No End In Sight

I went into this documentary fairly open-minded about the things it would present to me concerning the Iraq War on Terror and the Bush administration. But I can honestly say that after watching this documentary, the only thing I really understood was that the war could've been handled better financially and internationally and that Bush made some awful decisions with his administration. I didn't get specifics nor did I really understand a lot of the jargin tossed here and there.

There are documentaries that spell things out for people, and then there are documentaries that assume you're already fairly educated in the topic and will understand what's going on without a basic course in what they're talking about. This documentary, I felt, was at the latter of the two. I really, REALLY wanted to understand what they were talking about but found myself really struggling. It doesn't help that I'm terrible at politics and find myself mostly bored. And it also didn't help that the documentary was about 75% talking heads and 25% B-roll/stock footage of the military shooting weapons, looking haggard, and of other random footage concerning politics and war. Talking head documentaries can be terribly fascinating, but I am so sad to say that I wasn't really into it at all.

The things that stood out to me, though, were when it mentioned that they tried to get specific members of the Bush administration to comment, and they were "unavailable", which worked more in favor for the documentary than it did hurt it. When I see someone not comment on something in a documentary and they make note, it stands out to me as they were either too high and mighty to talk or they didn't want to accidentally get caught saying things that would incriminate themselves or something of that sort. I also remember the amazing lingering shots that they had where you'd see their expressions at the very beginning of the film, expressing the seriousness of the situation they were about to discuss, and then at the very end, sealing the deal and their argument that, yes, the Bush administration could've easily handled things better and could've done things differently.

Overall, the documentary was very well made and pieced together, I just lacked the attention or interest to be fully invested and I wish it had more to it than talking heads and B-roll. You political people out there, go ahead and watch it! Those of you who are like me, maybe you should watch something that spells out politics so simply that George Washington would face-palm himself, and I have no shame in needing those kinds of documentaries, but I will strive to improve myself and try and understand. Maybe one day, I'll try watching it again with a "The Bush Administration/Iraq War for Dummies" book in front of me.

Someday.

Forks Over Knives

Before watching this documentary, I was somewhat of a food activist. I had watched things like "Food, Inc." "Ingredients", "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution" and, of course, "Supersize Me" and they have all given me amazing insights on the world of food. I take food and health very seriously because many Americans fall into the trap of buying fast food because it's fast and easy and it doesn't cost a lot of money. Sometimes I'll fall into the trap, but since watching many of these documentaries, I'm very wary of anything processed and high in sugar/fat.

This documentary wasn't just an argument against processed foods: it was an argument on foods that have been labeled healthy in the Western hemisphere. All of a sudden, after 2 hours of watching this film, I'm having second thoughts on the consumption of milk, the eating of animal bi-products, and the health benefits of a vegan lifestyle. It wasn't just a heavy-graphics/charts type of documentary that bombards you with facts; there were interviews with specialists, people who've switched to the whole foods lifestyle, and even the director himself tried it out to validate the truth of what was being presented! I felt that what worked especially was the study done by a nutritionist/scientist in China about theWestern diet's effects on the human body. Many food staples in the diet can be linked to cancer, coronary disease, and other such problems. Another fact that had me convinced was the correlation between cow milk consumption and Osteoporosis: America has the highest percentage of people with Osteoporosis and yet we are the country who drinks the most amount of milk from animals! How does that add up?

All of the interviews were also working in favor for the documentary. The personal accounts from those people who switched to the whole foods diet were extraordinary. Not only did their health problems stop when they switched, they started to reverse! People could go off their medications, they could start doing things that they couldn't before and they felt more energetic and rested. Even a professional kick-boxer was on the diet and proved that you didn't need an obscene amount of red meat to keep muscles strong and healthy.

"Forks over Knives" was a subtle but convincing documentary of how eating right will do more for you body than getting a bypass: yes, it is a huge lifestyle change but when someone gets a bypass, what are the chances that they'll eat healthier? When you experience a brush with death, I feel that a lot of people would be convinced to try out the diet if they knew that it would help reverse diabetes, high cholesterol, and all of those awful effects of overeating.

