paddle

The Yu Family, 2007

I consider 2008 the best year of the last decade for documentary film. Consider Surfwise, Trouble the Water, Man on Wire, Young @ Heart, Nerakhoon (The Betrayal), and Bigger, Stronger, Faster*, along with the second tier of Encounters at the End of the World, Dear Zachary, American Teen, Blindsight, Waltz with Bashir, and Standard Operating Procedure.

Above all of these great films that year, however, I placed Up the Yangtze, Yung Chang's heartbreaking examination of the impact of the Three Gorges Dam on the lives of lower and middle class Chinese living along the banks of the Yangtze River. From my review: "Yung Chang masterfully weaves power, wealth, culture, humility, sacrifice, tradition, national pride, poverty, and environmental concerns into a rich tapestry worthy of the world's attention...The unique aspects of Chinese culture are on such brilliant display in Up the Yangtze that we Westerners will have difficulty understanding them with one viewing."

The film somehow eluded the attention of AMPAS (who award the Oscars), but it did win numerous other awards and received healthy praise from critics. It was also broadcast on PBS as part of its POV documentary series, and now, two years later, the POV blog has an encouraging update from Yung Chang about the main family profiled in the film. Some highlights are below:

2010 P.O.V. Season Preview

 P.O.V. logo courtesy American Documentary, Inc.

The schedule for the 23rd season of PBS' acclaimed P.O.V. documentary series was released more than a month ago, and technically the season started with the broadcast premiere of the Oscar-nominated Food, Inc. in late April. However, the regular schedule does not begin until late June, giving you plenty of time to mark your calendars and sign up for email reminders for the titles that you don't want to miss.

P.O.V. (Season 21, Fall Special): The Way We Get By

This is what "supporting the troops" looks like...

It was tragically ironic that I watched The Way We Get By on the same night as President Obama's speech outlining the troop surge in Afghanistan. Any other night the speech would have been mildly depressing, but that night, after watching the story of a group of seniors greeting more than 900,000 soldiers stepping back onto U.S. soil in Bangor, ME, well, it was soul-crushing. 

The Way We Get By, which is still available to view for free online at PBS through Sunday, is not a documentary about the war (we've had plenty of those, most forgettable), and it's not even about the soldiers. It is about finding meaning in the sunset years of life, and serving others without any condition or expectation of reward. In essence, it is about finding life in the face of death.

2009 P.O.V. Series Preview

(POV logo courtesy American Documentary, Inc.)

I briefly highlighted the 2009 schedule for the PBS award-winning P.O.V. documentary series a few months ago, and since it starts this Tuesday, here's a more thorough preview of the 21st season. Remember that you can sign up for email reminders for one or all of these documentaries according to your local TV schedules, as well as read interviews and join the conversation at the P.O.V. blog throughout the season.

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Week 1 (June 23) - New Muslim Cool
*Puerto Rican-American rapper Hamza Pérez pulled himself out of drug dealing and street life 12 years ago and became a Muslim. Now he's moved to Pittsburgh's tough North Side to start a new religious community, rebuild his shattered family and take his message of faith to other young people through hard-hitting hip-hop music. But when the FBI raids his mosque, Hamza must confront the realities of the post-9/11 world, and himself. New Muslim Cool takes viewers on Hamza's ride through streets, slums and jail cells — following his spiritual journey to some surprising places in an America that never stops changing.

Week 2 (June 30) - Beyond Hatred
*In September 2002, three skinheads were roaming a park in Rheims, France, looking to "do an Arab," when they settled for a gay man instead. Twenty-nine-year-old François Chenu fought back fiercely, but he was beaten unconscious and thrown into a river, where he drowned. The acclaimed French vérité film Beyond Hatred is the story of the crime's aftermath; above all, of the Chenu family's brave and heartrending struggle to seek justice while trying to make sense of such pointless violence and unbearable loss. With remarkable dignity, they fight to transcend hatred and the inevitable desire for revenge.

Week 3 (July 7) - Life. Support. Music.
*In 2004, Jason Crigler's life was taking off. He was one of New York's hottest young guitarists, his new CD was due for release and his wife, Monica, was pregnant with their first child. Then, at a gig in Manhattan, Jason suffered a near-fatal brain hemorrhage. His doctors doubted he would ever emerge from his near-vegetative state. The astonishing journey that followed, documented by friend and filmmaker Eric Daniel Metzgar (The Chances of the World Changing, POV 2007), is a stirring family saga and a portrait of creative struggle in the face of overwhelming tragedy.

