Netflix Documentary Reviews 2: On the Way to School, Dear Zachary, The Propaganda Game, The Tiger and the Munk, Jesus Camp, Kevin Hart Stand-up, How to Die in Oregon

1. On the Way to School

Kids from far-off countries walk 10-20 miles to school. They avoid elephants and tigers. A brave video camera man visits and follows along. Epic. 10/10


2. Dear Zachary

A guy started making a documentary for his murdered friend's son. The documentary ended up becoming a mission to change the Canadian legal system which had a law that allowed convicted murderers to post bail and live freely until their court date, whilst postponing that court date several times. 6/10


3. The Propaganda Game

North Korea is a wonderful place to live, according the people interviewed in this film.  They believe the government takes good care of them, despite lacking some Western endorsed common amenities.

They've been brainwashed. As we all have, to some degree, with government-pushed propaganda. But North Korea's government takes it a step further.

They call themselves a democracy. Yet their past 3 leaders have a direct paternal lineage, more like a monarchy. Kind of like the Bushes maybe, if the Bushes were as smart as the Kims.

The biggest difference I saw between North Koreans and Americans in this film, was people's attitude toward government. In the U.S. we are very split. We're becoming the dis-United States.

But the dedication represented in this film of North Koreans to their leader was analogous. Children are taught in school from an early age to salute and chant about the greatness of their present and past leaders everyday.

Sidenote: First came Kim Il-sung (placed in charge by the Soviet Union after WWII) and then Kim Jong-il (sung's son), and now Kim Jong-un (sung's grandson). Kind of gives you a double chin to say Jong over and over again. Maybe if those people talked differently they wouldn't have such long faces.

North Koreans are shown throughout the documentary screaming and crying when in the presence of their leader. It reminded me of how girls screamed and cried when they saw the Beatles.

I'm reluctant to elaborate any further on my opinions of North Korea. 10/10


4. The Tiger and the Monk

I got bored of this after 11 minutes. It was disappointing to me that I couldn't stick it out because it was only 50 minutes long. It was about monks and their pet tigers. 3/10


5. Jesus Camp

Religious extremists in this documentary make Christianity look nuts. It disturbed me almost as much as "The True Cost."

I felt bad for the children of these extreme evangelicals. This is not Christianity folks. This is just... wrong. True Christianity and a true understanding of Christianity comes from a church with a prepared pastor. Of all the churches I've been to in RI (probably 20), only one church had a prepared pastor who wasn't afraid to speak the truth. The pastor streams his sermons live and you can check out what real Christianity is all about here: graceCfellowship.org

But extreme evangelicals are different. In "Jesus Camp," children appeared to be demon possessed in some footage. It gave me chills to watch as adults subtly encouraged and praised children for shaking and crying in church.

My understanding of Christianity is that the bible is the inspired, written word of God. It tells the ultimate love story, one of the shared love between a parent and his child, and what extreme natures that kind of love will drive a loving soul to do.

In the end love is all that matters anyways. And God is love. He's not what the extremists in this film worship.

This movie was a disgrace to Christianity. 5/10


6. Kevin Hart Stand-up 1, 2 and 3

This wasn't really a documentary. I only watched the first one, most of it at least, entitled "I'm a Grown Little Man."

I stopped it about 46 minutes in when I realized I wasn't in the mood for comedy. But it was funny, the story of his run-in with an ostrich, and his impersonation of said bird. He really is hilarious.

He also had a good joke about his daughter yelling at him before she had developed a vocabulary. He interprets what she's saying through her toddler talk and body language. That shit is pure funny yo.

Seriously though, it's January and life completely sucks. The only reason I searched Kevin Hart on Netflix (and none of his movies were available to stream) is because one of my middle school special ed students wrote an essay about wanting to spend a day with him. He wrote about funny scenes in his favorite Kevin Hart movies. I thought I'd check me out some Kevin Hart this weekend. And I'm glad I did. 7/10


7. How to Die in Oregon

I was bawling in the first 5 minutes as they showed a home movie of a family sitting with their loved father/grandfather as he drank the "medicine" that would end his pain and suffering. He said good-bye. He wore a diaper and a button-down shirt. After he drank the "medicine" he said it tasted like wood. He laid down and sang a song and closed his eyes. Then the singing stopped, and his mouth opened wide. He let out an inaudible sigh.

The rest of it I didn't really pay attention to. It started to get political. So I ate a sandwich and called an Indian guy I dated. He didn't answer.  9/10

Netflix Documentary Reviews 1: The Drop Box, Love Me, The Dark Matter of Love, The True Cost, Craigslist Joe

The Drop Box

The Drop Box is about a man in Seoul, South Korea who lets people drop off unwanted babies in a drop box he has attached to his house. He said God asked him to do it, after for several years, hundreds of babies were being abandoned on the streets of Seoul due to social circumstances that ultimately outcast women who had a baby out of wedlock.