I didn't notice much as far as flaws with the documentary. I feel like everyone should give it a shot and see for themselves the benefits of such a lifestyle.

"The Business of Being Born"

Let me start off by saying that this was single-handedly the HARDEST documentary I've ever had to watch. I can't handle doctoral things or blood very well and there were good-sized portions of both going on in this doc.

"The Business of Being Born" had two different approaches: the first being they used pictures, sound bytes, clips and all sorts of forms of media in a series of montages to overload the audience with information about how hospital births aren't natural and that hospitals are not where mothers should be to birth their child. They used a series of shocking statistics about how the U.S. has one of the highest mortality rates in childbirth amongst developed countries and all sorts of horrific things. This all primarily existed in the very beginning to draw the attention of the viewer and to shock them into accepting midwives as an exceptional alternative. The second half the film consisted of many, MANY home videos of home births and how successful each one is. Throughout, there still exists interviews with experts who praise the midwife method of birthing and how important the setting is for a newborn baby and the mother. 

For me, these approaches were definitely effective: the bombardment of information about how impersonal a hospital birth is versus the empowering experience of a home birth is super convincing and they promote a valid point that humans are animals and are programmed to give birth without the help of painkillers, inducing drugs, or a C-section. 

Personally, after watching the film, I was definitely not eager to have a baby either way: it all looked painful, gross, and something that would probably give me nightmares weeks afterwards. So I could look at this documentary fairly observationally without any set opinions either way. There were a lot of experts on the benefits of using a midwife and home-birth, but for 2/3 of the film I felt that the filmmakers were being slightly manipulative in that they didn't get a good opinion for the other side. We kept hearing about how doctors are insensitive and give out C-sections because they want more business and C-sections are fast and get the mothers out of the hospital sooner, but never did we hear a doctor agree or disagree to such a bold statement. But I think that was the point of the film. Many people are already going to dismiss the idea of a home birth because they feel midwives are medieval and inexperienced. So the filmmakers had to not only move past that stereotype but they had to convince the audience that the best option for giving birth is through a birthing center or home birth.

Despite all the birthing scenes (and a LOT of female birthing nudity, I might add, so let that be my discretion for those of you curious about the film), I felt that all the scenes of the mothers holding their newborns right after the midwives instructed them to pull them out of their womb the rest of the way (which wasn't nearly as touching and sweet as it was cringe-worthy to those who are squeamish) were some of the most tender moments in doc history. They talked heavily about how that particular moment is important for mothers and babies because that's the key bonding moment. They contrasted the moment by stating that if animals had C-sections, they'd abandon their baby since they never bonded with it in the first moments. 

The ending was where I felt that the bias was the least apparent. ***SPOILERS ABOUT THE ENDING*** The filmmaker was pregnant throughout the entirety of the film and at the very end we experience the birth of her baby. She was planning on a home birth but 3-4 weeks before the baby was due, she started going into labor. Her midwife came to check things out and saw that the baby was in distress and did the best thing for her: sent her to a hospital. The baby was breach and it had to be surgically removed. It ended up that not only was it breach but the chord was wrapped around the neck and the baby wasn't nearly strong enough to have a vaginal, natural birth. Everything was working against her. And so they ask her after 8 months if she felt cheated in her experience. She said "yes and no" because the baby was in no state to have a natural birth and that he was meant to come this way, but that she really wanted the joys of having a home birth.

Thus, because of how it ended with the filmmaker having a C-section and not bashing it, I felt that it was a very informative documentary on the other options out there and that you don't have to have a baby in a hospital with tons of needles, blood, and creepy doctors in masks and stuff. You can have a baby in the comfort of your own home, in a warm pool of water, with your spouse helping you along the way, and it can be a heart-warming (if not extremely painful) experience with the people you love.

Come one, come all!

Welcome to my temporary blog! This is purely for a class and probably won't develop into much after the semester is over since I have another (already active) blog.

You'll read my responses to documentaries I've seen or other media I have viewed/explored. So it'll probably by mildly entertaining, but mostly this particular blog is meant to get me an A in my class.

Enjoy!