HC 154 .L54 2003

Utilizing excerpts from the award-winning non-fiction text “A Small Place” by Jamaica Kincaid, Life & Debt is a woven tapestry of sequences focusing on the stories of individual Jamaicans whose strategies for survival and parameters of day-to-day existence are determined by the U.S. and other foreign economic agendas. By combining traditional documentary telling with a stylized narrative framework, the complexity of international lending, structural adjustment policies and free trade will be understood in the context of the day-to-day realities of the people whose lives they impact. (From http://www.lifeanddebt.org/)

 
Call number: HB 501 .C37 2009

Michael Moore’s didactic documentary style is actually a source of inspiration in Capitalism: A Love Story. This film, which explores the history of incongruence between American capitalism and democracy, is evidently a culmination of Moore’s lifetime of research into this topic: he begins the movie by admitting his longstanding interest, rooted in childhood experiences in Flint, Michigan. As a result, the film displays an expertise that is less irritating than in Moore’s earlier works, in which various loopholes can be found in one-sided presentations (see Bowling for Columbine). (From Amazon)

Call number: HF 5415.33 .U6 E4 2005

This video shows audiences how to declare their independence from the epidemic of rampant consumerism and materialism ailing Americans and our environment by adopting the practices of simple living.(From Bullfrog Films)

Call number: RC 569 .B75 2007

http://www.movieweb.com/v/VIa3yhcblFBKdd/embed_video
The Bridge is an intense viewing experience, a documentary that addresses death with a candidness rare in any forum. It is far more respectful and nuanced than the shocking premise sounds, a moving thoughtful sympathetic rumination on the vagaries of mental illness. It opens and repeatedly returns to footage taken of the Golden Gate Bridge, showing it throughout the day, in different weather, following random pedestrians, before lingering on someone who looks like they’ll jump. The effect is to lull the viewer into a meditative state about his or her own mortality. However, director Eric Steel is walking a very precarious line with his repeated use of footage of people committing suicide, running the risk of exploiting the deaths for voyeuristic thrills.
This filmmaker’s dilemma is never discussed, instead focusing on the jumpers and their life story. But how to cover such a private moment in a public place seems like it should be addressed, especially since the audience is a participant as a silent viewer. Overall Steel’s approach is respectful without being timid. There are a few instances where awkward devices are used, particularly when needlessly manipulative pop ballad cues are introduced and when the film plays a cruel game of “will they or won’t they” with the audience in cutting from person to person. Anyway, a few mistakes can be forgiven when dealing with such a difficult subject, and The Bridge’s accomplishments are far more profound than its minor faults. ~ Michael Buening, Rovi

Tracking number: 1218 GE

HOW TO START A REVOLUTION is a new documentary film revealing how one man’s work has helped millions of people achieve freedom in the face of oppression and tyranny. Gene Sharp is a shy, modest and little-known man. But his work has inspired a generation of people to challenge dictators through non-violent action in a tidal wave of revolutionary spirit and reform that has swept from Eastern Europe, though Asia and to the Middle East and North Africa. (From Kickstarter.com)

Call number: 782 H

Do we have the right to end our lives if life itself becomes unbearable, or we are terminally ill? With unique access to Dignitas, the Swiss non-profit that has helped over one thousand people die, filmmaker John Zaritsky offers a revealing look at two couples facing the most difficult decision of their lives–and lets us see as one Chicago native makes the trip to Switzerland for what will become the last day of his life. (From PBS)

Call number: RA 1063.4 .P67 2011

Every day, nearly 7,000 people die in America. And when these deaths happen suddenly, or under suspicious circumstances, we assume there will be a thorough investigation, just like we see on CSI. But the reality is very different. In over 1,300 counties across America, elected coroners, many with no medical or scientific background, are in charge of death investigations. Nationwide there is a severe shortage of competent forensic pathologists to do autopsies. The rate of autopsies – the gold standard of death investigation – has plummeted over the decades. As a result, not only do murderers go free and innocent people go to jail, but the crisis in death investigation in America is also a threat to public health. FRONTLINE correspondent Lowell Bergman reports the results of a joint investigation with ProPublica, NPR, and the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley. (From PBS)

To commemorate the 10th anniversary of 9/11, NOVA presents an epic story of engineering, innovation, and the perseverance of the human spirit. With extraordinary access granted by The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, “Engineering Ground Zero” follows the five-year construction of One World Trade Center (1 WTC) and the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.
NOVA captures the behind-the-scenes struggle of architects and engineers to make the buildings safe and highly secure under the pressures of a tight schedule, the demands of practical office space and efficient “green” architecture, and the public’s expectations of a fitting site for national remembrance. The program features interviews with 1 WTC architect David Childs; Chris Ward, the Port Authority’s executive director; Mayor Michael Bloomberg, chairman of the 9/11 Memorial Foundation; and Michael Arad, the man behind the breakthrough concept for the 9/11 Memorial. (From PBS)