Foreign Parts (directed by the team of Verena Paravel and J.P. Sniadecki) has all the makings of a groan-inducing activist documentary along the lines of Scott Hamilton Kennedy’s The Garden or (worse) a ghoulish voyeur’s-eye-view of extreme poverty in America. Instead, Paravel/Sniadecki have pulled off the rare verite documentary that manages a formal grace and doesn’t patronize or fetishize its subjects.
The film is essentially a field recording of Willet’s Point, Queens, circa 2008 -2009. Also known as the Iron Triangle, Willet’s Point is a little slice of the Third World wedged in between the Van Wyck Expressway and Citi Field. It’s a “neighborhood” only in an abstract sense, consisting of a handful of auto parts warehouses (the area also served as the setting for Ramin Bahrani’s Chop Shop) and inhabited by only one official resident (while playing host to plenty of “unofficial” squatters, vagabonds, and societal outcasts). The area has no infrastructure or city services; heavy rains transform the streets into knee-high rivers of garbage and sewage. Willet’s Point is barely an upgrade from a landfill.
High Ground
Film Review by Kam Williams
Wounded Vets Scale Himalayan Mountain in PTSD Documentary
Of the over two million soldiers who fought in Irag and Afghanistan, hundreds of thousands subsequently developed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Upon returning to the States, the injured have frequently failed to find an adequate support system, in part due to a Veterans' Administration ill-equipped to address mental health issues.
Unfortunately, even well-meaning family members and old friends seem to keep their distance, often having little more to offer than empty accolades like "Thank you for your service," delivered in a phony tone of voice which simultaneously suggests, "Stay away!" Is it any surprise, then, that so many who have been honorably discharged are having trouble making the adjustment back to civilian life, with some taking their own lives?
Their abandonment, plight and a unique form of therapy is the subject of High Ground, a very moving documentary devoted to chronicling the exploits of a mountain climbing team comprised of wounded warriors plagued by PTSD. Half of them suffered obvious physical wounds from battles or IEDS, while the others were left less-obviously traumatized by fallout from events like a shock wave concussion or being raped by a comrade.
Directed by Michael Brown, the movie divides its time between emotional interviews with its 11 subjects and recounting their perilous trek to the 20,000 foot-high peak of the Himalayas' Mount Lobuche. While the picture certainly serves up its share of visually-captivating panoramas, the real reason to watch is to witness the heartfelt reflections of the soldiers.
For example, Katherine "Rizzo" Ragazzino talks about becoming homeless because her pension didn't kick-in, and Ashley Crandall reveals that she's been suicidal for six years since being sexually assaulted while on a tour of duty overseas. A lot of these vets appear to have memory issues, yet seem to have resigned themselves to the fact that they're never going to be normal again. Perhaps this explains why they prefer the company of others who have also survived combat.
An empathetic portrait which manages to humanize so-called Generation Kill, a group of vets easily dismissed by most of polite society as undeserving of concern since they chose to enlist in an all-volunteer military. After all, they needed a draft to fight the Vietnam War.
Excellent (4 stars)
Unrated
Running time: 92 minutes
Distributor: Red Flag Releasing
To see a trailer for High Ground, visit
Flight
Film Review by Kam Williams
Hero Pilot Participates in Cover-Up in Special F/X-Driven Legal Thriller
Co-pilot Ken Evans (Brian Geraghty) is at the helm of SouthJet Flight 227 from Orlando to Atlanta only because the plane's captain, Whip Whitaker (Denzel Washington), has passed out after a night of debauchery devoted to drinking booze and snorting coke while carousing with one of his stewardesses (Nadine Velazquez). But when the commercial airliner unexpectedly encounters severe turbulence and starts losing altitude, the concerned rookie immediately rouses the senior officer out of a deep sleep for assistance.
Despite a blood alcohol level over twice the legal limit, the veteran aviator assumes control and quickly ascertains that the plane's plunge is due to a complete failure of the hydraulic system. He further surmises that the only hope of pulling out of the precipitous nosedive depends upon his lowering the landing gear prematurely, dumping fuel, and flying the aircraft upside-down.
Against all odds, he executes each step flawlessly, unless you count clipping the top off a church steeple moments before making an emergency landing in an open field. 96 of the 102 souls aboard survive, and Whip's astonishing feat is soon the subject of a national media circus, ala Sully Sullenberger's real-life Miracle on the Hudson.