Week 4 (July 14) - The Reckoning
*Over 120 countries have united to form the International Criminal Court (ICC) — the first permanent court created to prosecute perpetrators, no matter how powerful, of crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide. The Reckoning follows dynamic ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo and his team for three years across four continents as he issues arrest warrants for Lord's Resistance Army leaders in Uganda, puts Congolese warlords on trial, shakes up the Colombian justice system, and charges Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir with genocide in Darfur. Like a deft thriller, The Reckoning keeps you on the edge of your seat. Will the prosecutor succeed? Will the world ensure that justice prevails?

Week 5 (July 21) - The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)
*Filmed over 23 years, The Betrayal is the Academy Award®-nominated directorial debut of renowned cinematographer Ellen Kuras in a unique collaboration with the film's subject and co-director, Thavisouk ("Thavi") Phrasavath. After the U.S. government waged a secret war in Laos during the Vietnam War, Thavi's father and thousands of other Laotians who had fought alongside American forces were abandoned and left to face imprisonment or execution. Hoping to find safety, Thavi's family made a harrowing escape to America, where they discovered a different kind of war. Weaving ancient prophecy with personal testimony and stunning imagery, The Betrayal is a story of survival and the resilient bonds of family. Find my capsule review here.

Week 6 (July 28) - Hold Me Tight, Let Me Go
*Variety describes it as a film "mixing ferocity with tenderness, delicacy with tenacity" — exactly like the unusual school it explores. In Hold Me Tight, Let Me Go, one of Britain's leading documentary filmmakers takes a verité look at Oxford's Mulberry Bush School for emotionally disturbed children. Mulberry's heroically forbearing staff greets extreme, sometimes violent behavior with only consolation and gentle restraint. Kim Longinotto's unblinking camera captures an arduous process and a nearly unhinged environment, but it also records the daily dramas of troubled kids trying to survive and the moments of hope they achieve with Mulberry's clear-eyed staff.

Week 7 (August 4) - ( Encore presentation) Johnny Cash: The Man, His World, His Music
*In this classic 1969 documentary, the Man in Black is captured at his peak, the first of many in a looming roller-coaster career. Fresh on the heels of his Folsom Prison album, Cash reveals the dark intensity and raw talent that made him a country music star and cultural icon. Director Robert Elfstrom got closer than any other filmmaker to Cash, who is seen performing with his new bride June Carter Cash, in a rare duet with Bob Dylan, and behind the scenes with friends, family and aspiring young musicians. Johnny Cash: The Man, His World, His Music paints an unforgettable portrait that endures beyond the singer's 2003 death.

Week 8 (August 11) - (Encore presentation) Made in L.A.
*Follow the remarkable story of three Latina immigrants working in Los Angeles sweatshops as they embark on a three-year odyssey to win basic labor protections from a trendy clothing retailer. In intimate verité style, Made in L.A. reveals the impact of the struggle on each woman's life as they are gradually transformed by the experience. Compelling, humorous, deeply human, Made in L.A. is a story about immigration, the power of unity and the courage it takes to find your voice.

Week 9 (August 18) - P.O.V. Shorts Selection

Week 10 (August 25) - This Way Up
*This is a story about a wall — the separations it's meant to enforce, and the unintended ones it gives birth to. The security wall being constructed by Israel on the West Bank has divided Palestinian families and communities. It has also isolated the Catholic-run Our Lady of Sorrows nursing home outside of Jerusalem, leaving its feisty residents to face old age in the throes of one of the world's most bitter conflicts. With beautiful imagery, moments of laughter and use of a quietly eccentric older guide, This Way Up examines the social, economic and religious barriers that arise from physical ones.

Week 10 (September 1) - Ella Es el Matador
*For Spaniards — and for the world — nothing has expressed their country's traditionally rigid gender roles more powerfully than the image of the male matador. So sacred was the bullfighter's masculinity to Spanish identity that a 1908 law barred women from the sport. Ella Es el Matador reveals the surprising history of the women who made such a law necessary and offers fascinating profiles of two female matadors currently in the arena: the acclaimed Mari Paz Vega and neophyte Eva Florencia. These women are gender pioneers by necessity. But what emerges as their truest motivation is their sheer passion — for bullfighting and the pursuit of a dream.

Week 11 (September 8) - The English Surgeon
*What is it like to have power over life and death, and yet to struggle with your own humanity? This is the story of acclaimed British neurosurgeon Henry Marsh, who has traveled to Ukraine for 15 years to treat patients who have been left to die; of his friend and medical colleague in Kyiv who carries on the fight despite official hostility and archaic surgical conditions; and of a young patient who hopes that Henry can save his life. Tense, heartbreaking and humorous, The English Surgeon is a remarkable depiction of one doctor's commitment to relieving suffering and of the emotional turmoil he undergoes in bringing hope to a desperate people.

