We'll See How Long This Lasts

To start off with, a look back at some DVD rentals.

I went on a documentary tear recently, doing a pretty decent job of picking some winners if I do say so myself.

Who Killed The Electric Car

Definitely biased but still interesting, WKTHEC looks at the demise of the electric car concepts that emerged in the late 90's. My home state of California was a driving force in their introduction as they were mandating to car manufacturers that a percentage of their automobile sales in California had to be Zero Emmisson cars.

The documentary dealt mainly with the resoning why the Electric concepts did not fly mainly through focusing on GM's EV-1 and some people who leased them. GM basically gets hammered in this movie as a typical auto maker who produces a new type of car all the while trying to kill it. The filmmakers do their best to show how GM only produced the EV-1 to satisfy California standards and that when those were dropped they made the EV-1 go the way of the dodo in no time.

They wrap up the film with a short wrap up of the guilty or not guilty parties responsible for the electric cars demise. Although limited I still found it an interesting look at how and why new ideas face all kinds of resistance in becoming accepted.

This Film Has Not Been Rated

Another doc with a definite bias to confirm. The basic premise is that the MPAA who is responsible for the rating of movies in the US is a secretive organization with a definite moral agenda.

Although the examples are not in any way exhaustive, the interviews and anecdotal evidence show a subjective system that often works against the independent filmmaker and generally supports the viewpoint of Violence OK Sex Bad.

The MPAA will do somersaults through their own asses to say they are not about censorship but read much about them and see this movie and you know they are full of shit. They know that if a film is given an NC-17 that it is death. That movie won't get shown in anywhere near the number of movies it could with an R. And of course many filmmakers want to get out with a PG-13 as that will open up their movie to thousands of more ticket buyers immediately.

The MPAA uses more doublespeak than you average politician. The film gives you a good look at it. They are secretive so their members won't be "pressured" by the studios yet they say they are there to help the studios. They tell a filmmaker that his film is given a rating because of excessive sex or nudity but they won't tell them what specifically needs to be reomoved to get a better rating. That would be censorship of course. Although if your film is with a big studio they might give you a hint.

I could go on forever on the MPAA which is just a shitbag organization. It's amazing we have this little Star Chamber with this kind of power of one of our prized media institutions.

A unique approach the director took was to have a private detective seek out the identities of the MPAA screeners and rthe review board. If you watch this you will notice how well they represent the broad range of Americans. Think your local Tennis Club.

Guerilla

Patty Hearst, the name brings to mind images of her posing in front of the SLA symbol as "Tania". It's a fascinating bizzare story and I love it.

I highly recommend this particular Documentary as it is pretty even keeled in it's approach and looks at the case as the event it became. The film explores the people and events surrounding the case and how one person in the right (or wrong) place at the right time can have dramatic results.

The director never interviews Hearst instead he lets the viewer follow the case from the outside much as a person would have experienced it then. Unless you know the case well you are still left wondering what is going to happen next in the context of how it will turn other lives on their ear.

Watching this I was really struck on how the US at that time was still emerging into a whole new world. This was one of the first cases where TV stations could cover it live and mobile. The FBI was just starting to get a handle on terrorism and had no clue what the SLA was about and was forced to scramble as much as everyone else was.

I have to wrap it up as I have to get back to work but it was well worth it.