2006 witnessed the birth of myriad documentaries, but, as the story goes, many of the smaller films’theater releases were abbreviated at best. After the fanfare and notoriety of Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, though, an entire catalogue of valuable documentaries went unnoticed. This week, I am giving props to two of my favorites. One is about the PBR Bull Riding World Championships, the other a follow-up to a sociological study that began 42 years ago with a group of British school kids.

"Voyeurism" is not an accurate description of the pleasure I derive from watching these films, but they are a very engaging glance into the lives of others. Plus, they are a hell of a lot more interesting than reality television.

Rank

Rank

(NR) 2006. It’s where all the cowboys have gone - men who know they have nothing to lose and absolutely everything on the line. This documentary rides the lives of three roughnecks competing at the seven-day 2004 PBR Bull Riding World Championships: Adriano Moraes, hailing from Brazil, Texan Mike Lee and Oklahoman Justin McBride. Bull-riders practically from birth, the men put torn ligaments, bowed legs and tireless spirits to the test for a gold belt buckle and a $1 million check.

The Las Vegas rodeo arena transforms into a modern-day gladiatorial ring - thousands of cowboy-hatted fans screaming at each ferocious buck, stomp and gouge. The film captures the distinct subculture surrounding the sport, one filled with über-patriotic Americans whose every breath hangs on the blood and thrust of the bull-riding champion.

Despite the fanfare, fireworks and smiling audience, the contenders, tenacious men who have spent months healing after being bucked, stomped and gored, display intense spiritual defeat after missing their eight-second bell. Flawless, precise editing captures the sportsmen’s grit and desperation, as well as the sport’s effort to retain its respect and integrity despite having an anomalous role in contemporary Americana. An organ-driven score emphasizes the ritual nature of the contemporary blood sport, and the competitors exhibit a fanatical dedication to this physically-devastating event. Lee, 21 years old and a dedicated Christian and a not-so-confident young man confesses, “I’m ready to die for something I love doin’.” The documentary lures its audience into the lives of the three central competitors, and the rodeo ride is translated from a sporting event into a somewhat tragic love story.

A+

49 Up

49 Up

(NR) 2005. In 1964, the "World in Action" series released a 40-minute documentary called Seven Up! , a collection of interviews with seven-year-olds, all of whom were chosen to represent Britain’s diverse social classes. The interviewees were selected from a variety of educational establishments - from a posh pre-preparatory school to a children’s charity home, and a working-class public school to a rural, one-room schoolhouse.

Never intended as an ongoing project, 42 years later, the research has given birth to six more documentaries directed by Michael Apted (better known for theatrical films like The The World is Not Enough and Nell). The series has documented the careers, marriages, divorces and deaths, ups-and-downs punctuating 12 of the subjects’lives (several subjects eventually dropped out of the project), accruing an omnibus of evidence in support of the Jesuit proverb: “Give me a child until he is seven and I will give you the man.” Apted applies the proverb to a hypothesis that Britain’s class system is inescapable. That is, the level to which a child is born is the same level in which he will find himself living as an adult.

The most recent installment in the compelling collection, 49 Up , returns once again to the series’subjects as they approach 50. Apted is careful to retrace each man and woman’s past, including clips from interviews from the six previous series, as such to make 49 a piece that can be watched by itself or within the entire set.

While the hypothesis proves itself true in the case of most subjects (we see the subjects develop into characters eerily similar to that which they articulate at age seven), several subjects’lives take unexpected and interesting turns. Neil, who at 28 and 35 was homeless, existing as an eccentric and directionless hermit, became an active member of the Liberal Democrats and later a District Councilor for the Eden district, a position in which he currently serves.

Apted’s narration and interviews with each subject emulate a strange combination of intimacy and voyeurism. Many subjects express frustration with the project and articulate resentment towards the director, an interesting fact in light of their voluntary status to participate. Several individuals articulate objections to the way they believe Apted has misrepresented them in the project. Whether or not this is true (and I really doubt that it is), it raises yet another interesting theory about human nature: our self-perception is relative, that is, our lives to us are generally a slightly different story from that which the rest of the word sees.

This 180-minute documentary is in essence a methodical sociological experiment, but Apted weaves the interviews into a web of narratives that are honest and fascinating. It’s funny how fast three hours can fly by.

A