Week 12 (September 15) - The Principal Story
*The Principal Story tells two stories, painting a dramatic portrait of the challenges facing America's public schools — and of the great difference a dedicated principal can make. Tresa Dunbar is a second-year principal at Chicago's Nash Elementary, where 98% of students come from low-income families; in Springfield, Illinois, Kerry Purcell has led Harvard Park Elementary, with similar demographics, for six years. Tod Lending (Omar & Pete, POV 2005) and David Mrazek followed both women over the course of a school year, discovering each one's unique styles yet similar passions. The Principal Story takes the viewer along for an emotional ride that reveals what effective educational leadership looks like in the 21st century.

Week 13 (September 22) - Bronx Princess
*Rocky Otoo is the Bronx-bred teenage daughter of Ghanaian parents, and she's no pushover. She is a sassy high-achiever bound for college. With freedom in sight, Rocky rebels against her mother's rules. When their relationship reaches a breaking point, Rocky flees to her father, a chief in Ghana. What follows is captured in Bronx Princess, a tumultuous coming-of-age story set in a homeland both familiar and strange. Her precocious — and very American — ideas of a successful, independent life conflict with her father's traditional African values. Reconciling her dual legacies becomes an unexpected chapter in this unforgettable young woman's education.


Fall Special (November 11) - The Way We Get By
*On call 24 hours a day for the past five years, a group of senior citizens has made history by greeting nearly 800,000 American troops at a tiny airport in Bangor, Maine. The Way We Get By is an intimate look at three of these greeters as they confront the universal losses that come with aging and rediscover their reason for living. Bill Knight, Jerry Mundy and Joan Gaudet find the strength to overcome their personal battles and transform their lives through service. This inspirational and surprising story shatters the stereotypes of today's senior citizens as the greeters redefine the meaning of community.

Winter Special (December 30) - Patti Smith: Dream of Life
*Shot over 11 years by renowned fashion photographer Steven Sebring, Patti Smith: Dream of Life is an intimate portrait of the legendary rocker, poet and artist. Following Smith's personal reflections over a decade, the film explores her many art forms and the friends and poets who inspired her — William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Bob Dylan, Robert Mapplethorpe and Michael Stipe. She emerges as a crucial, contemporary link between the Beats, punks and today's music. Shot in lush, dark tones, featuring rare performance clips and narrated by the artist herself, Patti Smith: Dream of Life is an impressionistic journal of a multi-faceted artist that underscores her unique place in American culture.

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So there are the selections for Season #21. They might not beat "The Real Housewives" or "Jon & Kate Plus 8" in the Nielsen ratings, but I can almost guarantee they'll make you feel better about humanity.

P.O.V. Announces 2009 Schedule

PBS' terrific P.O.V. documentary series is set for 2009, and the 21st season boasts some very promising selections, including (as promised some months ago) recent Oscar nominee The Betrayal (Nerakhoon). The full list with synopses can be found on the comprehensive P.O.V. website, on which you can also watch full-length films from previous years and already sign up for email reminders for this year's showings.

The series starts this summer, but to whet your appetite here's the confirmed listing I just copied from my email (excuse the weird formatting). I'll chime in on the ones that immediately grab my attention, and I'll post another preview before the series begins in June.


June 23 - New Muslim Cool
* A Puerto Rican-American rapper from Pittsburgh who converted to Islam 12 years ago finds his new identity as a Muslim is increasingly challenged in a complex post-9/11 world.

June 30 - Beyond Hatred

July 7 - Life. Support. Music.

July 14 - The Reckoning
* A legal thriller about the International Criminal Court and the fight against the perpetrators of crimes against humanity (M. Night Shyamalan), war crimes, and genocide. This played at Sundance and might get a theatrical release this year, so keep an eye out either way.

July 21 - The Betrayal
* I've talked this one up for going on a year now. Find my capsule review here and find this Oscar nominee during its short theater run this spring or during its P.O.V. run in July.

July 28 - Hold Me Tight, Let Me Go

Aug. 4 - ( Encore): Johnny Cash

Aug. 11 - (Encore): Made in L.A.

Aug. 18 - P.O.V. Shorts Selection

Aug. 25 - This Way Up

Sept. 1 - Ella Es el Matador
* Women were barred from the sport of bullfighting in Spain until the walls of patriarchy gave way in 1908. The film profiles two women currently on the Spanish circuit, and if nothing else should offer a less bloody glimpse at the sport than a Hollywood feature would offer.

