Election Day 2008

Today is the first anniversary of the inauguration of Barack Obama. It is therefore a fitting day to premier the "MiniDoc" feature of this blog with something I shot on November 4, 2008: the day Barack Obama was elected president.

In the Shadow of the Moon

Director: David Sington
(2007)

This critically acclaimed, British-made film does a great job recounting the inspired Apollo missions in en engaging way. The spirit of the film is captured by three sentences that appear on screen within the first five minutes of the film:

Between 1968 and 1972, nine American spacecraft voyaged to the moon. The men on board are the only human beings to have visited another world. In their words, this is the story of the men who went to the Moon.

This is the stuff of science fiction...

The three crew members of Apollo 8 were
the first humans to witness the "Earthrise"

Astronaut Charlie Duke offered some of my favorite lines in the film: "I found out from the flight surgeon later on that my heartbeat was 144 at liftoff. John (Young)'s was 70." He later pointed out that during reentry into the earth's atmosphere, his spaceship was moving at 39,000 feet per second, which translates to over 26,000 miles an hour (faster than a rifle bullet).

The film was successful in putting the Apollo missions in a cultural framework. Seeing the inspiring speech by President Kennedy, hearing the velvety voice of Walter Cronkite, and getting into the mindset of the illustrious decade really made me wish that I had experienced these events as they occured in the 1960s, and I would imagine anyone who was lucky enough to live through the decade would appreciate the nostalgia. It also made me wonder why no human has been back to the moon (let alone Mars, or beyond...) since 1972.



official film site

Trivial Tidbits:

• The only footprints on the surface of the moon were made by 12 American men
• Buzz "prima donna" Aldrin was the only astronaut in the film who demanded to be paid

The Cove

Director: Louie Psihoyos
(2009)

Every year, approximately 2,300 dolphins are brutally killed in a small, secluded inlet on the coast of Japan. The Cove is a documentary that examines these appalling executions. The film was screened at Tribeca's "Docs on the Shortlist" weekend film festival earlier tonight.

The inspiration for the film came from Richard O'Barry, the man who helped train the five dolphins who portrayed Flipper. O'Barry had an intimate relationship with dolphins, and eventually came to the realization that they were self aware. This epiphany led him to turn on the industry that he was such an influential part of, and fight against the captivity of dolphins.

Part of what makes The Cove such a strong film is that it touches on so many issues. Not only does it delve into the mass murder of the dolphins of Taiji, but it examines the dangers of mercury poisoning, the buying of votes by Japan in the International Whale Commission, and questions why the government of Japan has allowed these atrocities to occur.

Louie Psihoyos (right) and Fisher Stevens (center) spoke after the screening

The filmmaker is quite passionate about conservation. During the Q & A following the screening, Psihoyos, who was a photographer for National Geographic for 17 years, noted that he has a 100% electric-powered vehicle (somehow in a non-preachy manner, I might add) with a vanity plate that reads "VUS," representing Vehicle Using Sun (he pointed out that it's SUV in reverse). He felt that perhaps a more ominous issue than the one addressed in The Cove was the threat of global warming on plankton, which is responsible for 2 out of 3 breaths that we take. While it may not be as easily translated to film as the photogenic marine mammals, Psihoyos may turn his sights to the small drifting organisms for his sophomore release.

The Cove has already made a difference. There was recently a temporary ban on killing bottlenose dolphins in Taiji. With the recent release of the DVD (purchase it on Amazon), the film should reach a wider audience. The more people that watch the film, the stronger the opposition will become to these heartless fisherman. Psihoyos advised the Tribeca audience to use whatever platform is available to promote the film and push the agenda. So I say to you: watch the film (trailer is below), sign the petition, embrace the cause, and enlist your friends to fight against the brutal massacre of these incredible creatures.



official film site

Trivial Tidbits:

• Dolphins can hear frequencies ten times or more above the upper limit of adult human hearing, though it is believed that they lack a sense of smell