Food Inc.

This movie is about the industry of producing food. It delves into a number of issues. Chicken farms and the use chemicals in the food production line and its impact. It shows how multinationals dictate the market place contrasted with the "simple life" of an organic farmer who sells his produce at a farmers market. In an ideal world who wouldn't adopt better practices...but with burgeoning populations are we moving into a Darwinian situation. There is some steps you can take...esp. given the subsidies being paid by government to various "unhealthy" industries. There are a number of arms to this movie. The mother whose child died as a result of eating a hamburger who is pushing for law reform...and the wall she is against. The increase in diabetes and obesity as a result of high calorie sugar laden food. Genetic engineering and the impact multinationals have on this...particularly when they own a new strain such as Monsanto with the soy bean. I did come home and look up their website and love the fact the movie has 10 simple steps to become involved on their website - http://www.foodincmovie.com/get-involved.php.

This is a movie that will have impact - whether it is enough to make major change is yet to be seen but its ramifications is likely to be ongoing. At the end of the day we aim for betterment...don't we!!!

We Live in Public

This film is incredible. Talk about the madness of the internet explosion. This guy, Josh Harris was a pioneer in the dot.com bubble excitment. He made a lot of money but was also a bit crazy into the mix. He comes across as quite a normal guy but there was a lot of unresolved issues. The film suggested that he had a poor relationship with his mother. He had an alter ego where he dressed up as a clown. At one point he even made a presentation to investor in garb which didn't go down so well. He also had an obsession with Gilligans Island which came from his time spent with the tv as his minder as his mother worked and was an alcoholic. He regularly held parties in NY to attract the most avante guarde. He explored digital tv before the bandwith was good enough but with some success. After going public he had money to burn and decide to conduct an experiment where a group of people were locked up in bunker and every moment was filmed calling it "Quiet". It even included a shooting range and all expenses were paid for including food and drugs. It eventually broke down ..or should I say melted down. The police and fire authorities stepped in and closed the place down. He then meets a girl (his first real relationship) and they live in a house completely wired...including even a camera in the base of the toilet. Thinking weird...well yes. They eventually split up and he goes on to have a complete break down. He moved to an apple farm in mid America living a solitary existence. After a few years there he has now moved to South Africa and you get the feeling he will take on something else in the future. The film starts with his video presentation to his dying mother which seems so cold and impersonal. By the time it finishes you understand why he didn't go and visit his dying mother but it still reeks of his lack of social skills.

Che (1) and (11)

The first part covers up to the early 60's and his time working with Fidel Castro. It goes through the beginnings of "their revolution". The struggle to form a cohesive group. It makes Che seem like he was subordinate to Castro. He was being pushed and shoved around performing different duties. There were a few good lines in it but what struck me is the impact it had on me. I suppose it made me realise what a pacifist I really am. I don't believe that killing someone is really justifiable even in war. It also had some fairly ad hoc scenes from his time in NY and speaking to the UN.

Part 11 covered his time in Boliviar and forming a new unit to struggling against the system there. They went into hiding with select group training them for a year until the government stepped in and found them. They were in a very remote part of the country and although there was reference to the fact they were receiving international support (Satre and Brandt were mentioned) they had to almost beg for food or pay exhorbitant prices for food from the locals. It was an operation which never really had the feel of success about it.

Overall it is interesting but I am not sure about how well it achieved the integration of some scenes. The bouncing back and forth from Cuba to NY and Mexico wasn't explained very well. The contrast was great and should have been done better. I suppose I would be interested to find out the impact on people. It is hardly a film where you come out admiring the man. However his image lives as I know from my time in Argentina.

Filmphobia

This is a very strange movie. It does not do a very good job at the start of explaining itself but reveals itself through the process of the movie. Basically it shows examples of where people came to face their phobia. There are some fairly horrific scenes and some just straight out weird ones. However at the end there is a summary of what you have seen and I found myself thinking there was a strange beauty to it. The director wants a reaction and to film that...he is disappointed when there is none. The film was not finished and it was thought this film would never been shown. It is not explained but seems the director ended up loosing his mind and there is a unexplained shot that has you squirm. In a perverse way I enjoyed this film although feel slightly embarrassed to say so. Not for the feint hearted.

Milk of Sorrow

This Peruvian movie is a film about ignorance. The girl believes that after her mother had been raped during the years of terrorism her milk infected her. There is a struggle to take her mother to be buried after she dies and she can't afford a proper burial. She works for a wealthy woman and they have a very strange relationship where she is kept in her place but a murky respect. There is a lot of the cultural aspects of this movie I feel that I didn't understand. The sad part that this scenario reminds me of the South Africans who belief that raping virgins is a cure for AIDS. Pure ignorance and a lack of education means millions of people are kept in servitude. Came away sad. It did make me think that it is no wonder religion survives.

Pardon my French

This movie follows the well worn path of many french movies. Over intellectualizing. The premise is not really believable. A young girl befriends a woman who has had a breakdown. She reads her mail and pays her bills. Rather than screaming to the police for help they end up becoming friends. She attends events as proxy and organises her life for her even attending her surprise birthday party for her. You don't really get much explained to you but there is certainly a lot of talk about very little. The thing about this style of movie I have never really fathomed is...do the French see it as a comedy or just the way life is.

Humpday

This was my dude of the festival. Basically two old friends catch up with one another after many years. They have gone down separate paths. One married, job and planning kids. The other your Kerauoc type character travelling the world, doing what he likes. At a drunken party they decide to do an "art" film allowing mr boring to prove that he is not so boring. The art film just happens to be two "straight" guys have sex for a porn film festival. After a bit of unfurtive fumbling the movie finishes. Ends up there. Lesson learnt...zip nadda nothing. It just didn't do the hard yards and explore the subject well enough.