Always in Season.        4 stars

Always in Season is a documentary about the lynchings of black people in America both in the past and present day. The African-American filmmaker has been developing the documentary for the past ten years that follows the history of these lynchings over the past hundred years or more. By chance a seventeen year black boy was found hanged in a rural area of North Carolina in 2014. The incident was classified as a suicide by the local investigators but it had all the signs of a murder.  Most of the film focuses on this case where Lennon Lacy, a football player nearing graduation said goodbye to his mother, stepped outside and was found hanged only two hours later. The film includes interviews with his mother, Claudia and his brother who are not satisfied with the ruling of the local authorities and want answers. The filmmaker gradually puts together more facts about the case that just beg for more investigation. The film continues with background on past lynchings from the 30’s and 40’s that have gone unsolved. One town in Georgia now has lynching reenactments of an incident where two young couples were murdered including a pregnant woman. The involvement of the Ku Klux Klan figures prominently in the movie. Racist views are expressed by some white figures, but others are committed to telling the truth so that these practices are not forgotten. The filmmaker, other staff and Lennon`s family were present for the Q & A, so the pain of the case still feels raw.  Always in Season makes clear that racism in alive and well in America.

The Edge of Democracy.   Five suns!

The most interesting film of the bunch had to be The Edge of Democracy,  by a young Portuguese director,  Petra Costa that covers the political conflicts that have plagued Brazil over the past couple of decades.  She covers the rise of the Labor movement that challenged the military dictatorship in the seventies and succeeded in many reforms that lifted much of the population out of poverty,  followed by a backlash that now finds the contractors and oligarchs back in control of the government.  Costa has close connections to both sides of the conflict as her grandparents were among the contractors that benefited from government connections and both her parents were active revolutionaries that opposed the ruling elite and sought to change things through political pressure. The film gives us a dramatic picture of the polarization of the politics of the country that mirrors that of many countries including especially our own.  And it leaves us wondering where is it all going to lead.  Petra benefited from much access to both presidents Lula Da Silva and Dilma Rousseff, who were of the labor party and have been removed from power by questionable legal means. The movie gives us the stark message that the rich and the powerful will always seek and find ways to advance their own interests at the cost of the working people.

Apollo 11                             4 stars

The first Sundance movie I’ve seen since being at Sundance is Apollo 11, the thrilling documentary about the 1969 moon landing.  The movie consists entirely of footage from the time of the historic mission including film shot from onboard the space capsules.  The film is edited expertly to keep our interest throughout and has an effective score as well.  It includes footage of conferences with astronauts Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins and quite a lot showing an army of support personnel at mission control.  Especially compelling is the part showing the actual landing on the surface of the moon bringing reality to the fact that the small ship was just seconds away from running out of fuel at the critical time.  Anyone who can remember being glued to their television during the mission will appreciate seeing Apollo 11.  Those too young to remember it should see it for the amazement of what these people were able to accomplish with the technology available in the sixties.  The film was showing at Sundance this year but I believe the demand for it was very high.  I’m glad to have had the chance to see it in the theater.

Ghost in the Machine     3 1/2 suns

From the Sundance category NEXT, I saw the documentary Ghost in the Machine from director/ screenwriter Valerie Veatch. The subject of the doc was AI but not from a technical standpoint or its development. Rather it was about the power that the titans of the tech industry hold over us. It presents the arguments at a very rapid pace that feels overwhelming and covers a wide range of aspects of AI, most of which I had heard before.  It covered the exploitation of foreign tech workers in very poor countries, the environmental impact of the huge data centers being built around the world, the heavy involvement of the military in AI and the close ties of Sam Altman, Elon Musk and other tech giants to the Trump administration.  I didn’t know much about the origins of AI going back to the start of Silicon Valley.  According to the documentary the beginning of the computer industry was heavily rooted in the development of the field of statistics which really started in the late 1800’s. The pioneers of this field both in the US and in the UK had very racist beliefs, believing that the white race was superior to all other races.  Statistics was developed as a tool to measure intelligence in the races in order to prove their point. What followed then was the belief that eugenics should be used to reduce less desirable traits in the human race. So, then the logic goes that these early racist views still persist in AI and the industry leaders today. (If you read some of the statements said by Elon Musk you could make that correlation.) I can’t say that anything stated in the film is untrue, but have no doubt there are facts being left out.  The director was asked about presenting the other side of the issue, but said there was little point in doing so as you would only hear the same rhetoric that we see in the media. I know that there is great hope and promise for the advancements that can be achieved with AI in the future, but this very biased film is a warning about the costs of embracing this new technology.

