The Docs Have It

originally published April 23, 2008

Paris Is Burning

(R) 1990.

Hands down, one of the best documentaries ever made. This cult classic garnered a dozen awards from various international film festivals, but was too racy for Oscar's taste. Portraying the ferocious queens who strut at underground drag balls, Paris is Burning is an ode to New York City's underclass of gay, black men.

The documentary begins with a quote that explains what makes this Big Apple subculture so unique. Strolling along a busy New York sidewalk, one of the balls' winningest queens recalls what his father told him when he first came out. Telling his son that black men already have two strikes against them, his father went on, "But you're black and you're a male and you're gay... You're going to have a hard fucking time."

But the drag balls allow gay minorities to forget the many prejudices dealt them. At these exuberant parties, the men can recreate their identities and live as celebrities for one evening. Explains one "mother queen," "A ball for us is as close as we're going to get to that reality of fame and fortune and spotlight." Everyone shows up to the party - transsexuals, butch queens, old queens, new queens - and almost everyone participates. With categories as varying as "Military" to "High Fashion Sportswear" and "Butch Queen First Time in a Drag Show" (try that one three times fast) to "Schoolboy/Schoolgirl Realness" (can't even begin to explain that one), every man can be a star.

Only great things can be said about director Jennie Livingston's masterpiece. The narrative threads are fascinating, entertaining and at times heartbreaking, but not for a moment is the film heavy. Livingston emphasizes the celebration and emancipation felt at the balls, and her interviews uncover the courage and uncanny street smarts that help the subculture vanquish a two-headed dragon of sexual and racial discrimination.

A++

Lake Of Fire

(R) 2006.

In 1991, British director Tony Kaye (American History X) tackled one of America's most divisive issues when he began documenting both sides of the abortion debate. Fifteen years later, Lake of Fire was complete, heralded as "find[ing] a spot closer to the middle than most" (Ken Fox), and "brave, unflinching, sometimes virtually unwatchable" (Roger Ebert).

The documentary lives up to its accolades. It's unapologetic, graphic and overwhelmingly neutral. Funded out of Kaye's pocket and shot on black and white 35mm, no aspect of abortion is left unaddressed. Kaye rolls on both Pro-Life and Pro-Choice protests, includes archival footage from anti-abortion murders, and even takes the camera into an abortion clinic operating room, giving viewers a concrete and disturbing image of abortion’s ramifications. It's violent, it's in your face; it’s art imitating life and politics.

The only thing the film leaves out is Kaye's position on the issue. The only opinion he seems to express is that Americans must face all the facts before taking a side. Although the film is compelling and fascinating, some of his subjects seem to reiterate the same point over and over. The 152-minute docu-epic is in need of some old-fashioned cutting.

B

Zeitgeist: The Movie

(NR) 2007.

This film has yet to be released in theatres or on DVD, but since its release onto YouTube and Google Video last summer, it has been viewed over one million times.

Directed and written by Peter Joseph, Zeitgeist is too subjective to be called documentary, and its startling "facts" (judge for yourself) barely save it from becoming a propaganda film. Better described as a two-hour conspiracy theory, Zeitgeist makes the claim that Christianity is a rip-off of Pagan solar-worship, that the 9/11 tragedy carefully materialized as the result of a complex plot and controlled demolition, and that the Federal Reserve is steering humanity towards a one-world government.

Director and producer Peter Joseph makes convincing enough arguments for the three conspiracies; his assertions, however, are in themselves neither new nor surprising, and the legitimacy of each conspiracy's relation to the other is questionable.

Although Zeitgeist feels sensational, it exposes a cache of theories and events never presented by the American media. It’s thought provoking, but whether or not it’s true, is another conspiracy.

C+

Robin Geddie