Your Favorite Documentaries

[Kobi]

An essential documentary about the birth of the women's liberation movement. Beginning in the late 1960s, featuring never-seen before archival footage and new interviews She's beautiful when she's angry tells the story of one of the most important social movements of the 20th century, bringing to light the efforts of lesser-known activists, including the Boston authors of Our bodies, ourselves, the Chicago Women's Liberation Union, and grassroots organizations across the country who played a pivotal role in the struggle"

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History to some. Life to me.

Nice recap of what life was like before the womens movement, the process of getting angry enough to fight for change, the changes, and how easy it is to lose the gains when people become complacent.

Interesting to see the variety of women involved, describing things themselves. And, to have the lesbians and WOC speak to their part in the process.

BTW, I am still in love with Rita Mae Brown and Karla Jay.

[Kobi]

Consider the Conversation is a series of PBS films created by two long-time Wisconsin friends - Terry Kaldhusdal, a 6th grade history teacher and filmmaker, and Michael Bernhagen, a healthcare business development professional turned hospice advocate.

Both lost loved ones to severe chronic disease during the first part of the 21st century - Mike's mother, Rita, to congestive heart failure and vascular dementia in 2003 and Terry's brother, Peter, to pancreatic cancer in 2009 - and struggled, like most Americans do, to make sense of what was happening.

These personal experiences, combined with Mike's many years of work in the hospice field, led the pair to produce documentaries with one simple goal in mind - inspire culture change that results in end-of-life care that is more person-centered and less system-centered.

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Excellent. Very intense.

[Kobi]

Looks at the remarkable genius of Orson Welles on the eve of his centenary - the enigma of his career as a Hollywood star, a Hollywood director (for some a Hollywood failure), and a crucially important independent filmmaker. Orson Welles's life was magical: a musical prodigy at age ten, a director of Shakespeare at fourteen, a painter at sixteen, a star of stage and radio at twenty, romances with some of the most beautiful women in the world, including Rita Hayworth.

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This was more of an overview of Welles life and career. Brought up more questions than it answered.

I can tell you a young Welles sounds eerily like Frasier Crane.

[Gemme]

I'm not a documentary type person but I picked up Shelter Me and it looks good so far.

[Kobi]

BURT'S BUZZ takes an intimate look at the world of Burt Shavitz, the face and co-founder of Burt's Bees, exploring his fascinating and unique life. Wise and wry, ornery and opinionated, the reclusive Shavitz is committed to living off the land and keeping true to his humble beginnings despite his celebrity status. The film chronicles Burt's life as a photographer, beekeeper, and brand spokesman, following his complicated relationship with the company, his fans, and the world around him. Exposing the collision between business and personal values, "Burt's Buzz" is a compelling and fascinating portrait of this highly idiosyncratic pioneer, and a revealing study of what it means to be a living icon.

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Sometimes documentaries haunt you with unsettling feelings. This was one of those.

[C0LLETTE]

Shoa.........

[Kobi]

"Never Forget"

Madame Simone Renaud, the wife of the mayor of Ste. Mere-Eglise, – also known as the Mother of Normandy – was 45 years old when the United States invaded Normandy during World War II. She and her three young sons watched in horror as German soldiers opened fire onto the 101st and 82nd Airborne Division soldiers.

Seizing Ste. Mere-Eglise prior to the D-Day beach landings was crucial to the Allied offensive. A German counterattack would likely use the main road that ran through the town, and the Allies were determined to hold it.

Mixed units of the American 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions had hoped to use surprise and confusion to overwhelm the German garrison there, but stray incendiary bombs set many of the town's buildings ablaze. The German soldiers and the townspeople were fully alert and fighting the fires when the paratroopers began landing among them.

The Americans were shot as they landed. Some fell into the burning buildings, and their screams could be heard above the loudly ringing church bells. Others got hung up on poles, buildings, and trees, and were shot before they could cut themselves down. Renaud's husband witnessed several Germans emptying their machine guns into one paratrooper as he hung helplessly above them. It seemed that the assault on the town would end in failure and catastrophe.

But the young paratroopers fought back. They could see what was happening below and started firing their guns as they descended. Wounded paratroopers who were lying in the streets, some bleeding to death, shot the Germans as they tried to pick off their descending comrades. Renaud and her three frightened young sons huddled in their home as the fierce fight raged in the streets outside.

At 4:30 a.m., the town finally fell to the Americans. As the reinforcing soldiers arrived, they were stunned by the macabre scene. Dead paratroopers lay in the streets and dangled from trees, their blood staining the cobblestone streets. Lt. Col. Edward Krause could utter only three words: "Oh, my God."

Madame Renaud, the wife of the mayor of Ste. Mere-Eglise, vowed to always remember the sacrifices made by these brave young American men whose young lives were cut short at the hands of the Germans.

In the weeks following the invasion, this young mother took it upon herself and began taking care of the grave sites of the more than 15,000 US troops who died and were buried in temporary cemeteries in and around the area.

When Life Magazine published a photo of Madame Renaud decorating the grave site of General Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., she began receiving numerous pieces of mail from US families asking if she would take care of their son’s resting place as well. Some asked if she would photograph their loved ones resting place and send it to them.

Even Madame Renaud could not have envisioned the 44 year journey she was embarking upon - a journey that would last until her death in 1988. During those years, she wrote countless letters, took hundreds and hundreds of photos, organized ceremonies, corresponded with many of the families who lost loved ones in Normandy and even sent soil samples to them from the grave sites.

Madame Renaud also cared for the veteran's who survived. She hosted ceremonies and events, chartering planes and trains to bring them back to the first town they liberated in Normandy.

She died in 1988. Just as she never forgot those who died so she and her fellow townspeople could be free, the veterans made sure she too would never be forgotten.

Her sons continued her work.

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Amazing story.

[Talon]

I watched an interesting one on master photographer Diane Arbus....

[Kätzchen]

***bump***

Bumping thread for my friend homoe.....

[Kätzchen]

Originally Posted by Kobi

BURT'S BUZZ takes an intimate look at the world of Burt Shavitz, the face and co-founder of Burt's Bees, exploring his fascinating and unique life. Wise and wry, ornery and opinionated, the reclusive Shavitz is committed to living off the land and keeping true to his humble beginnings despite his celebrity status. The film chronicles Burt's life as a photographer, beekeeper, and brand spokesman, following his complicated relationship with the company, his fans, and the world around him. Exposing the collision between business and personal values, "Burt's Buzz" is a compelling and fascinating portrait of this highly idiosyncratic pioneer, and a revealing study of what it means to be a living icon.

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Sometimes documentaries haunt you with unsettling feelings. This was one of those.

Thanks for posting about this documentary, Kobi.
I'm going to add it to my "gotta see" list.

[homoe]