Without Fiction http://www.withoutfiction.com Watch Documentaries Tue, 03 Aug 2010 00:37:06 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 en hourly 1 Richard Garriott: Man on a Mission http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WithoutFiction/~3/FjHwmr56C2Q/ http://www.withoutfiction.com/?p=455#comments Tue, 03 Aug 2010 00:34:20 +0000 Zach http://www.withoutfiction.com/?p=455 Richard Garriot is the ultimate anything is possible story.  Start with an astronaut father and dreams of going to space.  Make a fortune creating video games.  Buy a spot on a spaceship from the Russians.  Lose the fortune.  Sell the spot on the Russian ship.  Make a second fortune.  Buy another trip to space.  Learn to speak Russian.  Train for over a year.  Go to the international space station.

]]> http://www.withoutfiction.com/?feed=rss2&p=455 http://www.withoutfiction.com/?p=455 The Five Obstructions http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WithoutFiction/~3/3wqvN4Hc5Lk/ http://www.withoutfiction.com/?p=453#comments Sat, 03 Jul 2010 18:43:52 +0000 Zach http://www.withoutfiction.com/?p=453 In The Five Obstructions, Lars von Trier challenges his mentor Jorgen Leth to recreate Leth’s 1967 short The Perfect Human five times given various restrictions.  Although von Trier acts as if he’s conducting an experiment on the vulnerability of an artist, it really just feels like a game between two close friends.  It’s interesting to see von Trier use his friendship to put Leth in various stress positions.  However, Leth is a director first and seems less interested in von Trier’s experiment.  For me, the best thing about the Five Obstructions is that I met Jorgen Leth.  The Perfect Human is surprisingly rich and the five recreations are all engrossing.

]]> http://www.withoutfiction.com/?feed=rss2&p=453 http://www.withoutfiction.com/?p=453 Titicut Follies http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WithoutFiction/~3/Qb9_D2LR0R4/ http://www.withoutfiction.com/?p=450#comments Sun, 18 Apr 2010 17:14:02 +0000 Zach http://www.withoutfiction.com/?p=450 Titicut Follies is Frederick Wiseman’s controversial survey of the conditions that existed during the mid-’60s at the State Prison for the Criminally Insane in Bridgewater, Massachusetts.  It was banned until the early 90s and is considered by many as one of the greatest documentaries ever made.

The cinematography is stunning and a perfect compliment to its quiet fly-on-the wall style.

Richard Schickel, writing in Life, “The repulsive reality revealed in Titicut Follies forces us to contemplate our capacity for callousness.”

Sorry, but I can’t find any working video clips on the web.

]]> http://www.withoutfiction.com/?feed=rss2&p=450 http://www.withoutfiction.com/?p=450 Last Train Home http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WithoutFiction/~3/pykU9DU-P9g/ http://www.withoutfiction.com/?p=444#comments Fri, 19 Mar 2010 03:56:41 +0000 Zach http://www.withoutfiction.com/?p=444 Last Train Home tells the generally familiar story of parents who want a better life for their children.  Every spring, millions of Chinese migrant factory workers take trains back to their village.  For many of the workers, it’s the only time they will see their children all year.

Although the circumstances are totally foreign, I think the parent’s motivation is universal.  For 85 minutes, this film reminded me that I don’t know anything about sacrifice.

]]> http://www.withoutfiction.com/?feed=rss2&p=444 http://www.withoutfiction.com/?p=444 Marwencol http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WithoutFiction/~3/tfWLxRe9zdA/ http://www.withoutfiction.com/?p=433#comments Thu, 18 Mar 2010 14:30:46 +0000 Zach http://www.withoutfiction.com/?p=433 Mark Hogancamp’s story is perfectly suited for film. His minIature WWII reenactments give us direct access to his mind. Nearly beaten to death outside a bar 10 years ago, the reenactments are his therapy. There is something very disarming about an honest and self aware person. It’s through this self truth that I find Mark Hogancamp to be a very sympathetic charcter.

]]> http://www.withoutfiction.com/?feed=rss2&p=433 http://www.withoutfiction.com/?p=433 Food, Inc http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WithoutFiction/~3/fXALpKKLj6k/ http://www.withoutfiction.com/?p=426#comments Sun, 07 Mar 2010 22:35:39 +0000 Zach http://www.withoutfiction.com/?p=426 I get it.  The food I eat isn’t really food.  The animals are treated poorly before they end up on my plate.  Big corporations are killing the independent American farmer (whatever that means).  I guess I just don’t think this story is that compelling.

Kudos to Chipotle for helping to sponsor documentary film, though.

]]> http://www.withoutfiction.com/?feed=rss2&p=426 http://www.withoutfiction.com/?p=426 The Cove http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WithoutFiction/~3/DAOgt4z0Puc/ http://www.withoutfiction.com/?p=422#comments Sun, 21 Feb 2010 06:05:39 +0000 Zach http://www.withoutfiction.com/?p=422 I don’t know if it’s intellectually consistent to be a meat eater but still feel sick while watching The Cove.  But really who wouldn’t be disgusted by images of the capture and slaughter of thousands of dolphins?    The fact that I’m stunned by all of this is really the whole point.  However, what makes The Cove really compelling is the storytelling.  It’s theatrically exciting and suspenseful.  In that sense it certainly sets itself apart.

]]> http://www.withoutfiction.com/?feed=rss2&p=422 http://www.withoutfiction.com/?p=422 Taxi to the Dark Side http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WithoutFiction/~3/NcakWob9tZM/ http://www.withoutfiction.com/?p=419#comments Sat, 13 Feb 2010 08:00:50 +0000 Zach http://www.withoutfiction.com/?p=419 There have been dozens of documentaries on Iraq and prisoner torture in particular.  Taxi to the Dark Side is particularly compelling.  I’m convinced that history will judge us harshly for many of the choices surrounding the capture and interrogation of terror suspects.

]]> http://www.withoutfiction.com/?feed=rss2&p=419 http://www.withoutfiction.com/?p=419 When the Levees Broke http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WithoutFiction/~3/GfOKcGuo9io/ http://www.withoutfiction.com/?p=414#comments Fri, 12 Feb 2010 02:16:33 +0000 Zach http://www.withoutfiction.com/?p=414 It’s Spike Lee, so of course it’s totally political.  In fact, I think Spike would say that politics were at the core of the problem.  Either way, Katrina was a human tragedy on the largest level.  The images are devastating and the stories are compelling.  Of course the music is amazing too.

]]> http://www.withoutfiction.com/?feed=rss2&p=414 http://www.withoutfiction.com/?p=414 Valentino: the Last Emperor http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WithoutFiction/~3/CzPO2lbAtqI/ http://www.withoutfiction.com/?p=408#comments Thu, 26 Nov 2009 15:35:08 +0000 Zach http://www.withoutfiction.com/?p=408 Valentino has received a lot of Oscar buzz this year.  Honestly, I thought it was kind of boring.  At times it was beautiful to look at but I was never really engaged by the story.

Nonetheless, it was interesting how Valentino has given his full life to fashion.  In spite of his success, he doesn’t seem happy.  Perhaps it’s the price of greatness?

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