Ah, my final blog. This class has been a blast for me. Any class where you get to watch and analyze anything related to film is always awesome to me. The documentaries we watched has actually made me go out and buy several documentaries. I always had this set thought that all documentaries were boring with lots of talking and nothing else, I never saw anything to relate to in them. That is all changed due to some of the documentaries we watched.

I am going to admit right here and now. Though I talk alot about my knoweledge of film and trivia about movies, even down to scenes in certain films. I have not seen the majorty of the "classics" I talk about, I often have just gathered the information from all the conversations and references to movies in other works of literature. One of these films that I had never actually seen(till recently) but knew a lot about was Spinal Tap.

I have a hard time reading poetry. It is the one of form of literature that has never really "clicked" with me. I think it maybe because of the countless poetry assignments I had in grade school where we were forced to write in strict forms of poetry and not allowed just to free verse. Due to all those assignments, poetry has always been less about creativity and getting my thoughts accross and more of brain teasers to fit my thoughts into certain forms. I never understood why we had to rhyme things, why we couldn't just state how we felt? It pretty much made me hate poetry.

One of the most common forms of documentary films is the documentary that follows and examines one person's life in detail. The documentaries typically try to reveal to the world just who the person they are following is. What if though, the subject of the documentary has no clue who they themselves are? A crisis of identity is closely observed in Sherman’s March. The subjects of this film goes through some sort of crisis where it seems all they really know about themselves is their name, and nothing else.

I know this documentary wasn't on the list for films we could watch, but I strongly think it should be. It provides an interesting character portrait of the rise and fall of an egotistical maniac. It shows how the sudden signing of a contract can corrupt anyone's belief system and to betray many of their already good friends. The film follows Troy Duffy, a bartender in Boston who has dreams of becoming a famous movie directer and writer. This dream suddenly comes to frution when Miramax signs him onto a $15 million dollar deal to make his film "The Boondock Saints".

Night and Fog is direct opposite to Triumph of The Will. Not just because it shifts focus from the honor of the nazi regime to the horror of what they did, but also in tone and the way it intends to make you feel. While Triumph of The Will is clearly a propaganda film to increase support for hitler to make someone feel honorable about supporting the man, Night and Fog just presents the footage for what it is and states it.

The Triumph of the Will is one of the most disturbing portraits of a nations leader ever made. It isn't disturbing just for the man it portrays, but because you really see why Hitler came to power. We all know who Hitler was and what he ended up doing so it is impossible to view it without considering him a terrible human being. For the film to be truly frightening, you have to imagine that you are uneducated in the events of WW2 and who Hitler was. You must imagine entering the film only with the knowledge that it shows a certain leader of Germany and many of his political rallies.

Life and Debt is one of those films that should fill anyone who views it with some amount of sadness or guilt over the situation in Jamaica. Not one person is the cause of the situation there, it is a culimation of many things. The part of us that it makes feel especially guilty for is the tourist inside all of us. We all have this perfect vision of Jamaica, as it being an island paradise where people just lounge about, listen to reggage, smoke weed, and any other amount of stereotypes. While many of us would feel guilty to admit it, those stereotypes are deep seated in our culture.

Now before I get into the details of this blog, let me state this. In this class I have heard way too much about Micheal Moore discussed. We had at least 4 presentations on him, meaning that at least 4 people talked about him for 5 minutes or more. I need to let you know, I really can't stand Michael Moore at all. Coming into this class I already knew that I didn't like him and that I hated talking about him. He is just one of those individuals who incites so many different reactions in people that it is impossible for an argument not to occur.

Burt Reynolds today is one of those icons from the 70s-80s era of film that today seems laughable. He confuses the youth(including me) of this generation with how his mustachioed face and hairy body were once deemed attractive and were actually able to cause massive hysteria in the minds of women. We simply can't understand how someone who looks as hairy as he did became so famous and desired by so many women. Some scenes contained in Sherman's March provide us with more of a clear reason as to why he was so popular, though Ross Mcelwee seems just as confused by it as we are.