Sept. 8 - The English Surgeon

Sept. 15 - The Principal Story

Sept. 22 - Bronx Princess

November Special - The Way We Get By
* This documentary about three senior citizens who have spent five years greeting some 800,000 U.S. troops on their way to and from their tours in war zones around the world. It just won the Special Jury award at SXSW last week and there's a good chance it will hit theaters sometime in 2009. Of the P.O.V. Class of 2009, this would be my prediction as one that could get some Oscar attention next February.

January 2010 Special - Patti Smith: Dream of Life
* I missed this at MSPIFF last year but everybody I know who saw it loved it. My guess is that people who admired Patti Smith and her contemporaries would enjoy this more than anyone else (including me), but it could offer some solid music if nothing else.

Check back here for a more thorough season preview this June, and don't forget you can always watch full version of some past films on the P.O.V. website.

P.O.V. (Season 20, #16): Soldiers of Conscience

I know it's been a while since I profiled one of these, but if you remember my P.O.V. season preview, many of the ones I wanted to see came at the end of the season, which is now. Plus Up The Yangtze has already been reviewed here. Plus I've been really busy.

Anyway, Soldiers of Conscience was the last official P.O.V. documentary of this season, and wow, what a way to finish the year. I can't say I'm not suspicious that it was scheduled as the last one in order to be close to the election, but then again I'm suspicious about everything happening right now. As if people haven't already made up their minds?

Speaking of the mind - it is the place where this deeply probing documentary lies. Through interviewing current and former soldiers, including several conscientious objectors, Soldiers of Conscience explores the fuzzy area where war and morality intersect. The film, by husband and wife filmmakers Catherine Ryan and Gary Weinberg, can be seen for the next few days in its entirety on the P.O.V. website (it may also be showing on your local PBS station for another week or two). Be advised, you will see the horrors of war - several scenes took my breath away. You will see many people dead, and you will see many people die. And this is actual footage, not some stylish, glamorized Hollywood blockbuster. It is not for the faint of heart.

And neither is war, as so many of these soldiers report. This isn't news; the effects of war on the human mind have been documented for years, but only a few soldiers are ever willing to talk about it, and even fewer are willing or able to describe how their mind changed because of their experience in war.

Aidan Delgado, Joshua Casteel, Camilo Mejia and Kevin Benderman are four of those soldiers, all of whom served in Iraq and two of whom successfully received conscientious objector status before their honorable discharge.

Delgado, who was the focus of national attention when he appeared on "60 Minutes" in 2004 while still AWOL, receives the most sympathetic treatment in this film. "There's no higher assertion of freedom than to follow your conscience," says Delgado, who spent nearly a year in jail while waiting for his conscientious objector status to be approved (which is no small feat as described here - sounds like filling your FAFSA out in Chinese and then having to orally defend it in Russian). Says Delgado, "Nothing prepares you for the unmeasured killing of civilians." He recalls an incident (complemented by video footage) in which a political protest in Iraq turned violent. He saw a young boy in the crowd with a grenade and immediately succumbed to his "reflexive fire training". He says he doesn't remember pulling the trigger, and didn't know what happened until he saw the boy later dragged out of a pool of blood. When he got back to base he disarmed his weapon and saw he had fired not one, but 11 shots.

A troubling story, and one that reinforces the lessons being taught by Lt. Col. Peter Kilner at the U.S. Military Academy at Westpoint, who boasts that "reflexive fire training" increased firing rates by over 300% after World War II. As he describes it, such training is meant to override moral reasoning; there is no time to think about what is wrong and right, and the decision-making process is eliminated. "No one likes to kill," says Kilner. "It may be nasty, it may be unpleasant, but the alternative is worse." But what is the alternative? We don't hear. "I've never killed anyone, but I've talked to a lot of people who have," finishes Kilner. More from him later.

Carlos Meija was at the Army recruiting office signing his enlistment papers on the morning of September 11, 2001. He remembers being disturbed at the behavior around him during basic training, including his own. He couldn't believe "how easy it was when you're surrounded by people shouting 'Kill, Kill, Kill!', to also shout 'Kill!'." However, he describes how during his time in Iraq he was never able to "make the jump" and see the enemy as subhuman. Rather, he saw the enemy as himself - a young soldier with orders to follow. Although a commanding officer reassured him "if you hurt others because you have to, and without hatred in your heart, it's alright," Meija applied for conscientious objector status and was immediately ostracized by his platoon: "They see you as the enemy." Meija is now the co-chair of the board of directors of Iraq Veterans Against the War.

