Category Archives: Documentary

Coming to theatres today, Friday, September 9: DEFYING THE NAZIS: THE SHARPS’ WAR

Ken Burns and Artemis Joukowsky’s chronicle of a couple’s dedication to rescuing those persecuted by the Third Reich makes its theatrical debut in New York and Los Angeles today. Special community screenings also will be held before the film’s broadcast debut on PBS later this month.

Joukowsky approached Burns to help shape the story of the former’s grandparents, Waitstill and Martha Sharp, resulting in both this film and a companion book. Waitstill, a Unitarian minister, was tasked by his superiors to undertake a clandestine mission of refugee relief in 1939 together with his wife, a staunch social justice advocate. Leaving their small children for several months, the couple made their way to Prague, where they secretly helped relocate Jewish refugees and other dissidents to keep them safe from the threat of Nazi persecution. So successful where they at completing their task that, soon after their return home, they were called to serve in Europe once again. For their valiant efforts to save Jewish lives, the Sharps were eventually posthumously recognized as the Righteous Among the Nations by Israel. Joukowsky and Burns couch their story via extensive voiceover reenactments of correspondence and other writings – with Waitstill in particular distractingly voiced by the too recognizable Tom Hanks – making for an often awkward retelling, exacerbated by a too-heavy score and occasional unnecessary scene reenactments. More effective are the recollections of several of the individuals the Sharps saved, a series of conventional talking heads that nevertheless speak with authenticity and emotion about the courageous couple’s literally lifesaving acts.

Coming to theatres and VOD today, Friday, September 9: FOR THE LOVE OF SPOCK

Adam Nimoy’s tribute to his legendary actor father debuted at Tribeca earlier this year. It also screened at Fantasia, Sedona, Sitges, and at the San Francisco and San Diego Jewish fests.

What began as a project celebrating Leonard Nimoy’s enduring legacy to the STAR TREK mythos on the eve of the franchise’s 50th anniversary took on more poignancy with the actor’s death last year, and expanded to become a fuller consideration of the elder Nimoy as not only an actor and director, but as a father as well. Adam Nimoy takes an unabashedly personal approach throughout, often to the project’s benefit – providing a unique angle from which to view an iconic actor and character – but at times to its serious detriment – taking on a self-indulgent filmmaking-as-therapy sheen from which viewers would have been better off being spared. Leaving aside the sometimes awkwardly inserted personal processing of this fraught father/son dynamic, the film’s consideration of both the pop cultural impact of Spock and of Leonard Nimoy’s career trajectory offer accessible points of interest for larger audiences beyond diehard Trekkies.

Coming to theatres today, Friday, September 9: STARVING THE BEAST

Steve Mims’ look at the defunding of public higher education debuted at SXSW earlier this year. Its fest circuit also includes Wisconsin and the upcoming Charlotte, Flatland, and Virginia film fest

In this impressively detailed and surprisingly balanced examination of disturbing trends over the past several decades, Mims focuses on two related issues: the systematic defunding of state colleges and universities and the attempts to “disrupt” education with reforms repositioning the role of schools as creating desirable workers/consumers rather than educated critical thinkers. The film posits the origins of this business-oriented approach with Clayton Christensen’s influential 1997 screed on disruptive innovation, THE INNOVATOR’S DILEMMA, which was adopted by former University of Texas business professor Jeff Sandefer to draft his “Seven Breakthrough Solutions.” These disruptive proposals have gained favor with governors like Texas’ Rick Perry, Wisconsin’s Scott Walker, and Louisiana’s Bobby Jindal – all politicians seeking to drastically cut government spending, no matter the cost to students, faculty, or the future. Mims shepherds a host of experts to illuminate both sides of the issue, offering audiences much food for thought, but while the topic is not uninteresting, its presentation here can at times be too dense and overly dry, limiting its impact. Still, the film remains a provocative addition to the growing body of nonfiction addressing the challenging current state of education.

Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, September 9: LANDFILL HARMONIC

Brad Allgood and Graham Townsley’s profile of a Paraguayan children’s orchestra premiered at SXSW last year, where it won an audience award. Screenings followed at Sheffield, New Zealand, Vancouver, Cleveland, DocAviv, and AFI Fest, among several others.

In a poor community based around a Paraguayan landfill, an environmentalist works with local recyclers to build musical instruments out of garbage and form a music school for horribly underprivileged kids. When a clip of a performance of their Recycled Orchestra goes viral, the group finds themselves in an unexpected spotlight. Offered the opportunity to travel around the world to perform, the orchestra members awaken to possibilities beyond their present environment, while their community takes pride in their achievements. Despite this, they must contend with a hazardous environment, underscored when a flood threatens their homes. Allgood and Townsley succeed in crafting sufficient feel-good inspiration from this audience-friendly material, even if it never quite transcends expectations.