the chutry experiment

It is sad about Russell's Documentary... This is the problem with such a divided electorate: Major Commercial entities are too afraid that an action they might take will be viewed as a public declaration, thereby alienating half of their consumers. It will be interesting to see how documentaries in general are treated AFTER the election because of the financial success of F9/11. But we have to wait 59 more days for that.

And I couldn't agree more about Three Kings. This is a morally unambiguous movie, and yet a politically bipartisan one. It is interesting to me how the film "reads" in our current climate, because it is certainly not an "anti-war" film, but a film about going to war the right way, or not at all. It is a movie that has changed, for me, with the times.

I think that F9/11 will prove to be exceptional. Moore is less a documentarian in real terms than he is a "star." He's someone who can now deliver millions in box office. I think the documentary cycle will slow somewhat after November unless something really fishy happens in the election.

Just curious: why do you read Three Kings as "politically bipartisan?"

I guess the reason I said this is because I'm thinking of it in the present day, and how viewing the movie today changes from when I viewed it 5 years ago, lets say. Pro-War/Anti-war is a very partisan issue, and I don't think this movie takes a stance on the merits of war, persay. The kernal that inspired the film was the fact that Bush Sr. told the Iraqi people to rise up and the U.S. would be there for them, and when they began to, the U.S. deserted them, but I don't think he Russell goes out of his way to paint this as a Democratic or Republican issue, as much as it was a failure of a particular President. The film wasn't about the politics of the war as much as it was about the humanity of war, and to that end, it is bipartisan. When making a film about war, this is quite an accomplishment.

Okay, I can see that. I'd identify the film is nonpartisan rather than bipartisan, perhaps. But, among other things, the film clearly questions the way in which G.H.W. Bush desrted the Iraqi people. The film also raises some important questions about military and social class.

I was also disappointed with the Bush's Brain documentary. I'm teaching a course on political campaigns this semester and was hoping to use it, but it's basically worthless in terms of displaying verifiable evidence regarding Rove's dirty tricks. By contrast, Outfoxed - though problematic in a lot of ways - uses a lot of footage to beat Fox at their own game, and has those leaked internal policy memos. By contrast, Bush's Brain not only lacks a smoking gun - it lacks any gun at all. Lots of smoke, but even though I went in firmly convinced of much of Rove's malfeasance, I didn't come out with much more than my previous level of knowledge/conviction.

Control Room, however, is quite an amazing piece of work.

If I were asked to select the best documentary of the year so far, Control Room would be my choice, hands down. I can imagine Outfoxed working well in a classroom context (some of my colleagues are teaching it), better than BB, at least. I'll only have time to teach 1-2 political docs, and I've been thinking about doing either Journeys With George, The War Room, or maybe Outfoxed. A lot will depend on what happens in November (i.e. I'll choose my doc based on how the coverage of the election plays out).

Wow, that's amazing about Warner Brothers. I don't know about the idea that it's purely based on fear of loss of profits: sweeping uninformed generalization here, but surely controversey tends to promote sales, rather than repress them. Three Kings was a great movie, but it is no longer new: the re-release will sell reasonably well, but with a ton of publicity surely it would sell better.

But I don't really know a lot about the business end of that sort of thing, though I am growing increasingly suspicious of how many things perceived as "left" are not getting air time.

I'd agree that WB's decision isn't solely about sales. Controversy certainly sells, as F9/11 and Super Size Me's box office shows. Instead, it seems to be a fear of election law, where Russell's doc could be read as partisan, and therefore, violating campaign finance law. The studio chief of WB, for example, mentions that he is a Democrat, worried that he will appear to be using his position unfairly. I think that Russell and hopefully MoveOn will be able to play this controversy into another documentary "event," thus providing it with one type of (limited) audience.