However, in the course of conducting its routine investigation, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) subsequently uncovers incriminating evidence that the pilot had a blood alcohol level of .24 at the time of the accident. And since a half-dozen people perished in the crash, Captain Whitaker could conceivably be held criminally liable for their deaths.
Will the celebrated hero's image be tarnished by scandal? Not if his defense attorney (Don Cheadle) and union rep (Bruce Greenwood) have anything to say about it. The two hatch a plan to suppress the toxicology report and to sober Whip up by the time of the NTSB hearing.
Directed by Academy Award-winner Bob Zemeckis (for Forest Gump), Flight is a riveting thriller marked by spellbinding special effects and a nonpareil performance on the part of two-time Oscar-winner Denzel Washington (for Glory and Training Day). After the spectacular, stomach-churning, opening scene plane crash, the picture shifts in tone to a character-driven portrait of a self-destructive addict in denial and plagued by demons.
The capable supporting cast features Kelly Reilly as Whip's love interest, John Goodman as his drug dealer, Melissa Leo as a snoopy NTSB bureaucrat, as well as Don Cheadle and Bruce Greenwood. But make no mistake, this is as much a star vehicle as Zemeckis' Cast Away, where Tom Hanks was the only actor on screen for over an hour.
An instant screen classic destined to be deemed among the very best of Zemeckis, alongside Gump, Back to the Future and What Lies Beneath.
Excellent (4 stars)
Rated R for drug and alcohol abuse, nudity, sexuality and an intense action sequence.
Running time: 139 minutes
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
To see a trailer for Flight, visit
"It’s a testament to Alive Mind Cinema that documentaries like Foreign Parts have a home, and continue to have the necessary support to grow, to be seen by more and more people. But it’s also a testament to Foreign Parts that Kino Lorber can see documentaries like this and want to bring them to the public, because curious minds like Paravel’s and Sniadecki’s are rare. Who else would spend all this time at Willets Point, wanting to show people what it’s like, that to some, their cars are more than just cars? They’re life itself."
Rory Aronsky, Movie Gazette Online
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Simon & the Oaks
(Simon och ekarna)
Film Review by Kam Williams
Jewish Boys Come-of-Age in Sweden in Surrealistic WWII Saga
Set in Sweden in 1939, Simon & the Oaks is a surrealistic, coming-of-age saga which unfolds against the backdrop of World War II. The title character, Simon (played by Jonatan S. Wachter, younger, then by Bill Skarsgard) is a youngster who, at the point of departure, has no idea he's half-Jewish.
He was adopted at an early age by a working-class, Swedish couple (Helen Sjoholm and Stefan Godicke) who have not only hidden his roots, but done their best to shield him from the horrors unfolding across Europe. However, despite their love and support, Karin and Erik can't help but notice their son's growing discontent with his lowly lot in life.
Simon gradually evidences an insatiable curiosity that, as farmers, they simply aren't sophisticated enough to address satisfactorily. In fact, he becomes so lonely that he starts talking to an oak tree in the yard and fantasizing about the rest of his natural surroundings.
Finally, his frustrated folks finally decide to enroll him in an upscale grammar school where he is likely to receive the intellectual stimulation he craves. There, he soon meets Isak (played by Karl Martin Eriksson, younger, then by Karl Linnertorp ), a Jewish classmate bullied about his ethnicity whose relatively well-to-do family has recently escaped Nazi Germany.
The boys become fast friends, and their families also make acquaintances, despite the difference in social status. The plot thickens when Simon learns the truth about his ethnic background and proceeds to make the most of the opportunity to pursue an academic path. Isak, meanwhile, disappoints his dad (Jan Josef Leifers) by showing more of a desire to work with his hands than his head.
Directed by Lisa Ohlin (Seeking Temporary Wife) Simon & the Oaks is an ethereal, introspective escapade inspired by the Marianne Fredriksson novel of the same name. Besides the visual capture of some breathtaking cinematography, what makes the film engaging is the stark contrast in the personas of the blossoming, young protagonists.
A sensitive character study chronicling the considerable challenge of coming-of-age Jewish with the specter of the Third Reich lurking just over the horizon.
Very Good (3 stars)
Unrated
In Swedish, German, Hebrew and English with subtitles
Running time: 122 minutes
Distributor: The Film Arcade
To see a trailer for Simon & the Oaks, visit