"We sleep comfortably in our beds because violent men do violent things on our behalf," explains Joshua Casteel, an Evangelical Christian who left the army after a short stint and then reenlisted again after 9/11. It's a saying he read long ago, and a saying he no longer believes. While serving as an interrogator at Abu Ghraib, Casteel had his "crystallization of conscience" (the moment necessary to prove when applying for conscientious objector status). He was interrogating a jihadist and surprisingly found himself stuck in a tit-for-tat stalemate discussion about the misinterpreted religious duty to kill the enemy. He realized neither he or the jihadist was getting anywhere, but he desperately wanted to continue the discussion and learn more about the jihadist's views. It was then that Casteel decided he had to get out, reasoning that "following Christ means taking seriously the charge for peace-making."

The role of religion springs up like this several times in the film (including Sgt. Kevin Benderman's description of his crystallization of conscience: "Why am I carrying an M-16 around in the Garden of Eden?"), but one moment really troubled me. Lt. Col. Kilner uses the parable of the Good Samaritan to justify the need for war. What if the Samaritan would have come earlier, asks Kilner. Would it have been better for him to wait for the beating to stop before helping, or would it have been better to use force - lethal force if necessary - to stop the beating?

It's not that this question isn't worthy of discussion, but it reveals a total misunderstanding of the parable. It wasn't about what the Samaritan did, but who the Samaritan was, and the fact that both a priest and a Levite passed by the victim first and did nothing. Pointing out this misunderstanding doesn't answer Kilner's question, but it still concerns me that the military continues to refashion religious scripture and make it convenient to the moral reasoning they need to justify to themselves that killing is excusable.

Oops. Have I shown my colors? Yes, I sympathize with these soldiers. I am a person of conscience, I suppose, and I'm trouble that so many people have been thrown into the mess of war, either forcibly or voluntarily, only to realize that taking another life isn't as easy it seems in so many video games and movies. "Some people say, 'Once a soldier, always a soldier,'" says Delgado. "Well, once a human being, always a human being." I agree, while fully admitting that I've never been a soldier in any military and can only speak from the "human being" perspective.

Kilner claims that a conscientious objector's "freedom to dissent is made possible by the very soldiers they criticize." Well...maybe, but by that stretch reasoning I'm obliged to thank the military for everything I have in my life, including my opinions, right? So how does it work in a country like Costa Rica, which has no standing military? And what about Germany? According to a statistic shown in the film (which I have yet to corroborate), 150,000 Germans were drafted into mandatory military service in 2004. Of these, 70,000 served in the military and 80,000 became conscientious objectors and completed domestic community service instead.

It's an incredible statistic, and it's no wonder it comes right after Delgado makes an interesting insight about World War II. He claims that military promoters often ask, "What if no one had stopped Hitler?," to which he replies, "Well, what if there would have been enough conscientious objectors in Hitler's army?" It's a clever, unprovable, and naive point, which Delgado readily admits. But he is convinced, "peace is not a Utopian vision."

Soldiers of Conscience is more of a psychological documentary than a political documentary, and although it gives fair screen time to Kilner (interesting name, I just noticed) and other active soldiers who morally justify killing, it's not quite as even-handed as it claims. Let's just say you're probably not going to gain a new sympathy for military philosophy. Additionally, the disturbing visuals and somewhat scattered editing sometimes make it confusing for the viewer to figure out who is saying what and which pictures and videos actually relate to our subjects. Not a major problem, but one that bugged me a little bit.

As always, the conversation can be continued at the P.O.V. blog, where already many former and active members of the military have spoken their mind on the issue and the film. Additionally, you can find updates about the film's subjects and learn more about the moral justification for killing on Kilner's blog.

P.O.V. (Season 20, #3): The Ballad of Esequiel Hernández

In 2006, American troops were sent to the U.S./Mexico border for the first time since 1997, when all military operations at the border were called off following the shooting death of Esequiel Hernández, an 18 year-old American citizen who was tending his goats and mistaken for a drug runner by U.S. Marines. The incident marked the first American killing by U.S. military forces on native soil since the 1970 Kent State shootings.

The Ballad of Esequiel Hernández is the directorial debut of Kieran Fitzgerald, who learned about Hernández while working on the fictionalized version of the shooting, 2005's The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada. Tommy Lee Jones, who directed and starred in that film, is the narrator of Fitzgerald's documentary. (Another bit of trivia - the incident happened in West Texas, the filming location for last year's No Country for Old Men, in which Jones also starred.)

The fateful incident occurred outside Redford, TX, on May 20, 1997. Hernández fired the first shots (he carried a rifle in order to ward off wolves preying on the goats), but nobody knows why. Either he thought he saw an animal or he deliberately fired at the four fully camouflaged Marines sitting 220 yards away. The Marines initially retreated and then followed Hernández. When one Marine claimed to see Hernández raise his rifle in the direction of another Marine, the "rules of engagement" were followed and Hernández was "neutralized."

