Great Documentaries

i just finished watching two great documentaries: "Waiting for Superman" & "Exit Through the Gift Shop". i haven't seen the rest of the nominees for best documentary for the Oscars or even the one that won, but i would have to say that "Exit Through the Gift Shop" is unlike any documentary i've seen; with a glimpse of "I'm Still Here" i go back and forth on the validity of the film.

to start with Banksy's "Exit Through the Gift Shop", i walked away feeling like a fool and murmuring to myself how big of an idiot thierry is, as well as how genius Banksy is. i thought it was going to be a documentary about Banksy which i was super excited for since, Banksy is amazingly talented; he decided to branch out and amaze us through a different medium. this film has such a huge statement on art and it's culture and it basically gives a big middle finger to all of them; to all the people who sell out and believe they are making art when they are using others to make art and/or just regurgitating previous works. what happened to originality? i struggle with this concept all the time, that is why i haven't made any films recently and struggle to breakout of my monotonous mold in photography. it's one thing to be inspired from others, but to blatantly rip off other people's work is lazy and lackluster. also if you make something, please think through and have a logical or at least an explanation that forms a cognitive sentence instead of "it is popular in culture" referencing thierry when he was interviewed about one of his art pieces. i am not sure if this is an adaptation off of mockumentary by staging a story and mocking the art community or if indeed this is a true story where thierry was in the right place at the right time and just got so consumed with fame and fortune that he decided to throw art out the window. i have had countless talks with friends about this movie and i keep coming back to Banksy and how he is a creative genius who loves to show you how stupid or meaningless aspects of life/culture/politics are. he got me, i'll be the first to admit it. this is a great film and continues to press the question onto the viewer, "is this art?"

  

i finally got the chance to sit down and watch "Waiting for Superman" a documentary about our school system and the problems we have been facing and some examples of schools/students actually excelling. to start things off i want to admit that i'm not the best student, but a good one; i am not the smartest person out there and nor do i have the answers to fix the school system, political system, energy consumption issue, food industry, or any other large system/industry that has been tainted and causing our culture, country, world to spiral into a bad place. *side note* i hope that all of the viewers of these documentaries like "Waiting for Superman", "Food Inc.", "The Corporation", "No End in Sight", "No Impact Man", etc. don't just walk away from seeing these films and say i want to change something, then not do anything. i hope viewers are actually taking stake in these huge issues and taking them to heart, i know i am doing my part but need to be more involved. sorry for the rant. "Waiting for Superman" was really well made with good production value (unlike the scrappy camera work in "Exit Through the Gift Shop" but it shows you that you don't have to have a huge budget to have a great film, but a good story).  you follow a handful of kids ranging in ages, financial status, and ethnic backgrounds in their current schools and where they are wanting/trying to get into due to a higher percentage of success in their education instead of funneling into a school with a nickname like "dropout factory". intermixed with the stories of these kids are two examples of schools that are thriving in their teaching and percentage of advancement of graduation and acceptance into colleges: Kipp L.A. Prep & Harlem Success Academy. it was said that lower income neighborhoods and schools were affecting each other to produce dumb kids, but this is not what Kipp L.A. Prep or Harlem Success Academy are showing us; they have started numerous schools in poor/crime filled/poor test score parts of cities and have shown that they are having success in teaching kids. the film brings up where the current school system is failing 1) guaranteeing teachers security through tenure even if they are poor teachers 2) the bureaucracy at a state/federal level as well as with the teachers' unions standing in the way of change 3) spending trillions of dollars on military and prisons when we should be spending it on equipping our youth with something useful and productive called knowledge. the things that make Kipp and Harlem schools a success are teachers actually qualified to teach, good pay to reward the teachers, longer school days, more specific tutoring for children, and college prep from day one. i really love Roger Ebert's closing statement about how to deal with the failure of our education system "Our nation is willing to spent trillions on war and billions to support the world's largest prison population rate. Here is my modest proposal: Spend less money on prisons and more money on education. Reduce our military burden and put that money into education. In 20 years, you would have more useful citizens, less crime and no less national security. It's so simple." go out and watch this documentary, share it with your friends and family, be invested and a part in your child's education, go to PTA meetings, meet with teachers, help your kid with homework, be a tutor, financially support a family wanting to put their kid in a better school, write your representatives to help change the education system.