I Like Documentaries

I really like watching documentaries. They're probably my favorite genre of film. My interest in documentaries started when I was friends with Peter and he would make us watch all sorts of movies I wouldn't normally watch (when we weren't religiously watching Law and Order: SVU).

My love for documentaries solidified after watching My Brother's Keeper. It was like a real life SVU with beautiful cinematography minus Chris Meloni. The story of these three elderly brothers has always stuck with me. Even though I had nothing in common with these rural, illiterate siblings, their familial love and compassion were still things I could relate to.

After this one I was officially hooked.
Some good ones:
-Man on Wire (one of my favorites, if you have't seen it, watch it now. It will make you want to go out and do something impossible and magical.)
-Jesus Camp (horrifying)
-The Story of the Weeping Camel (so beautiful)
-Manufactured Landscapes (shot well by famous photographer)
-Tyson (I like Mike Tyson and this movie is well done, he's fascinating)

Some bad ones:
-Zidane (an hour and a half of following Zidane around a soccer field, you don't even know what's going on in the freaking soccer match)
-Cocaine Cowboys (not well executed)
-Welcome to North Korea (this documentary won an Emmy, it was awful!!!! The narrator kept saying Kim YONG Il, instead of Kim Jong Il. Um FYI It's not Spanish, the J ISN'T silent and also how hard would it have been to fact check this with I dont know any random Korean? Ugh, stupid. Still mad this won an Emmy, really?!)
-All movies dealing with conspiracies. They are lame.

I've even watched a documentary called "Dr. Money and the Boy with no Penis." I'm serious, I actually watched the entire thing.


Recently though, I watched that documentary "Babies." I wanted to watch it when it came out last spring but never got a chance to. This movie sucked.

I love documentaries because I believe a good documentary should make the viewer relate to the subject matter at hand whether it be a 7 year old spelling bee contestant or someone accused or child molestation. Not that I can relate to someone sexually attracted to children but the point is it should bind the narrative into a relatable human experience.

Anyways so I watched "Babies" which I have to say was beautifully shot. There is no narration, no dialogue. Just watching babies from around the world grow up. So I'm watching the movie, all is good. Aw cute babies. Cute babies trying to crawl. Cute babies crying. Cuteness overload.

So everyone is pretty much civilized except the baby from Africa because it's not a South African baby, it's a tribal baby. To choose a tribal baby to be the only black baby in the film bothered me because I feel like it was kind of racist to do so. Maybe I'm being overly sensitive here. Why not pick an aboriginie, as if black people don't have it hard enough in the media? The Mongolian baby was pretty backwoods (they have no running water) but this was offset by the fact that they showed another Asian baby living in Tokyo.

So that bothered me slightly but I thought OK maybe I will find that I can still relate to these tribal people somehow because we are after all human. Humanity is humanity right?

Then this is when the movie really turned for me. The tribal mom wiped her babies ass on her own leg to wipe the baby's shit off. Then there is a shot of poo on a leg. From that point I hated this movie.

Documentaries should show the common thread. But honestly after seeing someone wipe another person's shit on their leg. I just was done right there. I now know uncivilized people are 125% less civilized than I ever thought. This film made me more smug than ever about how much better I am than 90% of the world's population.

Maybe I just don't like babies that much, that could be it.