Anita:
Speaking Truth To Power
(2013/Anita Hill/First Run DVD)/B.B.
King: Life Of Riley
(2014/MVD Visual Blu-ray + DVD)/Watermark
(2013/E1 Blu-ray)/Whoopi
Goldberg Presents Moms Mabley
(2014/HBO DVD)
Picture:
C+/B- & C+/B-/C+ Sound: C+/C+/B-/C+ Extras: B/C/B-/D
Films: B-/B/B-/B
The
following documentaries have something to say more than worth your
time...
Frieda
Mock's Anita:
Speaking Truth To Power
(2013) tells us the story of how Anita Hill decided to speak out
against her boss, now Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, when he
was being nominated for that job. With nothing in it for her, she
told Congress how she had been sexually harassed and otherwise by
Thomas in a job where their office was supposed to prosecute crimes
where people were supposed to be sexually harassed. Of course, it
was a politicized fiasco where Thomas (picked by Neo-Conservatives so
he could not be as easily blocked as Bork had been, at least as
qualified for the job, but..) made it personal, brushing off the
allegations.
The
biggest problem was, politicians and the media never allowed that
Hill was telling the truth, instead allowing Republicans to insert
the idea that she was a liar and playing on built-in sexism and
racism to discredit her. Democrats did nothing to protect her and we
see her endure this all-male affair that sometimes gets ugly. That
had an effect on women in this country, especially non-conservative
and this documentary shows the activism that resulted, along with
subtly showing how the country changed in a way that if this happened
again, a female discourse of some kind would have to be present
because women are not going to take this anymore.
That's
good news for female politicians running for office, we get to see
those changes and Hill opens up in extensive interviews telling of
the whole affair and how it changed her life. In recent years, what
definitely sounds like Thomas' wife leaves a voice mail message to
Hill asking her to think about how wrong she was and why she made
up the allegations, but this is not a case of denial not just
being a river in Egypt. Neo-Conservatives in particular love to talk
down to those they hate as if they were idiots, lie to them blatantly
and then ask/tell them to accept their lie as if the accuser was
insane, phony, flawed, etc. Mrs. Thomas can go on dreaming; Hill is
never recanting, nor should she and well will not even go into the
betrayal of women issue. After all, she was telling the truth, so
why should she? I just wish this was a longer work.
Extras
include two hour-long featurettes: Finding
Home with a keynote
address by Hill and Speaking
Truth To Power featuring
women speaking aloud about the injustices connected with Hill's
testimony and why they believe her.
Jon
Brewer's B.B.
King: Life Of Riley
(2014) is a remarkable documentary look at the giant of Blues music
through interviews and songs as expected, but the biographical
section is particularly deep and at a healthy 119 minutes, really
gets to the heart of the legend with amazing stories throughout.
Riley B. King (his actual name; the subtitle is the same as an old
radio sitcom) had an amazingly tough early life he is lucky to have
survived so well, but his journey to greatness is just as amazing and
as is often the case in this kind of work, we also get a rare look
inside the arts, innovation and the music industry in the process.
Interviews
are extensive and include Bill Cosby, Eric Clapton, Bono, Ringo
Starr, narrator Morgan Freeman and even Bruce Willis, plus a long
line of King's friends and relatives. This one is done with great
energy, joy and makes it one of the best such music releases in the
last few years. Even if you are not a Blues fan, it is that good and
you will not be disappointed.
Extras
include Extended Interviews and a performance Live From The Royal
Albert Hall where King is joined by the likes of guitarist Slash.
Jennifer
Baichwal & photographer Edward Burtynsky's Watermark
(2013) goes around the world to show how water is being overused,
abused and in more than a few cases, suddenly missing from entire
rivers, et al. We have seen some of this before, but the 91 minutes
is good with its focus on how this works, does not work and is not
working. The overcast look throughout is here to make the point that
something is wrong, but it backfires on the credibility of the piece,
yet enough truth comes through still. Sometimes, it is more like a
Qatsi
or Ron Fricke (Baraka,
Samsara)
film than an outright documentary, not working to its advantage.
Otherwise, I agree with its thesis for the most part and you should
see it.
Extras
include a Making Of featurette, Deleted Scenes, In Discussion segment
with the co-directors and the highlight of the while release,
Burtynsky narrating a Picture
Gallery of his work with important facts and observations.
Finally
we have Whoopi
Goldberg Presents Moms Mabley
(2014), directed by Goldberg herself telling us about the
groundbreaking stand-up comedienne from her early days on stage in
segregated stages across
the country to her late boost as a TV personality, et al, as The
Civil Rights movement and the country finally catch up with her and
how ahead of her time she was. The footage is great, including
stills, especially the early rarely-seen ones. We find out she was
openly gay and her comedy never pulled any punches.
I
remember her back then and she was amazing, including in her
boldness. Though many things are not known about her, Goldberg puts
together as much of a biography as she can figure out and the great
interviews here include with the likes of Bill Cosby (again!), Eddie
Murphy, Arsenio Hall, Joan Rivers, Kathy Griffith and more. This
runs only 71 minutes, but more could have been shown and said.
Still, you should go out of your way for this one too so you can see
a legend that might be too easily forgotten.
There
are no extras.
The
1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfers on the King
and Watermark
Blu-rays are the best here by default, as King
has vintage footage and Watermark
has a slightly overcast look in all its new footage created on
purpose, but one that is not very intellectually honest for a project
trying to sound the alarm on water shortages. It can also look a
little metallic, which extends to the Picture Gallery stills section.
Its softer, anamorphically
enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is the same, but poorer in playback, again
equalled by DVD documentaries with vintage, older footage like the
King
DVD, plus Anita
and Moms.
As
for sound, Watermark
is the only lossless presentation here with a DTS-HD MA (Master
Audio) 5.1 lossless mix that includes
narration and music while being quiet in nature. The
lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 on both format versions of King
rank second place, but are still tied by the
lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo on Anita
and Moms
despite having more music because King
is not as music-based as you might expect despite having plenty of
his songs in it, including live performances. Bet a lossless track
on the Blu-ray would have worked better.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
