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It’s a Fyre, Y’All (Netflix Documentary Edition)

I remember almost as if it were yesterday. It was late April 2017 – as I am apt to do on any given day, I found myself thumbing through my multiple social media accounts, check checking up on the latest news.

I don’t recall exactly at what time, but suddenly my various feeds were inundated with a slew of posts talking about the disaster that was taking place down in the Bahamas; something called the “Frye” Festival? Yeah, I thought it was a festival sponsored by one of my favorite leather goods brands. My bad.

Of course I was soon corrected – it was the FYRE Festival which, pun intended, was going up in flames. Posts containing real-time photos of cheese sandwiches and disaster relief tents filled my head. What exactly was going on? Who is involved/responsible for this mess? Well in a matter of days, most of my “burning” questions would be answered. In the immediate wake of this story dropping, I am (almost) embarrassed to say that I was filled with a great deal of bemusement. My fascination with the events of the Fyre Festival were punctuated by moments when, while chatting with friends, I would find myself crying with laughter at the poor folks who got duped into paying for a “luxury festival experience” on a (not) private island in The Bahamas.

The Netflix original documentary Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened, looks back on those harrowing days as well as the calamitous lead up to the event which reverberated through social media for days.

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I Am Not Your Negro (2016/7)

Where does one begin with this amazing documentary and make no mistake – let’s get that out of the way – this is an AMAZING documentary that I recommend everyone seek and discover.

In these uncertain times, I have often found myself at a loss of words on how to articulate exactly what I feel as I look at the world around me. On that level alone, the Academy Award ®-nominated I Am Not Your Negro could not have come at a more perfect time. After watching this documentary, I felt as if many others and myself are given a voice through the eloquent thoughtful words of James Baldwin.

Based on a 30-page manuscript from an abandoned 1979 project wherein Baldwin set out to detail a personal account of the lives and deaths of friends and civil rights icons Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. Although the project never went past these few pages, they are more than enough to be brought to life through the voice of Samuel L. Jackson.

The eloquence of the spoken words is accompanied with a wonderful visual language that director Raoul Peck has chosen to broaden out this original story to examine race relations in America.

As someone who (obviously) loves the language of film, I must say this cinematic technique was really put to good use. Archival interviews featuring Baldwin, photographs of the past and present, clips from classic Hollywood films, as well as contemporaneous images chronicling current events are beautifully woven to tell a story that is both very personal as well as serve a larger narrative purpose.

Often when you watch a documentary film, one tries to decipher what the central thesis of the work is. As the story revealed itself to me, I almost immediately registered that the filmmakers are trying to drive home one simple fact: history is not the past, it is now. Sure, some events may have happened in the past and as such, are a matter of record in the present. But never forget – the events of the past are alive and all around us, informing us as we journey through our lives. And sure enough, as the film neared its conclusion at 90 minutes, Baldwin in his own words said very much the same thing as if speaking to the audience from whatever realm he currently inhabits.

And given the dour circumstances and moments the documentary captured, there is a lovely and emotional chord of optimism struck at the end.

I Am Not Your Negro is an instructive and masterful work that will touch your heart and mind with its powerful message.

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Seen at Tribeca (Post 3 of ?): Indian Point

In the wake of the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster several years ago, increased scrutiny has piled on the nuclear power industry. On a local level, residents, journalists and regulators alike are players in an increasingly complex environmental and regulatory space where there are raised concerns over the safety of the nation’s aging plants.. The heavily populated New York City metropolitan area is no exception. Check out this recent New York Times article for evidence; this is but one of several alarming pieces covering the 50+ year-old Indian Point nuclear facility on the otherwise picturesque Hudson River.

Director, Ivy Meeropol Courtesy of Indian Point Film Productions, Inc.
Indian Point (Director, Ivy Meeropol)
Courtesy of Indian Point Film Productions, Inc.

Aptly titled Indian Point, the documentary, directed by Ivy Meeropol, features Indian Point employees, anti-nuke activists, environmental journalists and a host of other key players who have a stake in the long term outcome of the plant. Two points of interest on this front – a husband/wife tandem of anti nuclear activist and environmental journalist, and most notably, former chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Gregory Jaczko, who by the account of the film was forced out of his position by a powerful and insular industry hell bent on growth amidst an increasingly alarmist court of public opinion.

In general, Indian Point is very much a paint by numbers documentary, not offering much in the way of ‘entertainment’, per se. But what makes it a watch of interest is that it provides some background information on the history of the facility and raises some questions as to the facility’s sustained viability amid the perceived imminent threat posed to the region.

 

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