Seized.        5 suns

Seized documents the events we were following back in 2023 after the police raid of a small-town newspaper in Marion, Kansas.  The story about the abuse of power that shut down the Marion County Record was covered internationally and highlighted the importance of journalistic ethics and the US Constitution. The director, Sharon Liese tells the story through interviews with the editor of the newspaper, employees including one bright, young man hired just out of college one year after the raid, local politicians, police officers and business owners.  We find that one corrupt person in power with the cooperation of other officials was able to seize the property of the paper, resulting in the death of the 98-year-old owner.  The editor fought back through litigation using arguments framing the issue as a matter of freedom of the press.  The director has created an engaging movie that shows the cost to those affected by this fierce debate.

Everybody To Kenmure Street         5 suns

In the category of World Cinema Documentary comes the story of a community coming together to save undocumented immigrants from deportation.  In 2021 the UK police executed a dawn raid in a neighborhood in Glasgow, Scotland, picking up two men from their home and loading them in a police van for deportation to their home countries.  Before they could leave though, a spontaneous crowd of neighbors appeared in the streets and in an act of civil disobedience they formed obstacles and demanded that the men be freed.  Since this happened in the age of social media there was plenty of video recording being taken and word spread through the surrounding area.  The movie combines the video footage with narration from witnesses and some reenactment of events.  The film could not be more relevant to what is happening in the US today with the current administration.  It shows what can be accomplished with peaceful resistance to a tyrannical government. The movie is inspiring and moving.

The Lake.      4 suns

The Lake concerns an environmental time bomb that is affecting the Great Salt Lake in Utah.  For years the water level in the lake has been dropping as the surrounding area has been using more water for the residents and for agriculture.  The land near the lake is becoming contaminated with carcinogenic chemicals and the wildlife is dying.  When the wind comes huge dust storms threaten the wellbeing of the human population.  Three government researchers are featured in the film who present their findings and talk of the need for more study and for more government funding to reverse the trend.  They express their frustration of getting the attention of elected officials and the people. They emphasize that of all the cases of lakes in decline around the world, never has a lake been saved from disaster. The film ends on a very hopeful note.  The researchers were present and expressed optimism at getting funding to fix the monumental problem.  Only time will tell if the Great Salt Lake and the surrounding environment can be saved.

Coded Bias    4 1/2 Suns

The documentary Coded Bias concerns the biases that have been found present in the algorithms used mainly in facial recognition software and the effect this has on people’s lives.  It follows the efforts of some very smart computer researchers including Joy Buolamwini, an MIT Media Lab researcher.  She discovered that this software when tested on women and non- white people has a markedly lower accuracy rate than on male and white people.  This inherent bias comes from how the software learns what faces look like based on the thousands of images in the database which in turn was provided by the designers.  Other issues raised were how the same technology is being used in China to deny rights and privileges to dissidents by the government as well as the individual’s rights to their own personal data.  The film also speaks of how these algorithms are used to profile people looking for loans and employment.  Some of those concerned about these matters have established the Algorithm Justice League to raise awareness of these issues and find ways of combating the biases of such software.  The issues here are far more complex than I can relate here,  and I hope the film receives wider distribution after the festival. I found it the most interesting documentary I’ve seen so far.