#camdeniff

Moonrise over the harbor @camdeniff #camdeniff (at Camden Harbor) https://www.instagram.com/p/B2X5NUGgUYr/?igshid=1iwdbkyh95wdt

Directed by David Osit and Malika Zouhali-Worrall, this film broke my heart.It hit really close to home because my family’s best friends are in the exact same situation. Their son wasn’t supposed to live past three months, thankfully he has just started second grade and is very healthy and happy. For a situation that no one can even imagine being in, the story was told amazingly and really let us relate with the family and see into their struggle. Everything they said in the film, such as having to choose to be constantly preparing for their son to die or to love him fully every moment they had him, were things that I had heard my friends say. On top of the story of this strong family choosing to love their son rather than live with the fear of losing him, they had a unique way of coping with it. The father was a video game designer and decided to create a video game about raising his sick son called “That Dragon, Cancer.” Some people thought that it was awful for him to exploit his sons sickness and to make a game out of it. However, the film showed what was really going on. This game involved the whole family in the making and it was their way of coping; their way to memorialize someone they loved. They weren’t trying to profit off of their tragedy. They just decided to use their unique way of coping to share their story and struggle with more people to hopefully bring some insight into what it’s like raising a sick child. I loved watching such a loving family stick together and be so strong through such a horrible thing. I truly started to care for them and was brought to tears many times. It was an important story to tell because it’s not one that many people think of.

This film, directed by Albert Maysles, was a beautiful story of different people riding on the busiest train route in the country. It highlighted the fact that we are all human and have a unique story and journey of our own. There were some really fascinating and moving moments, like when the two men were talking and one starts crying because he was talking about his childhood, and the other man just sat there holding his hand even though they had never met before the train ride. It ended so abruptly that normally I wouldn’t like that, but in this case it fit with the story and the message of the film. The train ride only lasts so long and you only bond with the people on it while you are there yourself. I thought it was fitting to leave some stories without answers because that’s how life really goes. It really made me start thinking about how every person you pass by has their own complex life. It also made me really excited for life and to grow up and meet amazing people and be an amazing person. It was an entertaining and positive movie that I am really happy that I had the opportunity to see. 

(T)ERROR,  directed by David Felix Sutcliffe and Lyric R. Cabral, is a film following an FBI informant on a job. It follows Shariff, an FBI informant, as he secretly allows the filmmakers to document his time on the job without telling the FBI. Shariff has to leave home to pretend to start a new life and become friends with his target. Once the target says something in favor of terrorists, Shariff informs the FBI and they move in for the arrest. The idea that the FBI is following people even before committing a crime and then arresting them once an informant manipulates them into saying something in favor of terrorism is heinousness. They are specifically targeting Muslims, which is not okay. A few terrorists have done wrong, not the whole religion. Because they’re seen as foreign in a predominantly christian country, people feel as though we can hold them to different standards. Even though 70 of the last 72 mass shootings have been committed by white males, the FBI isn’t looking into anyone who has bought a gun and entered a movie theater. Muslims are specifically targeted and murdered by white people and Christians, but these attackers are not called terrorists even though they target a specific group of American citizens. The public view of Muslims will never change if our government doesn’t stop feeding into the fear and hate. Even more corruption is the fact that they practically force their informants into doing the job. Shariff can claim he does it because he thinks its right, but even if he wanted to stop, the FBI holds his past convictions over his head. This forces him away from his family and is causing him to become depressed. The film had a clear stance and message and was done beautifully. Watching the story unravel like it did was not only entertaining, but eye-opening as well.

Blue space is directed by Ian Cheney, and from what I gathered it was about the idea that we could live on mars and all of the different possibilities when it comes to changing land to be suitable for humans to live on. I did not enjoy this film at all. I know it’s unfinished, so I am excited to see the final product because the topic is very interesting, but I hope he fixes the fact that I felt like I was watching a glorified power point. It was very slow, and there were too many shots with no talking. The shots were amazing and beautiful, but looking at pictures for two hours gets boring when they are just there to look nice and not tell a story. You had to rely on the dialog to get the story, and there would be long stretches of time without dialogue. It made it hard for me to focus and find the story and meaning of the film.

Book by Naomi Klein

Directed by David Osit and Malika Zouhali-Worrall