filmin' it up, part deux

i continued to feed my dorky hobby this weekend, by seeing more documentaries. i must admit tho, my goal of seeing one everyday until it ended on sunday didnt quite happen; i missed out on friday and saturday, but made up for it by watching 2 extremely thrilling documentaries back to back on sunday! these 2 films were excellent and both educational and hilarious (in one case). so i continue with my reviews...

RFK in the land of Apartheid - A Ripple of Hope
this film moved me. as many that know me know that i deeply followed the obama campaign and was inspired by the man's life and his ideas, even some of his shortcomings. throughout the campaign i heard about how reminiscent he was of JFK's brother and how his speeches and inspirational nature reminded so many of the sentiment they felt when they listened to robert kennedy. Watching this film made me really understand what people meant by that.

the film recounted RFK's visit, at the invite of NUSAS (National Union of South African Students), to south africa during the dark days of apartheid in 1966. During his time in south africa, he spoke about the similarities between the 2 countries (US and SA) and spoke freely against the regime and for the liberation of the oppressed. this was crucial at the time, as the US govt was at worst friendly to the apartheid regime and doubted the ANC due to its ties with the communist movement (even tho several members of the US congress were speaking out against apartheid). here was RFK, running for president, yet speaking out against the current US and apartheid government policy, meeting those who would be classified today as terrorists, shaking hand with the likes of the banished Chief Albert Luthuli, and marching with ordinary black south africans in soweto and all over the country. His most famous "ripple of hope" speech was delivered in south africa and is still enshrined on his tombstone where he was laid almost exactly 2 yrs after his sa visit. RFK inspired generations:

"the essential humanity of man can be protected and preserved only where the government must answer - not just to the wealthy; not just to those of a particular religion, not just to those of a particular race; but to all of the people"

"Yet many of the world's great movements, of thought and action, have flowed from the work of a single man. A young monk began the Protestant reformation, a young general extended an empire from Macedonia to the borders of the earth, and a young woman reclaimed the territory of France. It was a young Italian explorer who discovered the New World, and 32 year old Thomas Jefferson who proclaimed that all men are created equal. "Give me a place to stand," said Archimedes, "and I will move the world." These men moved the world, and so can we all. Few will have the greatness to bend history; but each of us can work to change a small portion of the events, and in the total of all these acts will be written the history of this generation. Thousands of Peace Corps volunteers are making a difference in the isolated villages and the city slums of dozens of countries. Thousands of unknown men and women in Europe resisted the occupation of the Nazis and many died, but all added to the ultimate strength and freedom of their countries. It is from numberless diverse acts of courage such as these that the belief that human history is thus shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance"

The power of One...

The Yes Men Fix the World
The film was on a lighter note, tho no less meaningful. these 2 american pranksters travel the globe impersonating executives from top companies (exxon mobil, dow chemicals, etc) in hopes to expose some of the real issues and attrocities that these companies (and other free market enthusiasts) have been perpetrating over the years. they managed to set up fake websites and pretty much wait for people to contact them to speak at events or conferences. for example, they appeared on bbc, impersonating a spokesman from dow chemicals to announce that the company would be compensating the victims of the 1984 Bhopal toxic gas explosion to the tune of several billion. the stock for dow fell some $2 billion in 20 minutes! and they were accused of raising false hopes of the bhopal people (ill come back to this just now). interestingly enough, they were never jailed for these hoxes; i think their trick was to ensure that it was done publicly, so that if the company tried to sue them, it would only serve as continued PR backlash.

back to the raising false hopes. give me a flippin' break. exxon blows us a community, never takes responsbility for its actions, sees the still very real effects of the explosion in bhopal today and does NOTHING and has the balls to accuse someone of pretending that the company would actually do what is right?? the different scale in the value of human life continues to baffle me. a few months ago, bp let out its oil on the gulf of mexico, a few sea turtles, seagulls, and maybe one dolphin died and bp was hit with a bill of $34billion with lots more billions coming in the form or civil lawsuits. yet nothing is done in the case of something like the bhopal explosion or closer to home shell draining its oil excretions on the rivers of the niger delta and poisoning most wildlife and most of the hundreds of thousands of inhabitants who's sole diet is fish and now survive by eating fish with insides full of black petroleum. this is the same shell that was complicit in the government hanging of 9 civil rights activists, including ken saro-wiwa and decided after decades of fighting to settle the lawsuits with a mere couple hundred dollars per family affected. the value placed on human life by other human beings and by legal and governmental systems sickens me.

anyway, back to the (truly hilarious) story, these guys conclude that in the end, they didn't really change the world as they set out to. As the film ends, they realise that they have not been successful in changing the hearts and minds of big business and encouraging/ forcing them to do what is right with regard to the communities in which they operate. they are encouraged, however by the fact that their efforts, at least, has alerted these companies to the fact that people are watching them and that more people (thanks to the documentary) are aware of what these companies are doing today. The power of one (+one)...

so therein lies the conclusion of my week of documentary watching. truly an educational and entertaining experience. it was not always easy to convince people to join me in my adventure (in fact one day i had to watch a film alone; i hate/dread/despise watching films by myself!), but mostly i think those i dragged along enjoyed it. edu-ma-cate yo-sef!