Among The Believers (2015/First Run DVD)/Chicken People (2016/Samuel Goldwyn/CMT/Sony DVD)/Great British Aircraft (2014/Umbrella Region Free PAL Import DVD)

Picture: C/C+/C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C-/D/D Main Programs: B-/C+/B-

PLEASE NOTE: The Great British Aircraft Import DVD is now only available from our friends at Umbrella Entertainment in Australia, can only play on Blu-ray players that can handle the PAL DVD format and can be ordered from the link below.

Here is a set of new documentary/special interest titles for you to know about...

Hemal Trivedi & Mohammed Ali Naqvi have co-directed Among The Believers (2015), a disturbing look at a school in Pakistan that is brainwashing and teaching young men, usually Muslim and Middle eastern, to hate the West, United States and practice terrorism in the name of ISIS/ISL and other radical groups, led by 'teacher' Abdul Aziz Ghani. The 84 disturbing minutes give us an intimate look at this ugliness and it is only, sadly going to get worse and has become worse since this was first issued a year ago.

On the one hand, we have seen this before and too often in the last few decades, but it is still very much alive and growing as a desperate trend overseas that reaches (and not just via the Internet) all the way to the U.S. and deep West. However, we must keep this all in mind as there are also those in the West who want bad things to happen to support a radial Right Wing agenda of hate and racism because they have 'friends' who make big money off of war, hate and smaller armaments. Still, a good entry in an unfortunate cycle worth a look and keeping in mind.

Four bonus scenes are the only extras.

Nicole Lucas Haimes' Chicken People (2016) is a documentary about a group of people who are very serious and knowledgable on breeding, raising and taking care of chickens. We learn how much you need to know, how a contest whose standards go back to a definitive book on all breeds (more than you might think) from 1910 (!) and all spurred on by a contest that introduces us to the many competitors, lifestyles and loves of these animals in this world of its own.

The plus is that these animals are respected and taken care of in a story that should have been told more often and many years before. All we hear are corporate abuse stories of growing them for food in the ugliest of conditions, though those doing that might not like their program very much. My problem with it is that it spends more of its 83 minutes 'reality TV' style focusing on the breeders (sometimes almost mocking them, including one who is also a singer... sort of) and not enough on the knowledge of the various breeds that need and deserve much more attention. Still, this is better than expected and not as phony or corny as it could have been.

There are no extras.

Finally we have the short (under 70 minutes) of Great British Aircraft (2014), which traces the legendary rise of airplanes and air flight in the U.K. from early bi-planes and a business licensed by the Wright Brothers in the U.S., to bi-planes, jet planes, war planes powered by mighty engines (including several by no less than Rolls-Royce) to the amazing achievement that still remains the Concorde, even a few years after the world's first commercially successful supersonic jet was grounded for good.

My favorite entry on the list despite being the shortest, once it gets started with its great narration, script and loads of great archive footage (usually on film of all sorts), it never stops and keeps delivering more progress, achievements, history and world's firsts I will not get into as not to ruin this little gem for you. I do not think it ever was issued on DVD in the U.S. and even went out of print in another import pressing, so if you can play PAL DVDs and like the subject, you'll want to go out of your way to get this one.

There are sadly no extras.

The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on all three presentation s have some flaws, but Among has the most softness, while Aircraft (including more than its share of 1.33 X 1 film and even video) may have the most rough footage, it is actually clearer overall, partly because PAL DVDs have 540-lines versus 480 on U.S. NTSC DVDs. Chicken has the most consistent and clean image, but not enough to really surpass Aircraft, whose flaws can include analog videotape limits, video noise, video banding, telecine flicker, tape scratching, PAL cross color, faded color and tape damage. Otherwise, all play decently.

The lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo on the Among DVD and lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 on the Chicken DVD may have some location audio issues, but they are on par with each other and the lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo on Aircraft, which has music and narration only. Chicken also has the most consistent and clean audio, but it too is not always great.

To order the Great British Aircraft Umbrella import DVD, go to this link for it and more hard to find titles at:

http://www.umbrellaent.com.au/

- Nicholas Sheffo