gitju-467-367937 Reviews

We Are the Giant (2014)

Incredibly important documentary

[10/10 · 2 October 2015]

I wish everyone in the US would watch this film. We Are The Giant is both heartbreaking and uplifting at the same time, problematizing the use of violence for political resistance. The stories stretch across various Arab Spring scenarios--Libya, Syria, Bahrain, etc-- humanizing a part of the world that we so often see reduced to "the Other" in our newscasts. Not only can we feel their outrage, but one marvels at the commitment to resistance and the unrelenting demand for freedom and human rights.

A lot of the footage is graphic, real shot-from-the-hip (or cellphone) video as young people are shot by soldiers and police. Agonizing screams of friends and relatives as they watch the horror unfold, and first hand accounts of surviving activists as they discuss the conflicts. I found myself crying at several points. At the same time, this film is genuinely inspiring, and is very well edited, interspersing quotes from MLK, Gandhi, Mandela, and other notable human rights activists, with archive footage from other movements which succeeded--and succeeded by peaceful means.

I cannot recommend this enough. At present, it is available through Amazon. Worth the few dollars to see it or own it.

End Day (2005 TV Movie)

An interesting exercise in "what if?"

[8/10 · 4 November 2012]

Judging strictly on a realism scale (and perhaps a cheesiness scale) I would have given this one a 6 or 7. It gets the bonus point for a few moments and references that are genuinely hilarious if you are quick enough to catch them.

Part Groundhog Day, part Run Lola Run (without the awesome soundtrack), we follow a scientist working on a LHC-type project trying to fly from London to NYC for the big experiment. We cycle through the day repeatedly with different scenarios unfolding:

1) A massive tsunami hitting NYC; 2) A meteor storm and incoming larger meteor; 3) A new pandemic; 4) The Yellowstone caldera finally blows; 5) The LNC does, in fact, produce a black hole

I think this could have been an amazingly intelligent 'what if' (or, as the movie's mantra says "not what if, but when") scenario projection with some thoughtful commentary on such events, but it was largely reduced to a scientific summation in each instance.

I also found that the idea of parallel events (people who cross the Dr.'s path on his way to the airport, etc) could have been even more flushed out, but that would have made it more of a two-hour movie rather than a 1-hour spoonful of docudrama. It would have made this much stronger though.

As 3 and 4 are the most likely scenarios, it was very sobering to watch. And 1 is certainly more plausible with the recent footage of Superstorm Sandy's effects on a populous city like NY. Sadly the 5th was laughable, but perhaps that was the point? Why worry about a particle collider (which we now know, went onward with its experiment without catastrophic results) when we have scenarios that are far more likely?