The worst part of last night's Academy Award's broadcast had to have been the Best Documentary section. This is always a drag anyway, since most of the nominated docs are (1) incredibly obscure and (2) hopelessly "political" and (3) predictably humorless. It's a rare year when I have seen one (actually, last year was such a year, as I saw Encounters at the End of the World. Naturally, it did not win). But this year seemed especially grim. The Academy showed the theatrical trailers for each to give you a flavor for the nominees. Here they are, as presented by Harvard Man and "political", Matt Damon:
1. Burma VJ: about the failed Saffron Revolution in Burma. Actually, this looked pretty good with lots of dramatic hidden camera footage of huge crowds led by rabble rousing monks. Did we ever see footage like this in the American media? Of course not. There was no way this movie was going to win anything.
2. Food Inc.: an Eric Schlosser production about industrial scale farming. It's filled with cavernous shots of massed poultry, ranks of harvester combines, and the inevitable "experts" hectoring the audience about "what's in our food." A vital part of the 21st century left's efforts to do to food production what they have done to smoking, auto manufacturing, and the climate - gin up a crisis that can only be stopped by "regulation."
3. The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers: Ellsberg has to be one of the most documented, not to mention overly-praised - men of the last 50 years. Does anyone really give two s**** about Viet Nam, the Pentagon Papers, and Ellsberg's "brave" stand anymore? There's also gratuitous footage of a glowering Nixon. I'm surprised this didn't end up in the Academy's tribute to horror movies.
4. Which Way Home: a movie about migrant kids traveling to America to find the parents who left them behind in Mexico. There's lots of footage of children on riding on trains, children dreaming of the US, and children weeping for the parents they haven't seen in years. Pretty tough stuff. It would be even tougher if the documentarians would look for the parents who abandoned these kids, the coyotes who exploit them, and the local governments that would prefer to see their populations flee to the north rather than provide for them at home. Instead, the movie seems to focus on the Border Patrol agents who arrest them. Not everything is America's fault you know.
5. The Cove: a movie about dolphin hunting in Japan. There was a shocking amount of blood and carnage. There were also plenty of shots of "brave" western film-makers squaring off against agitated Japanese fishermen. Japan is not the only country engaging in whaling - look at Norway, Iceland, and Alaska - but, it is the only country that attracts wide-spread opprobrium from western environmentalists. It is the Israel of the environmental movement; the country that can't do right. Of course, this was the winner.
Big picture, you could say that a majority of these films dealt with food: Food Inc. with farming, The Cove with fishing/whaling. Which Way Home was about migrant workers, who often labor in the fields (not to mention the mansions in LA's wealthier neighborhoods). The left really doesn't like the way we go about feeding ourselves, and seem enamored of "locally grown" food supplies. Expect to hear more on this topic in the years to come.
The Japanese fishing village featured in "The Cove," which won an Oscar for best documentary, defended its practice of hunting dolphins Monday as a part of a long tradition.
The movie, which mixes stunning underwater shots of gliding dolphins with covertly filmed grisly footage of their slaughter, also claims that dolphin meat is laden with toxic mercury.
Taiji, a quiet fishing village on the rocky coast of southwestern Japan, kills only a small fraction of the dolphins hunted by the country each year. But it has long been a target of environmentalists and animal lovers because it uses a method called "oikomi," in which the dolphins are chased into shore, making the hunt more visible.
Though few residents said they had seen the film, there was universal disgust at its portrayal of the town. Taiji proudly bills itself as "Whale Town" and a main bridge is adorned with dolphin statues, but after years of what locals see as unfair treatment by the foreign press, few are willing to talk on the record. One young dolphin trainer turned and ran away when asked for her opinion.
"This is a close-knit group of fishermen. The more they feel squeezed, the more they will close off to outsiders. They won't stop this hunt because of such pressure," said Hisato Ryono, a local councilman who appears in the film.
The town also asks that we respect their traditions. Sorry, guys. "Tradition" doesn't work for the following groups: (1) American conservatives (2) Israeli settlers (3) Japanese fishermen. Have a nice day. Save the whales.
The mayor's office handed out a statement that said Taiji's dolphin hunt is lawful and argued that the movie contained statements that were not based on science. Otherwise, most town officials refused to talk.
"There are different food traditions within Japan and around the world," the statement read. "It is important to respect and understand regional food cultures, which are based on traditions with long histories."
I do not support eating whales. I hope they give up on whales for food. They night need explanation for why whales' lives should be respected and are different from cows and pigs. Again, they, only some people in Japan in some villages, do not continue their eating habits!
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