I'm on a documentary kick, apparently. Documentaries are good "background" noise because I don't have to give them my full attention, and I can still go to bed thinking.
Last night:
The Business of Being Born
Examines the American assumption that an American woman will/should give birth in a hospital, under the supervision of an M.D. Birth is unspeakably beautiful in a more natural, intuitive environment. I was more impacted by this one than I expected. I'm not sure why I was so surprised; it's not that I like babies or want to be a mom or anything crazy like that.
Tonight:
Questions the mainline Christian belief that homosexuality should be condemned (and is a far different "sin" from eating shellfish). I have two students who are being ostracized by their parents, due to each student's sexual orientation. Both sets of parents are making their children feel disgusting and unloved, and both sets of parents have strong religious convictions. Obviously, I care very much about this "issue." Knowing that people who are gay are 3-7 times more likely to commit suicide than those who are heterosexual keeps me up at night worrying. I was surprised by the gentle approach these filmmakers take on such a zeal-chased topic. I was more touched/sad than riled up.
Next up:
What film (documentary or no) have you found
infuriating/questionable/eye-opening?
P.S. When I watched Supersize Me a few years back, I was craving fast food as the credits rolled. What can I say?
5 comments:
I don't know what to say about "The Business of Being Born" except that it shouldn't be viewed by people who aren't able to look objectively at both views of childbirth. View cautiously.
I knew mentioning that film would get you to comment:)
Have you seen it? It DEFINITELY has a slant (as do all documentaries), but it's refreshing to hear the other side, since we're all too familiar with the side that advocates traditional hospital births. We need to view and read everything with some caution and understanding of the slant. However, it's impossible to be objective when we always bring our personal biases to viewing/reading (especially on issues that our dear to our hearts).
Thanks for posting those! We like documentaries too. We watched one a couple of months ago called, "The First Year" and it was about first year teachers in LA. We liked it. They followed about 4 teachers - very dedicated teachers who went above and beyond. We also watched one on the history of Chicago when we first moved here that was helpful, but I don't know if that counts as a documentary :)
Ooh...I will add the teacher one to my Netflix queue. I also watched Please Vote for Me the other night; it's a documentary of a class election in China. They're teaching the kids about democracy, and it's really funny/enlightening. I'm not sure if it's supposed to be funny, though. Ha.
Funny: It's already in my queue. Apparently somebody else (or you) told me about it!
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