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ironymaidenpirate E talked up Dark Days, so we watched it last night.
it follows the people who lived in Freedom Tunnel until Amtrak reclaimed it in 1991. the film is a solid documentary: really interesting subject matter, great storytelling, surprisingly good cinematography. it's fascinating to see the houses made of scavenged materials (hey, that roof is made of pallets) - complete with stolen electricity - and the ingenious ways that the community members earn money/find food/shape their environment. the director lived in the tunnel through part of the filming, and it shows in the way we see a slice of life rather than narrative observation of an anthropologist. it's humane, fascinating, and funny.
equally engrossing is the "Making of..." short on the DVD, and the written info about what happened to each of the people we saw in the film after the eviction. i won't talk much more about the production and what was involved in getting the film financed and distributed - i think it's best to watch the film first, but you can spoil yourself a bit with the trivia section at IMDB. we stayed up late watching the extras with no idea how much time had passed.
perhaps the best thing for me was seeing a documentary on film again. it's become the exception rather than the rule, for obvious reasons. i don't think video would have handled the combination of low lighting and high contrast nearly as gracefully. i was reminded how rewarding a good documentary can be, how completely we can be entertained when reality is presented well. (which makes me wonder - are today's reality-tv-obsessed viewers a new market for documentary films?)
it follows the people who lived in Freedom Tunnel until Amtrak reclaimed it in 1991. the film is a solid documentary: really interesting subject matter, great storytelling, surprisingly good cinematography. it's fascinating to see the houses made of scavenged materials (hey, that roof is made of pallets) - complete with stolen electricity - and the ingenious ways that the community members earn money/find food/shape their environment. the director lived in the tunnel through part of the filming, and it shows in the way we see a slice of life rather than narrative observation of an anthropologist. it's humane, fascinating, and funny.
equally engrossing is the "Making of..." short on the DVD, and the written info about what happened to each of the people we saw in the film after the eviction. i won't talk much more about the production and what was involved in getting the film financed and distributed - i think it's best to watch the film first, but you can spoil yourself a bit with the trivia section at IMDB. we stayed up late watching the extras with no idea how much time had passed.
perhaps the best thing for me was seeing a documentary on film again. it's become the exception rather than the rule, for obvious reasons. i don't think video would have handled the combination of low lighting and high contrast nearly as gracefully. i was reminded how rewarding a good documentary can be, how completely we can be entertained when reality is presented well. (which makes me wonder - are today's reality-tv-obsessed viewers a new market for documentary films?)
