DVD
Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story
Directed by Stefan Forbes
boogiemanfilm.com
Karl Rove did not crawl out from under a rock; he crawled out from under (the tutelage of) Lee Atwater. A political operative so unscrupulous his friends refer to him as a “wolf,” “a killer” and… a “marsupial,” the Boogie Man’s notoriously aggressive (amoral?) tactics — rumor-mongering and race-baiting amongst his favorites — have informed the tenor and base instincts of every campaign since Dino Rossi’s. (Rossi’s “sex offender” spots aired in eastern Washington are as disgraceful as the Willie Horton commercials most credit Atwater with having masterminded.) Filmmaker Stefan Forbes presents a remarkably balanced portrait of the ferret-faced Southerner whose first triumph (and harbinger) was his contribution to Strom Thurmond’s incumbent dominance of South Carolina. Ed Rollins, Robert Novak and Tom DeLay rep the right-wingers on camera. The left is fronted by Sam Donaldson, Eric Alterman and Lee’s whipping boy, Michael Dukakis. (Fighting back was Greek to him!) All admire Atwater even if they loath his ethics; further proof as General George S. Patton declared: “America loves a winner and will not tolerate a loser, for the very thought of losing is hateful to Americans.” And to the petulant Atwater, as well. To the spoiled went the victories.
— Warren Etheredge
Who Does She Think She Is?
Directed by Pamela Tanner Boll
Select Showings through March 2009
84 Minutes
whodoesshethinksheis.org
Name five female artists. Buzz. Time’s up. If you could only come up with a few — or none at all — you’re not alone. Less than three percent of the works in museums’ modern art sections are by women and the percentage of solo exhibitions by women artists isn’t much better. Who Does She Think She Is? explores the challenges (and joys) of mothers who are pursing an artistic calling in a culture that isn’t financially supportive of women artists (who currently earn one-third of what male artists earn). At the end of the film you will be able to name Maye Torres, a mother of three who works on paper, metal and clay and who raises her boys on a $24,000 annual income; Janis Wunderlich, a sculptor whose creations often bear two heads to represent her internal conflict; Angela Williams, an actress who struggles to figure out how to travel to New York City for Broadway auditions when her family is back home; Camille Musser, a painter who reconnects with her Caribbean roots through her works; and printmaker Mayumi Oda, who now runs retreats at her farm in Hawaii to help other women tap into their creativity. All will inspire you to pay attention to your artistic instincts and affirm the belief that making art is an essential part of life.
— Jenny Rough
Earthlings
Directed by Shaun Monson
95 Minutes
earthlings.com
To recognize humankind’s dependence upon animals is simple enough. Just look at your litter box, your lunchmeat, your Lactaid, your collection of leather accessories. Consider Lassie, the running of the bulls, the rodeo, the circus. Even better, take those two feet of yours and those opposable thumbs down to the science lab or the zoo and have a look.
It takes only one small cognitive step beyond this recognition to consider how our dependence is maintained on such a grand scale, day after day, year after year — though most of us never do. And with good reason.
Enter Earthlings — a doc narrated by the leaden voice of Joaquin Phoenix — whose expressed intent is for viewers to “make the connection” between nature, animals and humankind. And that it does, viscerally so, with images of the worst of the worst verbs being enacted upon animals: To whip. To prod. To electrocute. To hack. To put pepper in the eyes of. Ad nauseum.
It would be easy to dismiss the film as vegan, anti-species-ism propaganda, but when a red-meat devotee really thinks about it, killing or maiming other living creatures is a rather unpleasant task. And, for better or worse, the film affords its viewers 95 minutes to think of nothing else.
— Eric Larson
BOOKS
Green Festival Reader: Fresh Ideas from Agents of Change
(PoliPoint Press)
Every movement needs its manifesto. As the organizing body of the largest eco-everything exhibition in the country, it’s fitting that the folks who bring us Green Festivals should be the ones to take on the task. Their Reader, a collection of more than a dozen essays from the pens of prominent voices in what is fast becoming the movement of the beginning of the 21st century, includes a refreshing 50-50 mix of criticisms of the old and solutions for the future. Highlights include Dennis Kucinich’s call for a Green New Deal, based on the principles of sustainability, including a GWA — a Green Works Administration, which would create millions of new green jobs, an idea echoed by Marie Kerpan, author of Balance: The Ultimate Challenge of the 21st Century, in her essay “Green Careers: The New Frontier.” David Korten and Ralph Nader articulate the dark side of corporate control and advocate for Earth-thinking over Empire-thinking (Korten) and the abolition of state-chartered corporations (Nader). And the list goes on. As a new administration and the hope of a fresh perspective takes hold, one hopes the Green Festival Reader will find its way into the hands of the folks who need to read it most.
