The 2012 Music Documentary Searching for Sugar Man directed by Malik Bendjelloul which is about two men in South Africa on the search for the legend of Sixto Rodriguez and to know what happened to him. In the documentary the narrative is used in a way to keep the audience in a shroud of mystery and confusion as if we too were looking for his identity alongside them. The documentary starts off with the introduction of Stephen Segerman a record shop owner who explains that in the 1970’s Rodriguez was the biggest name in South Africa who nobody knew anything about. You couldn't read anything about him or see him anywhere all people knew of him were his songs and one picture of him sitting down with glasses on the cover of his album, what people know was a rumor that Rodriguez supposedly set himself on fire during his concert. As the documentary continues and we get introduced to our second main Narrator Craig Bartholomew-Strydom a music journalist who is working together with Segerman we learn that Rodriguez album Cold Facts was everywhere in …show more content…
After learning about a brief history lesson about Rodriques impact in South America we eventually know everything that the narrator's does at that moment and because we are along for the ride with them as they piece things bit by bit we feel like a detective on a huge hunt right there with them. However I feel a little part was ruined from this due to the fact that they showed pictures of an older Rodriguez early on when we were still getting attached to the mystery behind him as well as showing an interview from someone who had met him in Detroit spoiling major clues. I felt very disappointed and somewhat lost a small amount of interest in the beginning now that some of this crucial information was given out so easily and had wish for them to not reveal it till the
Searching for Sugar Man, a 2012 documentary directed by Malik Bendjelloul, contains many documentary-type aesthetics. The film tells the tale of an American musician named Sixto Rodriguez whose music encouraged the anti-Apartheid movement in South Africa. The characters within the film are all real people based off of a real-life situation. This particular film contains many on-camera interviews in order to get that documentary type feel. The film shows interviews from a construction worker, to all of Rodriquez’s daughters. Along with these interviews are also on-screen texts used to show the history of Rodriguez. Some on-screen texts display the interviewees names or some display the date and place where Rodriguez was. In one interview, the viewer is able to see the on-screen text of “Dennis Coffey- Co-Producer of Rodriguez’s First Album ‘Cold Fact’ (1970).” This type of on-screen information gives the audience a little background information on who is being interviewed.
It shows him getting on an unsafe boat, and attempting to get to Mexico. I found it interesting that he kept referring to god because he believed that god had also gone on the same journey. This ended up giving him the strength to succeed. Soon after they showed us the Arizona immigration experts whose job is to help find the dead bodies of people who attempted to get to the U.S illegally from Latin American countries. The role of the Arizona immigration group was to find the real identiity of the man they were calling Dayani Cristal. During the documentary they took the viewer through the process of identifying the bodies and how they handle the communication between the U.S.A and the country that the dead person is coming from. A quote I remember hearing is “sadly, many are not identified.” This quote represented the harsh truth of immigration to the U.S.A. The reason they used the man who they identified as Dayani Cristal as an example was because he had a tattoo. When they were attempting to identify Dayani Cristal, they weren’t sure where he came from, or what his actual name was. This is where the Mexican and Honduran consulate came in. First the Immigration experts spoke to the Mexican consulate because this is where the majority of immigrants come from. After they determined that there were no missing Mexican men with his description, they called the Honduran consulate. The fact that they were able to find that the man was from Honduras, was one of the few times that they were able to identify a dead person that attempted to cross the
This book contains, amongst other things, an insightful account into the foundations of documentary, in particular its British base and its early days via the medium of radio. It features quotations and journal extracts, as well as interviews with some of the prominent figures of early documentary programming during the first half of the 20th century, before leading into the mass observation experiments beginning in the late 30’s. The book describes the documentary format’s departure from its BBC London base under the guidance of Hilda Matheson and Charles Siepmann, who relocated their mobile recording units to what was kn...
Music and Murder as a title for this documentary is very peculiar in that it hints that the two themes go together, many would see such a title as a paradox and that if rehabilitation was the only issue Music after Murder would be a more suitable title, however the emotional maturing through music is important in the documentary. Music recorded by the prisoners is played throughout the documentary, this attempts to give the viewer insight into the emotions felt by the musicians. The music is described by one of the prisons music teachers as “coming from the heart”, because we have not discovered the crimes that the prisoners have committed the music attempts to draw on feelings of sympathy from the viewer for the men. Much of the documentary is left to periods of the men’s music; these periods are an expression of emotion by which the notion of humanity and a second chance is put forward.
Fed Up With Fed Up Fed Up (2014), directed by Stephanie Soechtig and narrated by Katie Couric, attempts to tackle to feat of exposing the big secret about why America is so overweight. The film opens with disturbing images and clips of obese people and unhealthy habits in action. The film really focuses on advertisement as a main culprit for childhood and adult obesity. Fed Up attempts to appeal to adults and young adults in order to educate them on the obesity epidemic. More specifically, it attempts to reveal the improbable cause for our weight problem.
