Being a latecomer to documentaries has me wondering how many worthwhile ones passed me by in the years before I became a convert. If you have any recommendations for documentaries made before 2000, please pass them along. Added bonus: Some readers of my blog may benefit, especially those that have not yet gotten bit by the documentary bug.
As you might guess from its title, The Uncomfortable Truth (2017) is not for everyone. In his searing film, director Loki Mulholland explores the role his family played in helping create the institutional racism that continues to plague the United States. Mulholland's honesty and vulnerability can be difficult to watch but the rawness is the element setting this documentary apart. The filmmaker's aging mother Joan Trumpauer Mulholland dedicated her life to civil rights advocacy. She joins her son on a journey to rural Georgia, where many of their ancestors are buried, as he tries to piece together the secrets and lies in their family's tangled history.
The second key player in the film is Luvaughn Brown. As Mulholland tries to comprehend the incomprehensible, Brown's no-nonsense narrative traces a warped lineage beginning in 1619 and extending to the present, i.e., white supremacy's long and painful history. The Middle passage, slavery, the systematic dismantling of Reconstruction, the Ku Klux Klan, Birth of a Nation, Jim Crow, the burning of Tulsa, redlining, white backlash to the gains of the Civil Rights era, Emmet Till, Martin and Medgar, the war on drugs, Willie Horton, mass incarceration, "shithole" nations. The dog whistles rallying the mob may be more subtle in our "post-racial" era, but they remain dog whistles.
Can't recommend this documentary highly enough.
Good morning, Pat and Happy New Year. An Uncomfortable Truth was , indeed, a very interesting documentary. And was aptly named. Although I did see that film a number of years ago, I tend to stay more towards documentaries that are about music and film. Not necessarily because of the affect 'An Uncomfortable Truth' had on me - although that did play a part - I find that I amount drawn to the film/music films. And, with the number of streaming channels that are available these days, the amount of documentaries seems endless.
ReplyDeleteBe well,
Bob
Bob; Happy new year to you as well. Not surprised "Uncomfortable Truth" has remained with you years later. I doubt it will ever leave me. And as far as documentaries "about" music - if not film - I've started to be more selective about watching too many of those. In my experience, a fair number of music documentaries are either superficial puff pieces or just a bit too hyberbolic. There are many notable exceptions of course, like "Twenty Feet from Stardom", "The Wrecking Crew", and "Still on the Run" (that one was about Jeff Beck.) But I just can't listen to any more nonsense when folks try to compare the accomplishments of pop or rock musicians to Mozart. Come on! And I love pop and rock music. But people, get real here.
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