There was little controversy over these details of what happened, but the debate raged over what both sides were thinking. The Marines claimed self-defense but the local community considered it a murder, especially since autopsy reports showed Hernández was shot in the back. Despite an initial uproar, no charges were filed and the Marine who fired the shot was even considered for a Navy Commendation Medal.

Now, 10 years later, the involved Marines admit they're not sure if Hernández actually raised his rifle in their direction. It's plausible that it may have been an accident, but the Marines have trouble reconciling their memories of what actually happened with the story they told themselves happened.

On May 15, 2006, 6,000 U.S. Marines were sent back to the border as part of the War on Terror. Bill O'Reilly, Tom Tancredo and others claim that "accidents will happen in any military deployment" and that these accidents have to be accepted as a sacrifice for upholding our national security. The film ends with some clever camera work that links George W. Bush's 2006 decision to his father's decision to send the troops to the border for the first time in 1989.

There's plenty to appreciate in The Ballad of Esequiel Hernández: the visual style, the interviews with the Marines, the archival footage, and even the title, taken from the border tradition of writing "corridos", or ballads, to tell rural stories and legends. The whole production is fairly impressive for a first film, but it's also occasionally clear that Fitzgerald is still learning his craft.

Some of the details and timing seem to get lost in the interview clips and reenactments, and an imbalance exists in which too much time is spent on the shooting and too little time is spent on its aftereffects in the ensuing years. If I understand correctly, Fitzgerald is trying to pin the U.S. government for not only promoting an aggressive mission in a peaceful area, but sending unprepared kids with itchy trigger fingers to complete that mission.

An ambitious effort that doesn't quite achieve excellence, The Ballad of Esequiel Hernández is nonetheless an important film about the consequences of the U.S. military operating on domestic soil, and the blurry gray area that appeared when one of their objectives resulted in disaster. As always, PBS impressively carries on the conversation over at the P.O.V. blog.

P.O.V. (Season 20, #1): Traces of the Trade

Wow, quite a start for this season of PBS' P.O.V. Documentary Series. I was a little behind in seeing the first film, Katrina Browne's Traces of the Trade: A Story From the Deep North, but the conversation isn't over at the P.O.V. blog, where the "Talking Back" post has received almost 500 comments in the last two weeks.

First time filmmaker Katrina Browne grew up in Bristol, RI, proud of her ancestry from the DeWolf family dating back to 1744. As a young adult she learned of the horrifying true history that her relatives had known about for years but never embraced: the DeWolfs were the largest slave-trading family in U.S. history, responsible for bringing some 10,000 Africans to the shores of Rhode Island - even as late as 1875, years after abolition and the end of the Civil War.

Stirred to action in a way her relatives had never been, Browne contacted 200 descendants of the DeWolf family nationwide in the hope that some would join her on what was sure to be a heartwrenching journey back through time. Most didn't respond at all and only nine ended up gathering for the awkward family reunion.

Their trip begins with an overview of the DeWolf family legacy in Bristol, which is comprehensive to say the least (family members are enshrined in the stained glass panes of the local Episcopalian church). The ten descendants are then off to the slave ports in Ghana and the slave trading stalls in Cuba before heading back home to their respective cities and states.

What do you think happened?

The group was steamrolled by guilt and overwhelmed with confusion about what to do next. Seek forgiveness and advocate for reparations? Talk to their white peers and family about their shared privilege and history? Talk to black Americans about their experiences? While the last section of the film focuses on the first of these options, I think I would have liked to see more of the last two.

A number of people have gone further and simply criticized Browne for focusing too much of the film on her family's guilt, but if that's what they were experiencing then how has she done wrong? Her motive was to document her family's experience, and that's exactly what she does. This is not to say Browne ignores any aspect of the bigger issue - in fact there are hardly any stones unturned or questions unasked.

The only other criticism I can direct at Traces of the Trade is perhaps unfair: Katrina Browne's narration is almost intolerable. She sounds like she's sick, miserable, half asleep or worse. Obviously the content is not something to be bright and cheery about, but her monotone reminded me of too many detached/hip commercial voiceovers.

But if that's the worst I can say about this important film, well that's not very bad at all. The real meat of this discussion has already been covered at the POV blog, and I encourage you to check out the comments over there, especially since some of the film's subjects, including James DeWolf Perry, speak up on their own behalf. It's also nice that, for the most part, flamers and IMDb-type folk have steered clear of this one.

