Gaia: Community Film Picks (zFilms) Group - DOCUMENTARIES

Forgiving Dr. Mengele

http://ADLIAC.gaia.com — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 20:15:46 GMT

I saw this excellent documentary last night, about the journey into and consequent to, Eva Kor's forgiveness of her torturer, the infamous Dr. Mengele at the Auschwitz concentration camp in Nazi Germany in World War II. She has become a famous person, traveling around the world on her mission to expose people to the advantages of her perspective (though she does not make other perspectives wrong or evil!!)

I am recommending it to anyone interested in the many various angles and approaches and viewpoints around forgiveness, suffering, blame, and violence. The documentary is extraordinarily well-produced, and while it has a definite viewpoint that is developed and explored wonderfully, there are other viewpoints given ample screen time, and the "heroine," Eva Kor, is not at all whitewashed.

Also, the Israel-Palestine conflict is explored from several vantage-points.

Questions wrestled with include (these are a few of them)

Who is forgiveness FOR?
What about "justice?"
Is forgiveness the same as forgetting?
What are some possible beneficial effects to the world, of a person forgiving?

There are some disturbing "real" WWII images, and I suggest you not view this film until you are ready to face your own perspectives and feelings about violence, torture, the Nazis, etc. The film reverberates in the soul long after it has ended.

Blessings, OM Bastet

A Farm for the Future

http://soundspeaceful.gaia.com — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 18:38:51 GMT

Here's a great film viewable in its entirety on YouTube. For more information and the links visit my original blog here.

All the best and be inspired.
John
http://soundspeaceful.gaia.com/blog/2009/6/a-farm-for-the-future

Food, Inc.

http://ADLIAC.gaia.com — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 03:27:11 GMT

This sure sounds like a film Gaians would love. And critics are 96% thumbs up about how it's done, too.

A portrait and indictment of Big Food: how our food is farmed and processed in environmentally irresponsible, unhealthful, and cruel-to-animals ways. Probably not news to anyone here, but we hope it opens a few eyes. I foresee more and more consumers revolting against these methods, and actually making a dent in practices.

Read through the critics' comments posted at the Rotten Tomatoes review.

Blessings, OM Bastet

Re: Rhythm Is It!

http://ADLIAC.gaia.com — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 05:29:34 GMT

This sure sounds like a film Gaians would love, Knud, thanks so much for bringing it here !!

I appreciate knowing about it !!

Blessings, OM Bastet

Rhythm Is It!

http://knudriis.gaia.com — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 13:00:30 GMT

Want to know the last movie that produced some wet areas just near my eyes? - it's a documentary about a group of children from Berlin and the best teachers, I've ever seen.

Here's a resume from the net:

"Premiered in January 2003 in a former bus depot, the Berlin Philharmonic's spectacular production of the modern ballet The Rite of Spring to Igor Stravinsky's score was the first major work by the then new conductor Sir Simon Rattle. He arrived in Berlin dedicated to contributing to the healing of the city, and convinced that “music is not a luxury, but a need, like the air we breathe and the water we drink.” While Rhythm Is It! offers rare insights into both conductor and the rehearsal process of the famous orchestra, it is the 250 non-professional performers working under choreographer Royston Maldoom who steal the focus. Grube and Lansch prove themselves skilled observers of the body's communicative abilities as they follow Maldoom through the chaotic rehearsal process with two groups of youths largely coming from disenfranchised backgrounds. Just as Rattle makes relevant Stravinsky's music, Maldoom and the young performers illustrate the importance of dance, particularly as it imparts discipline, creativity and personal power."

It's about music and dance, and much more. It about the attitude for life that we choose, and how difficult it can be for children with a less favourable background to choose the best possible attitude. Royston Madroom helps them, encourages them in this process, and it is really touching.
At some point, he talks with a 13 yo girl, who dont like to give her best to the project because her friends may laugh at her.
Royston Madroom says to her: "If your friends
laugh at you, when you are trying to do something, ask yourself if they
are the best friends. Because a friend is somebody who is there
supporting you, when you try to do something new in your life. Your friend is someone who helps you to go higher..."

You have to see that girl at the opening night of the ballet. Really!

Here is the official website, www.rhythmisit.com.
Available on DVD. My copy is in mixed german/english, with english subtitles, the children speaks german.

