The films were shown at five different venues and I managed to watch five documentaries, from ten through until seven in the evening.
The first film was Sharkwater, a 2007 documentary examining the shark, its media-maligned character and its decimation at the hands of long line fishermen. I found much of the underwater footage involving the filmmaker, Rob Stewart, interacting with sharks to be fresh and fascinating. Scenes of the filmmaker holding sharks around their midsections on the sea floor, or grasping their snouts and grappling with them were unreal. Interviews with shark biologists and behaviourists do much to displace the layers of myth surrounding the shark as a species. Statistics show the miniscule likelihood of a shark attack and the devastation wreaked upon the shark population by overfishing. One statistic claims 90% of sharks in the world's oceans have been killed.
Rob Stewart journeys with Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and films confrontations with shark poachers off the coast of Guatemala and their encounters with the law in Costa Rica. Hidden camera footage is shot of illegal shark finning operations and Stewart outlines the massive Asian demand for shark fin soup. An interview with William Goh, an Asian shark fin entrepeneur, provides some hilarity as Goh defends his industry with nonsensical arguments. The shark is "a very fierce animal … they bite you and tear you, there is pain, and you die." Disregard that fins sell for between $400-$1000 per kilogram.
I took issue with facets of Sharkwater. The film feels uneven, transitioning from an underwater documentary to the stranger than fiction Sea Shepherd battles. Stewart seems an egoist with a love of his own image and an extended period of Stewart in hospital with flesh-eating disease did little to propel the documentary forward. These aspects pale beside the message the documentary bears, and I urge all to see it and cut all that shark fin soup out of your life. For further information check out this article in the UK's Telegraph.
I wavered between Tar Sands: Canada For Sale and One Water following Sharkwater. I decided to stay in my seat and watch One Water, released in 2008 by the University of Miami. One Water was concerned with global access to safe, potable water, water waste and water privatisation. The documentary was filmed in 15 countries and featured long tracts of visual storytelling interspersed with interviews with such luminaries as the Dalai Lama and Vandana Shiva, author of Water Wars. I enjoyed some of the visual storylines, particularly the thread which followed an Ecuadorian harvesting glacial ice from the volcano Chimborazo to sell in the markets of the nearby cities, but felt that many of the storylines dragged. The narration was weak and the visual quality of the film, featured so prominently, wasn't up to standard. The interviews were strong, but too few.
I ventured to another venue to see John Pilger's latest documentary, The War On Democracy, released in 2007. John Pilger is a two time winner of Britain's Journalist of the Year and has produced a number of books and documentaries examining un- or under-reported events, hidden histories, and aspects of the darker qualities of human civilisation. He is a strong critic of Western foreign policy, particularly what he regards as the imperialistic agenda of the United States. The War On Democracy examines the history of US intervention in Latin American politics, from the 1950s and the actions in the 'banana republics' of Central America, to the rise of the military dictatorships and the rule of the death squads in the 1970s and 80s, and the present day popular movements in Bolivia and Venezuela. The film features archival footage, interviews with former CIA agents and survivors of military regime pogroms, and an illuminating conversation with Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela and yet another maligned character in the Western media.
The Real Dirt on Farmer John was the most lighthearted film of a heavy day's viewing. The 2005 documentary follows in the footsteps of Farmer John Peterson, and his journey from farmer's son, to farm owner and counter culture art commune 'organiser,' to the proprietor of a community-supported organic farm supplying fresh produce to 1,200 shareholder families. The archival footage from John's youth, shot by his mother in the 50s and 60s, provides a window into the seasonal flow of the family farm. Footage from the art commune days portrays the heady spirits of the late 60s and early 70s. John's life parallels the journey of American agriculture in the 20th century, the boom and bust of family farms and rise of industrial scale farming. John's development of Angelic Organics traces one route away from the mass production of multinational agriculture.
The misunderstandings between John, his hippy friends, and the conservative attitudes of his neighbours make for a few laughs, as does John's quirky nature and costume changes. The film finishes on a positive note, with the success of his farm and the connections developed between Angelic Organics and its community shareholders. Seeing all the shiny vegetables bursting from dark rich soil got me excited for spring and producing some of the same.
The final film of my day was The Forest For The Trees, a 2006 documentary tracing the activism of Judi Bari of Earth First! and her court case against the FBI. Judi Bari was active against the logging of the last stands of redwood forest in Northern California in the 1980s. She also organised efforts to improve the dialogue between environmentalists and timber workers. Her vehicle was pipe-bombed in 1990; Bari survived the explosion but was arrested three hours later while recovering in hospital. She was accused of carrying a bomb for use in an act of terrorism, despite the bomb's position beneath the driver's seat of her vehicle and its attached motion sensor. No charges were laid, but Bari filed suit against the FBI and Oakland police for false arrest, claiming they had attempted to discredit her work and that of Earth First! in defense of the redwoods.The film details Bari's early work with Earth First! before shifting focus to the court case between Bari and the FBI. The documentary maker is the daughter of the lead attorney of the case, a civil-rights veteran, and she brings a unique perspective to the trial. Bari dies of breast cancer in 1997, but in 2002 her name is cleared when a jury orders the defendants to pay her estate over 4 million dollars, citing First Amendment violations. The film highlights the intentional blurring of the lines between dissent and terrorism in these days of perpetual war on terror.
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