It should be no surprise that this is an issue that still creates tension and frustration among all Americans. It might be worth spending a few minutes at least thinking about the conversation that apparently nobody wants to have.

2008 P.O.V. Doc Series Kicks Off

Like I said two weeks ago, I don't have HBO, so I'll unfortunately miss the channel's summer documentary series.

So what? For the 20th year in a row, PBS is presenting its award-winning P.O.V. documentary series, starting tomorrow and continuing through the middle of October. Obviously I wont see all of them, but I've got my eye on the following films (click on the links to watch the trailers):

Week 1 (Tuesday, 6/24): Traces of the Trade

"Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North is a unique and disturbing journey of discovery into the history and "living consequences" of one of the United States' most shameful episodes — slavery. In this bicentennial year of the U.S. abolition of the slave trade, one might think the tragedy of African slavery in the Americas has been exhaustively told. Katrina Browne thought the same, until she discovered that her slave-trading ancestors from Rhode Island were not an aberration. Rather, they were just the most prominent actors in the North's vast complicity in slavery, buried in myths of Northern innocence."

Week 2: Election Day

"Forget the pie charts, color-coded maps and hyperventilating pundits. What's the street-level experience of voters in today's America? In a triumph of documentary storytelling, "Election Day" combines 11 stories — shot simultaneously on November 2, 2004, from dawn until long past midnight — into one. Factory workers, ex-felons, harried moms, Native American activists and diligent poll watchers, from South Dakota to Florida, take the process of democracy into their own hands. The result is an entertaining, inspiring and sometimes unsettling story of citizens determined to vote on one fateful day."

Week 3: The Ballad of Esequiel Hernández

"In 1997, U.S. Marines patrolling the Texas-Mexico border as part of the War on Drugs shot and killed Esequiel Hernández Jr. Mistaken for a drug runner, the 18-year-old was, in fact, a U.S. citizen tending his family's goats with a .22 rifle. He became the first American killed by U.S. military forces on native soil since the 1970 Kent State shootings. "The Ballad of Esequiel Hernández," narrated by Tommy Lee Jones, explores Hernández's tragic death and its torturous aftermath. His parents and friends, the Marines on patrol and investigators discuss the dangers of militarizing the border and the death of one young man."

Week 13: Calavera Highway

"When brothers Armando and Carlos Peña set off to carry their mother’s ashes to south Texas, their road trip turns into a quest for answers about a strangely veiled past. As they reunite with five other brothers, the two men try to piece together their family’s shattered history. Why was their mother cast out by her family? What happened to their father, who disappeared during the notorious 1954 U.S. deportation program Operation Wetback? "Calavera Highway" is a sweeping story of seven Mexican-American men grappling with the meaning of masculinity, fatherhood and a legacy of rootless beginnings."

Week 14: Critical Condition (recommended if you found Sicko dishonest)

"What happens if you fall sick and are one of 47 million people in America without health insurance? "Critical Condition" by Roger Weisberg ("Waging a Living," P.O.V. 2006) puts a human face on the nation's growing health care crisis by capturing the harrowing struggles of four critically ill Americans who discover that being uninsured can cost them their jobs, health, home, savings, and even their lives. Filmed in verité style, "Critical Condition" offers a moving and invaluable exposé at a time when the nation is debating how to extend health insurance to all Americans."

Week 15: Up The Yangtze (also opening in theaters nationwide this summer)

"Nearing completion, China's massive Three Gorges Dam is altering the landscape and the lives of people living along the fabled Yangtze River. Countless ancient villages and historic locales will be submerged, and 2 million people will lose their homes and livelihoods. The Yu family desperately seeks a reprieve by sending their 16-year-old daughter to work in the cruise ship industry that has sprung up to give tourists a last glimpse of the legendary river valley. With cinematic sweep, "Up the Yangtze" explores lives transformed by the biggest hydroelectric dam in history, a hotly contested symbol of the Chinese economic miracle." (Read my full review here).

Week 16: Soldiers of Conscience

"When is it right to kill? In the midst of war, is it right to refuse? Eight U.S. soldiers, some who have killed and some who said no, reveal their inner moral dilemmas in "Soldiers of Conscience." Made with official permission of the U.S. Army, the film transcends politics to explore the tension between spiritual values and military orders. Soldiers follows the stories of both conscientious objectors and those who criticize them. Through this clash of views, the film discovers a surprising common ground: All soldiers are "soldiers of conscience," torn between the demands of duty and the call of conscience."

