As a child Davis started playing football and started making headlines as a young man. Scouts started lining up to talk to Davis during his senior year of high school. Coach Schwartzwalder and former player, Jim Brown went to Davis’s hometown to recruit him to play for Syracuse. As the documentary continues the audience gets the understanding that racism is present in colleges. Not very many college have allowed black players to play for their team no matter how much potential that individual has and what they will bring to the team.
In 1966 the NCAA basketball championship game consisted of the accomplished four-time NCAA tournament winner, the University of Kentucky Wildcats, and a small southwestern institution in El Paso, home of the “progressive” Texas Western College Miners. During this epoch, racism was still thriving in the South as well as the collegiate education and athletic system. Unlike most institutions of the South, Texas Western experienced integration over a decade earlier and opportuned coach Don Haskins to recruit talented players, regardless of their skin color. The film Glory Road exemplifies the many hardships these student-athletes confronted on and off the court. Prior to becoming national champs, the Miners dealt with plenty of internal tension.
Leaving last week’s class, my mind was darting in all sorts of directions. While the “Eyes on the Prize” excerpt gave me a concrete understanding of the historic events of the desegregation of Little Rock High School, “Little Rock Central High: 50 Years Later” brought up all sorts of observations and questions on race in America that I hadn’t necessarily thought to address before. I think these two films were particularly interesting to view back to back because of their difference in style, content, and execution. I have viewed many of the “Eyes on The Prize” segments in past classes and this segment, “Fighting Back”, continues to stand out to me. Through the use of first person interviews and real footage, the piece gave me, what felt like, a clear look
Themes of Documentary For this video critique, our class watched a documentary called “Stand,” directed by Joslyn Rose Lyons. This documentary is centered on Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf’s story, from his childhood to his life after being blacklisted from the NBA. Many themes were discussed throughout this movie which related directly towards Abdul-Rauf but can relate to anyone in the world. The themes that stood out were racial prejudice in the south, challenges with Tourette Syndrome, media attacking for stories, and religious differences in the NBA.
Jerry Hix, a former Permian football player, rewatches his football games from high school to relive the fame that just one game brought. The videos show both the good and bad moments from the games, yet even after remembering the things he wanted to forget, Hix claimed, “I’d give anything to go back out there” (277). He continues to go to every Permian football game, chasing the lost feelings from high school. This sensation is what the players get to feel every game, but in some aspects that is the only good thing about football for them. Ivory Christian was one of the star players on the Permian team of 1988, but throughout Friday Night Lights, his relationship with football represents a paradox.
When most people feel like they are close to God; they usually make good moral decisions. In Doubt by John Patrick Shanley; Sister Aloysius tells Sister James that “In the pursuit of wrongdoing, one steps away from God. Of course, there’s a price.” When stepping away from God someone is committing sins and they are doing things that are usually not accepted. As the main characters stepped away from God, they had to pay the price of making wrong choices and the price of being pressured by those choices.
Ethical challenges are of universal span; many people including police officers are confronted with the opportunities for violating organizational rules and norms daily. Most of the stories about police officers in the media, including Cops and Criminal Minds, are about respectable police officers, but the intense 2001 movie Training Day is not. Alonzo Harris, a veteran police officer with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), is training Jake Hoyt, a rookie officer on his first day with the narcotics unit. Harris’ character is an example of police officers’ potential for corruption. For instance, when Harris misuses the police authority and uses some fake arrest warrant seizing millions of dollars from a former LAPD veteran, now an informant
The film 13th directed by Ava DuVernay targets an intended audience of the Media and the three branches of the United States government with an emphasis that mass incarceration is an extension of slavery. It is intended to inform viewers about the criminalization of African Americans and the United States prison boom. 13th uses rhetorical devices in its claim to persuade the viewers by using exemplum in the opening seconds of the film. President Barack Obama presents statistics, saying “the United States is home to 5% of the world’s population but is home to 25% of the world’s prisoners.” Also the film uses a hyperbole in talking about the movie Birth of a Nation produced in 1915 which portrays a black man as a violent savage who will kill white women.
“A moment of pain is worth a lifetime of glory.” Louis Zamperini dealt with bullies at a young age when his family moved from France to America. He began to get in trouble with the authorities, often running from them, but when his brother noticed he could run, his life changed. Zamperini joined the school track team and excelled, eventually moving on to the Olympics. However, in a twist of events, Zamperini joins the army and finds himself stranded at sea, then stuck in a Japanese Prisoner of War Camp.
Which Way Is the Front Line from Here? The Life and Time of Tim Hetherington - Film Review A documentary that pays respect to the late Photographer Tim Hetherington, and directed by his good friend of his Sebastien Junger. This documentary gives us a powerful insight into one of the most talented photo-journalist of his time, Tim Hetherington, the film also shows Hetherington person not just as a photographer, which i think this is what junger was trying to make us see. The film shows us that Hetherington often photographed not he wanted to but what had to be, which is different to other photographers I feel.
Even where they appear as entirely nonpolitical, movies tend to inevitably have political messages. However, the notably evident aspect in numerous films is their tendencies to integrate liberal ideas. Using the film, Independence Day directed by Roland Emmerich, the current essay examines the themes related to conditions under which liberal ideals can influence elite policy-makers in achieving rational foreign policy decision-making. Several relevant themes are likely to emerge in films pointing towards the liberal tendencies or otherwise among elite policy-makers that contribute in promoting greater international experience. Even though in an indirect manner, it is common for American films to exhibit liberal ideals that are likely to provide
War is the biggest cause of destruction for nations. World War I in 1914 to 1918 shook the stability of countries and involved military alliances between different groups of countries. Germany was one of the countries affected by those wars. In 1934, 20 years after World War 1, The Triumph of The Will a documentary film was released. It was produced and created by Leni Riefenstahl, who was commissioned to do it by the Nazi Party.
Breathless, originally titled ‘À bout de souffle’, made in 1960 is a movie about a small-time thief who steals a car and murders a policeman. The story is about authorities chasing him while he reunites with an American journalist and attempts to persuade her to run away with him to Italy. Jean-Luc Godard, the director of the movie often quotes, ‘To make a film, all you need is a girl and a gun.’, which is probably the inspiration behind this movie. Breathless was one of the movies that kicked off the French New Wave. Like several of his French New Wave members, Jean-Luc Godard started as a film critic, and wrote for the magazine ‘Cahiers du Cinema’ in the 1950s, when he was in his early 20s.
In 2015, HBO aired a six-part, true crime documentary series titled, The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst. Writer and director, Andrew Jarecki, examined the details of three crimes associated with Durst, including the disappearance of Durst’s first wife Kathy, the murder of his dear friend, Susan, and the murder and dismemberment of his neighbor, Morris Black. While the mini-series was met with acclaim, many – including myself – criticize The Jinx for its storytelling approach. The series seemingly blurs the lines of storytelling – for entertainment purposes – and journalism; raising many questions regarding ethics. Initially, Durst approached Jarecki regarding an interview after he saw All Good Things, a film Jarecki had released
Steven Spielberg’s exhilarating film, The Post, is centered around The Washington Post, a family owned newspaper company, which is racing against the New York Times to exploit the wrongdoings of the U.S. government. It tells the story of the Pentagon Papers and how the Government hid these classified documents from the public along with the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War for three decades and four presidencies. This film stars Meryl Streep who takes on the role of Katherine Graham, Chief Publisher of the Washington Post after her husband passed away. Co-star Tom Hanks takes on the role of Ben Bradlee, executive editor of the paper. This film was directed by Steven Spielberg, an extremely talented director/producer for many well