The social system is the problem. People don't value life over traditional values. In one scene it showed Korean news footage of babies being found in sewage pipes and garbage bins still crying, while others were left on streets and sidewalks to be walked and driven over. Many of these babies had their umbilical cords still attached.

Pastor Jong-rak Lee and his wife have taken in many babies over the years, some of which are severely disabled. The film teaches a lesson on humanity. 10 out of 10.


Love Me

Some ugly overweight loners try to buy themselves a wife from an online Ukrainian dating website. It was fascinating and horrifying at the same time. 9 out of 10.


The Dark Matter of Love

Despite its creepy title, and equally creepy adoptive father's attempts at creating premature bonds with 3 adopted Russian children, this film was somewhat touching.

It was about a married couple who had one biological child but were not able to have any more. When their one daughter was almost full grown, they adopted 3 Russian orphans: two young twin boys and a preteen girl.

It was painful to watch the dad try to interact with the adoptees. He made them change their names against their will. It was awkward because one of the twin boys' names was changed to an American name that in Russian sounded like a bad word. But he had to take that new name. I almost turned the documentary off at that point.

The mom looked like she was doped up on painkillers and muscle relaxers for most of the film. She just floated around the house, often hiding in bed during filming, as the dad did all the work.

When she finally had to get out of the house one evening to go watch her adopted daughter perform a song at school, she completely ignored the girl afterwards and talked to other parents and teachers at the school instead. The adopted girl nearly cried for the first time in the whole movie. But even then, the adopted girl said to the film's producer, "I will never cry."

I wanted to punch my computer screen out at that point.

But I stuck it out. Maybe the editors of the film just sucked and intentionally wanted to create awkward tension for the viewer. I wished it had been filmed differently, though. I think the parents deep down were good people who wanted to share all their wealth with less privileged children. And they did.

By the end of the doc, the kids did seem happier and well-adjusted. The adoptive parents were clearly loaded, but the film never explained how they had so much money. Maybe they won a big Powerball lottery. Neither parent worked. The dad would ride a tractor lawn mower around hundreds of acres of land that wasn't farmed, but served as what these Russian kids came to know as an American backyard. They'll probably be spoiled, rotten jerks a few years from now. Never knowing what love really is. At least not from this cardboard family.

The end. 4 out of 10.


The True Cost

I had this idea in my head a couple years ago that the true cost of putting gasoline in my car might be the blood of children. Oil wars. Bloodshed. Cheap gasoline for me.

Oil is the leading bloodshed cost industry, but tonight I learned that the second highest human blood cost industry is the textile industry. Cotton. Clothing. Fashion.

When we go shopping, if we're not buying something made in America, it's likely being hand-sewn by a third world slave. This documentary changed me. I kind of wish I hadn't watched it. I feel socially responsible for my consumer decisions now.

The True Cost will open your eyes to the foolishness of the fashion industry. A handful of fashion world industry gurus are getting rich at the cost of keeping slavery very alive and well in third world nations.

One woman at a clothing factory in Cambodia said she started a union with the other workers, and together they peacefully drew up and presented a list of factory conditions they wanted to see upheld, along with an increase in pay from $120 U.S./year to $160 U.S./year.

These women had given up their children and were sleeping on wooden floors and breathing in harmful chemicals at work everyday. But the factory owners went into a little room to discuss what to do with the new worker demands. When they came out of the little room, they allegedly beat up all the women. They stabbed sewing needles through their bodies and bit them, too. It was horrible to read the sub-captions as this woman tearfully recalled that day she tried to enact change.

I recommend you don't watch this if you're not ready to drastically change your shopping habits either. Some of the top companies who outsource slave labor include H&M, Walmart, and Levi's.

I don't even like fashion that much but I cried myself to sleep as the film ended with footage taken from clothing store cameras on Black Friday here in our "free" country. Freedom comes at a cost. I'll have nightmares for life from having seen this.  5/10.


Craigslist Joe

An average guy, Joe decides to videotape his road trip around the country with no money. He only has his phone and a computer, whereby he meets strangers on Craigslist. At one point during his travels, Joe actually meets the founder of Craigslist. The film explores the generosity of strangers who comprise the Craigslist community, particularly those who feed and house Joe and his cameraman during their 31 day adventure.

My favorite part was when Joe meets a lady on Craigslist who had a small part in the movie Home Alone 2. Her name is Fran McGee, and she somewhat regrets what her life has become after her dream of becoming a famous movie star died. She is older now, and battles cancer now, using healthy food instead of surgery. She is also a hoarder but says her ability to see her hoarding behavior as insane makes her sane. "You have to be sane to see something you're doing as insane," she says. She has a great smile, too. A fresh spirit. A bared soul. She made me believe in the goodness of humankind for a minute.

I'd give this film a 10/10. I almost gave it an 11, but I want to be a serious critic here. But I loved this documentary, co-produced by Zach Galifianakis who I also love, and I love the friends of mine who recommended it. Thank you.