Winter Special: Inheritance

"Imagine watching Schindler's List and knowing the sadistic Nazi camp commandant played by Ralph Fiennes was your father. "Inheritance" is the story of Monika Hertwig, the daughter of mass murderer Amon Goeth. Hertwig has spent her life in the shadow of her father's sins, trying to come to terms with her "inheritance." She seeks out Helen Jonas-Rosenzweig, who was enslaved by Goeth and who is one of the few living eyewitnesses to his unspeakable brutality. The women's raw, emotional meeting unearths terrible truths and lingering questions about how the actions of our parents can continue to ripple through generations."

So they're not all about cupcakes, balloons and roses, but they're real and raw and, hopefully, revealing. I'll try to post reviews of the ones I see. PBS is one of the best reasons to have a TV. I have to shamefully admit I rarely watch it, but I still know it's enriching a lot more lives than most channels. Support public broadcasting!

REVIEW: Up the Yangtze (A)

Background: About 15 years ago, the Chinese government broke ground on the Three Gorges Dam, which will be the largest hydroelectric power station in the world when it's finished in a few years. The length of the construction should give you an idea of how unfathomably massive this thing is - over a mile long and over 60 stories high. The dam will, of course, raise the level of the fabled Yangtze River by an incredible scale, and the devastating effect on the local population is the subject of Chinese-Canadian filmmaker Yung Chang's new documentary, Up The Yangtze. The film is the feature length debut for Chang and it had its U.S. premiere in competition at Sundance in 2008. Check out the trailer, and if you unfortunately miss Up the Yangtze in the theater, make sure to watch it on 10/14/08 as part of PBS's phenomenal P.O.V. series.

Synopsis : Chang gives us a personal background of his grandfather's stories about the Yangtze river (including a chilling poem by Mao Zedong: "The mountain goddess if she is still there, will marvel at a world so changed.") before focusing on the film's two subjects. Yu Shui, 16, is the eldest child of peasant farmers who live on the banks of the river. She wants to continue her education but her parents need her to work to support the family. Chen Bo Yu, 19, is an attractive, charismatic, spoiled only child from an urban, middle-class family. Both teens end up working on a cruise ship that eerily ferries its Western passengers on a "Farewell Tour" of the Yangtze's sights. Yu (known on the ship as "Cindy") struggles with her impoverished background and uncertain future; she couldn't be more out of her element, and her poor language skills relegate her to the kitchen. Bo Yu ("Jerry") charms the passengers with his singing and smiling, but like many young Chinese in a one-child state, he's used to being the center of attention and doesn't understand the meaning of humility. The story of these two is framed by an unbelievably rich study of Chinese culture and its symbolic relation to what's happening with the dam and the two million people displaced by its construction. There's no reconciliation at the end of this - the project is happening, period. Chang's motive is to simply help us empathize with those in an impossible situation.

I Loved:
+ The shockingly impressive time-lapse shot of the river's water level rising.
+ The moments of genuine comedy that are well placed and never inappropriate.
+ Getting an intimate look at life on the Yangtze river - the mysterious landscapes and bizarre nautical voyages.

I Liked:
+ That Chang didn't get his hands dirty with Michael Moore-style attempts at confronting the stubborn government or dam developers (because what would be the point of doing so now?).
+ The moving musical score, and Chang's well-timed narration.

I Disliked:
- The editing, and some of the video quality. A few sequences didn't flow very easily and the last shot left me puzzled.

I Hated:
- The utter desperation that you feel watching the situation unfold. More than once I either threw up my hands or pounded my fist in exasperation.

Grade:
Writing - N/A
Acting - N/A
Production - 8
Emotional Impact - 10
Music - 5
Significance - 5

Total: 28/30= 93% = A

Last Word: Do what you can to see Up the Yangtze at first opportunity. Yung Chang masterfully weaves power, wealth, culture, humility, sacrifice, tradition, national pride, poverty, and environmental concerns into a rich tapestry worthy of the world's attention. The production of the film is unpolished, but the raw footage is extremely potent, and the gray, smoggy feel to it brings an added sense of realism (funny to say for a documentary, but it's true). There are symbolic images that you'll remember long after it's over: a man literally carrying his house on his back, a family living by candlelight, cruise ship passengers ignorantly posing for pictures in Chinese dynastic costumes. One of the most ironic aspects of Up the Yangtze, a searingly tragic film, is that it's frequently funny, if only for moments at a time. Some of the responses from the people Chang interviews are staggering, causing your smile to dissolve as soon as it forms - "It's hard being a human...being a common person in China is more difficult," jokes a shopkeeper before bursting into a fit of tears. The unique aspects of Chinese culture are on such brilliant display in Up the Yangtze that we Westerners will have difficulty understanding them with one viewing. What kind of society would allow this to happen? "Sacrifice the little family for the big family," laments one peasant. Chairman Mao would be proud.