— E.L.
Evolution’s Edge: The Coming Collapse and Transformation of Our World
By Graeme Taylor
(New Society)
If Green Festival Reader occupies the position of impassioned manifesto for the new age, then Evolution’s Edge shall be its heavier, headier and utterly inspired textbook.
In lucid, no-nonsense prose, Graeme Taylor — social activist and coordinator of BEST (Biosocial Evolutionary Systems Thinking) Futures —articulates the multi-layered crisis our world currently faces, its genesis in generations of thinking out from a flawed economic paradigm, and spends a full half the book explaining how to envision and create a livable future for ourselves, step-by-step.
To accommodate the visually intelligent among us, Taylor includes the kind of chartage and graphage that might otherwise result in bad undergrad flashbacks. But, so carefully created, colored and simple to comprehend are these charts and graphs, that the ideas are rendered more — not less — accessible. (Imagine that.) In the end, Taylor describes the fundamental choice we face as Earth citizens: This path or that path. Thankfully, with Evolution’s Edge, he’s packed our bags and pointed the way. All we have to do is go.
— E.L.
I Live Here
By Mia Kirshner, J.B. MacKinnnon, Paul Shoebridge, Michael Simons
(Pantheon)
While Americans clamor for their fifteen minutes of fame, folks elsewhere strive mightily just to be heard. Of course, it’s nearly impossible if no one is listening. (Apparently space isn’t the only place where no one can hear you scream.) Fortunately and instructively, I Live Here’s creative quartet and their talented coterie — including acclaimed graphic novelists Joe Sacco and Kamel Khelif — travel to remote locations, lending ears and voices to the disenfranchised, the disrespected and the forgotten. Chechen refugees in Ingushetia report heinous war crimes and more inhumane living conditions. AIDS victims in Malawi whisper memories of their late, lost mothers. Enslaved sex workers cry out (in both Thailand and their home country, Myanmar) for protection of a more substantial sort while the public’s democratic will is blithely ignored. In Juarez, the haunted survivors of a gender-based genocide stifle screams and demand justice for loved ones slaughtered by unidentified foes. I Live Here’s artists, journalists and graphic novelists capture the trials and torments of the unrepresented in this “paper documentary” that imaginatively mixes media to create a multi-cultural journal of understandable heartbreak and… incredible hope. The project’s initiator/instigator, Mia Kirshner, has been applauded for her “day job” as an actress (The L Word; Exotica); now she deserves to be lauded as the globetrotting successor to Studs Terkel. (Proceeds from I Live Here go directly to Amnesty International.)
— W.E.
MUSIC
Hector Zazou & Swara
In the House of Mirrors
(Crammed)
One can only approach this review in a bittersweet manner, for as beautiful as Hector Zazou’s latest recording is, it proved to be his final —the French composer passed away two months before its release. During his quarter-century of forward-seeking electronic global music, this latest utilizes the efforts of four outstanding musicians from India and Uzbekistan. During production Zazou did not add external effects, but merely tooled and retooled what the four players — on tambur/oud, violin, flute, and Indian slide guitar — played. It’s an eerie and haunting album; parts have the feeling of walking down a long, dark tunnel broken by a soft breeze and the sound of dripping water. This could have been a premonition; we’ll never know. The slow crawl of the slide guitar, the unnerving repetitive sounds of violin and oud — it is an album not heard as much as experienced and lived through. Like the Net of Indra, which causes one to reflect endlessly and witness the interconnectedness of life, Zazou’s mirrors are prolific and beautifully placed.
— Derek Beres
Midnite & Youssoupha Sidibe
For All
(Sacred Sound)
Since receiving their last album, Infinite Quality, earlier this year, I’ve had the St. Croix-based reggae band Midnite on heavy iPod rotation. I was surprised upon receiving yet another album, even more so seeing it is a collaboration with Senegalese Sufi kora player Youssoupha Sidibe, who has worked alongside the likes of Michael Franti and Matisyahu. Then again, it shouldn’t be surprising — Midnite frontman Vaugh Benjamin knows that music is a sacrament; his music has long been in tribute to the most high. For All proves no different. Benjamin’s voice is unforgettable; Sidibe, when he does sing, is equally dynamic and calming. And it is a calm album, even with the lightning flicks of his fingers on that African stringed instrument. The musical relationship, one that was formed just over a year ago at a northern California festival, was an artistically intelligent and sonically gorgeous choice. The kora slides into the down tempo and bass-heavy bottom easily, adding a floating quality often supplied by synthesizers or guitars. It is, moreover, a re-rooting of reggae in its cultural bedrock: the earth and energy of Africa.
— D.B.