Entry # 1

"">

The 1st documentary I happened to watch was from the Newsmagazine genre ( WFive, The Fifth Estate(CBC) , 60 Min etc )

I watched a documentary from The Fifth Estate called "Death Online".
Here is a brief synopsis:
Death Online is about Nadia Kajouji a first year student at Ottawa's Carleton University who committed suicide at the hands of an internet predator . As Nadia began school she developed depression which grew worse as her self recorded web-cam videos show in the documentary.
She was consequencely assigned a counsellor by the university and given anti-depressants all with out her parents knowledge . They also had no clue Nadia had become friends online with a person known only as "Cami D" who encouraged her to commit suicide. Nadia jumped into the Rideau Rive on March 9th 2008, her body was was discovered 6 weeks later.

Halfway across the world in England Celia Bay discovers chat rooms ,websites and newgroups all about suicide. She also discovers one individual encouraging the severely depressed to commit suicide. Celia becomes an amateur detective trying to track down the identity of this online predator.Eventually she identifies him as William Melchert-Dinkel from Faribault, Minnesota. It turns out he has multiple online identities one which turns out to be Cami D. This documentary follows Celia has she attempts to engage police in England,and the United States to investigate William Melchert-Dinke but when they finally do it's too late.


This documentary was very interesting to me for a number of reasons . Firstly the content was interesting though the story was tragic I found it interesting. I also enjoyed the visuals and b-roll ( the never before seen video blogs from Nadia ) . On the story itself I can not believe someone would not think twice about pressuring people who are already severely emotionally depressed to commit suicide instead of seeking help. When I found out that there are sites and chat rooms dedicated to suicide it made me sick. It's especially disheartening because these people are easily influence , like how Nadia was. She was easily manipulated by William because of her emotional state and he probably knew that. This documentary is a very good tool for those who are depressed and for those who know of someone who is battling depression. It was a wake up call for not just those suffering from depression ,but for their families and friends as well.


2) Next I watched a documentary from the following years :

1920-1970 : For this blog I watched a doc from 1968 called "High School" by Frank Weisman
High school is a documentary about the lives of high school students in the late 1960's. It shows their journey from high school into college. It also has been described as a "time capsule" giving viewers an inside look at what high school was like back then. In the film teachers are definitely stricter then the teachers of today. Students were more disciplined and teachers were more overbearing so much so to the point of being frightening .

This documentary was really eye opening to what high school was like back then , quite frankly it kind of bothered me. Students back then did not have the freedom we have today ,and sometimes in my opinion we take that for granted. The system it seems back then had a lot of issues and some of those issues got resolved but some of the same problems still exist.
It's hard to comment on the American School System because I am not American but Canadian and the two are completely different. All i can judge the system on is what I have been allowed to see by documentaries such as these . Overall it was interesting and I do recommend it .





1970-1999: F for Fake by Orson Welles :

F for Fake is a documentary about deception. It is a interesting documentary by Orson Welles. It follows Elymyr de Hory who was at one time a professional art forger. This documentary focuses on the nature of authorship and authenticity i.e copyright.

The documentary is told through mainly through narratives . The choice to use these different narratives made for an interesting film . The topic was also very interesting because it dealt with the subject medium of art. I think the issues it raised were very important and valid ones, the idea of fakers and deception is largely frowned upon in society. Deception as a topic defiantly made for an interesting documentary .

The shooting locations were also very interesting. It was shot in Rome ,Spain ,France as well as in the United States. Orson does a great job with this documentary. The most interesting part of this documentary is that it was as its title suggests fake. So technically
this film was a hoax in itself. I recommend this film to anyone who is a fan of Orson Welles as his work is rarely ever boring and he has a knack for capturing viewers attention.

( 2) From 1990-Present Day :

Super Size Me 2003 :

Super Size Me was a documentary I was first introduced to in 8^th grade during heath class. My teacher was doing a session on healthy eating and showed us this documentary. It was an eye opening experience about McDonalds and the food being consumed. I had no idea how bad the problem of obesity truly was until I saw this documentary. The numbers quoted in this documentary were also shocking. more then 400,000 deaths per year with illnesses related to obesity . In fact obesity today is now the 2^nd leading cause of death next to smoking. The style of the documentary was extremely interesting , it was told in an almost investigative point of view. It really puts perspective on the problem of obesity. The funniest part of the documentary was overweight teens suing McDonalds for their weight problems. The most important issue raised Morgan Spurlock in this documentary is are the food companies mainly responsible for this problem or is it personal responsibility ? If you think about it , no one forces people to eat fast food , they make that decision themselves. Morgan’s experiment of eating nothing but McDonalds for 30 days was also eye opening for me. Parts of it did gross me out ,but I assume that was the point. What else could I expect from a documentary about eating nothing but fast food? I learned an important lesson here , fast food is ok , in moderation but definitely not something you want to be putting in your body every single day. On the other hand ,fast food is all around us and can not be easily avoided , we see it on tv, in theatres ,malls ,practically everywhere. So maybe this problem can also be blamed on advertisers as well? It seems they also play a huge part in this , how come they weren’t sued?

Bowling For Columbine (2008) Mchael Moore

Bowling For Columbine was in itself another remarkable documentary by Michael Moore. I really enjoy his work and Bowling For Columbine was no exception. The documentary explores the gun control issue in America ,particularly with the constitutional right to bear arms. It has a rather humourous take on a serious subject which is Moore’s style. One of the most interesting parts of the film in my opinion was when Moore went to a bank to get a gun and searched through a catalogue to pick a gun,yes the bank had a gun catalogue. They also had to perform a background check on Moore . The interviews conducted were also very informative and added a lot to the documentary. One man said “ This is an American its an American responsibility if your not armed your not responsible “ .I found that quote interesting, basically if you don’t own a gun your not defending your not a “good” or “responsible “ citizen of your country, at least in this mans point of view. The views expressed on guns in this documentary were surprising , to these citizens owning a gun and carrying one is the norm , like carrying a wallet. Moore did an excellent job on a tough and controversial subject matter.


A Class Divided 1968 TV Documentary from PBS

Finally I watched a tv documentary from PBS called "A Class Divided" . A Class Divided is a documentary about discrimination and racism. In 1968 Jane Elliott a 3^rd grade teacher in Riceville Iowa conducted a 3 day experiement with her class. She separated the blue eyed children and brown eyed children. On the first day the blue eyed children were superior to brown eyes. The realization of this had a huge impact on the children’s performance in school as well as their behaviour with the now identified less superior brown eyes. The blue eyed children got higher tests marks when they were superior ,same with the brown eyed children. The less desirable group fo the day was not permitted to play with the superior group ,use the drinking fountain or have extra time for recess. These radical changes deeply affected the children and you could see it in their eyes. Elliott taught these children an important lesson in discrimination and racism , all taking place after the assination of Martin Luther King. The children’s lives would never be the same after this experiment, and in my opinion it helped them become better people in the long run. What I mean by better people , is more tolerant as adults towards people who are different from them in terms or face religion sexual orientation ,etc. If we were all a little more tolerant the world would be a better place.