“Poor Kids,” by PBS Frontline is a documentary that focuses on the children of three families living in poverty. The documentary gives a better understanding on how children are affected by the poverty they are faced with. The majority of the film focuses on their lives and it shows how they are living five years after the initial recording. It gives insight on how each family faces different circumstances due to their poverty.
Hungry for Change is a thought provoking documentary produced by James Colquhoun and Laurentine ten Bosch that delves into the implications of eating a modern diet. Using pathos, facts and figures, and association, Hungry for Change delivers a meritorious performance that engages viewers and leaves them questioning their own diet and lifestyle choices. The film’s use of rhetorical and advertising strategies and its ability to captivate viewers make this an effective, life changing documentary.
because it demonstrates that the whole film is going to be about women’s roles in the
It was almost like he was learning two languages at once. This made it a bit more difficult for him and his parents to understand what the whole schooling/ education system was. Rodriguez spent a lot of his time reading while Hoggart says, “reading is a woman’s game.” (PDF). By him saying this, he is implying that men are more likely and more accustomed to do activities outside, while women are supposed to stay inside and read. Rodriguez’s parents did not understand this whole concept because of their lack of the language. This changed Rodriguez’s life in a very big and impactful way. The education helped Rodriguez in a weird way with him saying that “ If, because of my schooling, I had grown culturally separated from my parents, my education finally had given me ways of speaking and caring about that fact.” (355). This means that he had grown distant to his parent from being involved with his parents through the whole education process. It took time away from them being together, taught him different cultures, and made him make decision in which his parents were not fond
The documentary, South of the Border, informs its viewers about the conflict between South American leaders and the institutions of the United States, mainly the government and media. The events shown and narrated through the film may be interpreted with the use of sociological theories, which is the main purpose of this film analysis. This paper aims to explain the causes of the realities presented through concepts and theories from the field of Sociology.
Throughout the US, millions of POC students exposed to the traditional, rather outdated version of US History. Never do the textbooks explicitly mention and/ or explain the terrorizing, constant stripping down of others’ cultures and appropriating it into the dominant group of predominantly white, Anglo-Saxon and protestant. For many Mexican American students, they can’t relate to anything in the text, nor do they share an interest in the coursework provided. The way US history sets up doesn't teach and somehow excludes Indigenous backgrounds or for the most part was never taught in the classroom but, rather briefly mentioned in one or two paragraphs. Immigrants from diverse groups built this country yet their culture is consistently shown
Richard Rodriguez states himself he was an “imitative and unoriginal pupil” (Rodriguez 516). He takes what he reads and goes along with it; there is no analysis or individual thought. Unlike his brother or his sister, he feels the need to prove himself. Richard Rodriguez displays a strong yearning to be different. To be special and have esteem like the teachers and professors he venerates.
There are no words to describe the sorrow I felt while watching the “Harvest of Despair” Documentary. Until this day, the knowledge of this Ukrainian genocide was never brought to my attention. This fact is horrifying in itself because not only is America not acknowledging what happened, but according to the documentary, the western European nations also do not acknowledge that this happened. How do we, as human beings intend to make sure nothing like this ever happens again if we do not accept the fact that this horrible event happened? Not only can we work towards never letting a man made famine happen again if everyone is educated on the Harvest of Despair, but the 10 million deaths of men, women, and children can be acknowledged and mourned,
Probably some of the most pleasurable and enjoyable memories of a person has to do with sweets. When thinking back to birthdays, there is always the memory of the wonderful cake that mother beautifully made and decorated with frosting and glazes. A typical night out with dad can be transformed into a magical evening with a trip to the ice cream parlor. The end of a fantastic Thanksgiving dinner turns heavenly when a hot apple pie is brought to the table and topped with delicious, melting vanilla ice cream. A good wedding is never complete without the cutting of the splendid multi-level wedding cake, when the happy new couple gets to playfully shove and smear cake and white frosting into each other’s smiling faces. Everyone knows that as a child, the only good part about going to the dentist is getting the candy bar at the end of the visit. Why do some people get sick after eating too much suger? Some people do not even know that the abuse of sugar can lead to negative effects on your body. There is something strangely enjoyable and resplendent about the consumption of sugar. Why is it that sugar is so deliciously enjoyable and at the same time a food product that has many negative affects on people’s health?
This is a critique of" Roger And Me", a documentary by Michael Moore. This is a film about a city that at one time had a great economy. The working class people lived the American dream. The majority of people in this town worked at the large GM factory. The factory is what gave these people security in their middle working class home life. Life in the city of Flint was good until Roger Smith the CEO of GM decided to close the factory. This destroyed the city. Violent crime became the highest in the nation, businesses went bankrupt, people were evicted from their rented homes. There were no jobs and no opportunity. Life was so bad that Money magazine named Flint the worst place to live in the entire nation. When news of the factory closing first broke, Michael Moore a native of flint decided to search for Roger Smith and bring him to Flint.