Knud

Re: Visioning Tibet

http://ADLIAC.gaia.com — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 23:14:52 GMT

I'm still chuckling, James. What more indeed!!

At only 25 minutes, and viewable directly from your link, anyone can see this. I especially appreciated the gorgeous shots of Tibet, and seeing so many of the people.

I immediately suspected it was their altitude (he says 15,000 feet above sea level) that caused such rampant cataracts, and he says this.

Here's the description of the vid:

This film documents the passion of ophthalmologist Marc Lieberman, founder of the Tibet Vision Project. His mission: to end preventable blindness in Tibet — which has the highest rate of untreated cataract blindness in the world — by 2020. Don't miss it.

Thanks, James, for the inspiration.

Blessings, OM Bastet

Visioning Tibet

http://rousetheoneness.gaia.com — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 21:49:49 GMT

Hi Everyone,

I'm new here! :-) Thanks for the invitation OM.

One of the most uplifting and simultaneously down to earth documentaries I've seen in recent years was this, about a Jewish Buddhist eye surgeon from San Francisco travelling to Tibet to operate and more importantly to train local doctors to carry out free cataract operations. They have returned the sight of thousands of Tibetans since 1995.

Visioning Tibet

What impressed me as much as the open-hearted dedication was also the way the surgeon in question showed real firmness and clarity when having to deal with a corrupt local Chinese head of medicine who was trying to charge the patients. Very impressive.

Made me more informed, made me cry, and made me more determined to give whatever gifts I may have to the world.

What more could you ask from a documentary!

James

Beyond Beijing 2008

http://Meenakshi.gaia.com — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 04:30:54 GMT

I have loved watching some of the episodes of "Beyond Beijing" (2008)
Haven't been able to see them through, as I always stumble upon an episode when it's already underway, but I'd say the DVD is worth buying.

What I enjoyed, is seeing the Chinese as they are; not just the way we see them in Hollywood movies [kung-fu heroes and flying heroines] or in our mind when we see those "Made in China" labels.

Seeing the Great Wall in Qinhuangdao – Discover this small city’s mythical links to the Great Wall of China. was magical.

"This is what democracy looks like," 1000 Journals, "Man on Wire"

http://ADLIAC.gaia.com — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 23:41:49 GMT

3 documentaries discussed elsewhere in zFilms

Man on Wire

1000 Journals

This is what democracy looks like

Re: Review of Documentary Film What a Way to Go: Life at the End.

http://ADLIAC.gaia.com — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 06:58:52 GMT

Hey, thanks a bunch for the info, Mila!!!!!!

OM

Review of Documentary Film What a Way to Go: Life at the End...

http://armila.gaia.com — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 18:46:23 GMT

What a Way to Go: Life at the End of Empire

(Documentary) Released: 2007

This What a Way to Go review written by Grinning Planet.

This is a different sort of "Peak Oil movie." Rather than just focusing on the approaching decline in oil production and its likely effects on our petroleum-powered modern lifestyles, What a Way To Go: Life at the End of Empire, presents that issue merely as a symptom of a larger problem---modern society as empire. For those who thought the 20th century finally saw an end to empires, think again. The emperors only changed clothes, got new job titles, and swapped in "predatory economics" for slavery and overt domination. It's a Matrix-like nightmare that seems normal to us, even with all its chaos.

The film surveys the litany of collateral damage due to our entrapment in the empire:

environmental degradation, including the approaching disaster known as global climate change;
species facing a new mass extinction event, this one caused not by killer asteroids but by the march of "human progress";
the routine abuse by humans of animals in food production, product testing, and scientific research;
dissociation from the details of how life's basic commodities (such as energy, water, and food) are provided to us;
our general ignorance of the technological wonders that we depend on;
the dominance of the "war machine";
our Ponzi-inspired, growth-at-any-cost economic model.

These are all symptoms of a planet and people in serious trouble. We've been encouraged to live beyond our economic, natural, and spiritual means, and we've done quite a job of it. The film lays out the bleak truth for us in a surprisingly watchable package, nicely incorporating narration, interview clips, and strangely cool archival material.

In the end, What a Way To Go leaves us with a choice: As the reach of The Powers That Be exceeds their grasp and things really begin to come unglued, will we citizens of empire shrug our shoulders and party on as the marble columns fall around us, or will we shake off the illusion and being to re-take control of what was ours to begin with?

film's website

where is it playing?