Category Archives: Film

Coming to PBS’s American Experience and to DVD today, Tuesday, February 4: THE AMISH: SHUNNED

Callie T Wiser’s exploration of the consequences Amish face when they leave their communities debuts on the popular PBS program, and simultaneously becomes available on DVD.

A follow-up to the series’ earlier documentary, THE AMISH, an exceptional portrait of the famously reclusive traditional religious community, Wiser’s affecting film zeroes in on one of the previous film’s points of intrigue – Amish people who have chosen to live in the “English” world – that is, outside of the fold and within modern American society. Interweaving the stories of seven brave men and women – representing both older and younger individuals, some who left decades ago, and others much more recently – Wiser reveals their complicated, emotionally painful separation from the only world they had ever known – a separation in most cases that comes with ostracism from family and community. This public shunning – not just excommunication from their all-important church, but often deeper, more fundamental erasure from virtually all familial interaction – is meant to protect the pious from the sinners, lest their undue influence lead others to stray from the flock, pointing to the Amish fear of their authority and traditions being undermined – a theme resonant from the first film as well. Subjects here share their experiences, and reasons, for leaving the Amish ways; the efforts of family members to convince them – sometimes successfully, for a time – to return; and the challenges – beyond the emotional blackmail of shunning – of adjusting to life in the modern world.

Coming to DVD today, Tuesday, February 4: HAWKING

Stephen Finnigan’s intimate profile of the world’s most famous contemporary scientist had its world premiere at SXSW last year. Other fest appearances included Edinburgh, CPH:DOX, Seattle, and Cambridge, and it debuted on PBS nationwide last week.

I previously wrote about the doc here.

Coming to theatres and VOD tomorrow, Friday, January 31: 12 O’CLOCK BOYS

Lotfy Nathan’s intimate exploration of Baltimore’s urban dirt-bikers debuted at SXSW last year. Other festival screenings included Hot Docs, Full Frame, Maryland, Sundance Next Weekend, Philadelphia, and CPH:DOX.

I previously wrote about the doc out of SXSW here.

Coming to PBS tonight, Wednesday, January 29: HAWKING

Stephen Finnigan’s portrait of the famed cosmologist and theoretical physicist made its debut at SXSW last year. It went on to screen at Edinburgh, CPH:DOX, Seattle, and Cambridge, among others. A shorter, broadcast version now makes its debut on PBS stations nationwide.

Though confined bodily to a wheelchair due to ALS, and able to speak only via a voice-synthesizer, Hawking for decades has been the most recognizable and popular scientist in the world. Finnigan trades on that celebrity, taking a more personal approach rather than foregrounding the thinker’s scientific discoveries in any great depth. Narrated by the University of Cambridge professor himself, the film traces Hawking’s early life, education, pursuit of science, diagnosis, and married life, and how he eventually wrote the bestselling popular science book, A BRIEF HISTORY OF TIME, which established him within the public’s consciousness, paving the way for his iconic status as one of the world’s greatest scientific geniuses. The approach taken may sideline the more heady thinking he’s done to expand our understanding of the universe, but it does make for an accessible, and often engaging, portrait of an uncommon mind who refused to let the failings of his body limit his potential.