14 - The Power Of Art

The Power Of Art

By: Chantal, and Debora 

             As stated in the Oxford dictionary, art is “The expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power:” It is the artists interpretation of the world around them. This is shown in the movies “Wasteland” (L. Walker, K. Harley, J. Jardim, 2012, Brazil, 99 min.) and the movie “Born Into Brothels” (Zana Briski, Ross Kauffman,2004, India, 85 min.) The use of art is used to make a difference in the world around us by trying to show us that the artist’s perspective is right.

Waste Lands Trailer

               The documentary "Waste Lands" focuses on a large group of people who are caradores (or pickers.) A caradore is a person who picks out recyclable elements from mixed waste wherever it may be temporarily accessible or disposed of.  These people are typically found within Third world countries and they normally live in low-income neighborhoods, the slums or squatter settlements. In this film, they pick the garbage from Jardim Gramacho, the world's largest landfill. Vik Muniz (an artist) begins by showing the landfill and uses people who work there to show not only what they do, but the lives they live outside the recyclable materials. This was an important aspect in the film as it shows us that they are not living easy lives and the littlest things make a difference to them. We learnt about 7 main people; Tiaõ, Zumbi, Suelem, Isis, Irma, Valter and Magna. Each person led different lives and started within the wasteland for different reasons.

We first learnt about Tiaõ, who was inspired by texts that Zumbi brought his managed to convince people around him to start a company and is now the president of ACAMJG (the Association of Recycling Pickers of Jardim Gramacho). Many people talk about how much of a wonderful leader he is. You can see it first hand by the things he says and by the way he acts. He asks for recognition to help get support for his company this shows that he is strong in his beliefs. He ended up on a talk show to talk about his experiences with Vik and his company. Many people believe that he could be the next president.

Zumbi has been working in the landfill since he was 9 years old due to his parents dying. However, he is very intellectual. When he sees a book, he does not add it to be recycled but he keeps it so that he can read it and use it later on. He started a program where he lent library books in his shack for people to borrow and give back later on. The same concept as a library. He has now opened up his own library with 7000 books, computers and a learning center.

Suelem is 18 who started working at the landfill when she was 7. She has 2 kids and believes that she can eat anything. It is good as long as it doesn't kill her. She is proud to be a picker. She says it is a more respectful job than if she were to choose to prostitute herself. When the documentary finished, she found a man who is supporting her and her family and is staying at home with her children (her dream job.)

Isis was in a relationship with a married man and was heartbroken at the beginning of the film because he chose her over him. She got a tattoo on her leg in memory of him. She had 2 children, one son and one daughter. Her son died and her daughter was taken away by her husband and they abandoned her. She hates picking garbage and after she finished working with Vik, she says she is never going to go back.

Irma is the chef of the landfill. She finds food that is still good and cooks meals for the workers. After working with Vik, she opened up her own restaurant however; she left it to go back serving the workers. She claims she likes the sense of family.

Valter is the vice president of the company ACAMJG. He is an old man who is well known for his inspirational saying "99 is not 100". He has not had an education however is still very intelligent. He enjoyed his time explaining to people why it is so important to make a difference and recycle. Unfortunately, he died before Vik got the chance to make his picture.

Magna is the last character we looked at. She came to the landfill after experiencing hard times with her husband. She once walked onto a bus and called people out for making faces at her due to her smell. She is a bit ashamed of working in the landfill. After working with Vik, she lives with her 11 year old son and works at a pharmacy.

Vik took each person’s picture and made the models made their portrait out of garbage. He then sold them and donated the money to the company. This allowed each person to feel more important. They also had epiphanies and changed their lives because of it. 

            This week, our class focused on the power of art. We learnt that art often makes us feel alive and it also offers a way to show our understanding of what is happening in the world around us. It is normally about interpretation and does not contain a real truth. This documentary shows different perspectives:

Close vs. far

First world vs. third world

Art and life

Rich vs. poor

          Dignity was also a large focus in the class. We saw in the film that the caradores; even though they do not have the most respected and well-paying jobs, they are still able to contain their dignity since they have more respect for themselves than if they were to prostitute themselves or steal from other people. They are doing something that no one else wants to do however; it is an honest, respectful and cooperative job.

           One of the things that stood out to us most is how art can change someone's point of view. I have heard many people who said they thought garbage pickers were just people who ended up on drugs and were not able to find good jobs. However as we were shown in the movie, this is not always the case. The people we were shown were hard working people who unfortunately had problems that were out of their control. Mostly due to their parents death. They were just unlucky. 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/filmreviews/8345947/Waste-Land-review.html 

Born Into Brothels Trailer

            The documentary “Born into Brothels” is by Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman. It is a 2004 American documentary film which is about an hour and twenty three minutes. The idea of this documentary came about when Zana Briski a documentary photographer went to Calcutta to photograph prostitutes. During her visit, she befriended the children of the prostitutes. The children were very curious about what she was doing so she decided to teach them about photography and she gave each child a camera. The children took pictures that show their perspectives of their surroundings. Briski showed most of their works in the film. Briski and Kauffman recorded the classes that they had with the children as well as their daily life in the red light district.

           

            Briski chose eight children to help get education and they were: Avijit, Manik, Puja, Shanti, Gour, Tapasi, Suchitra and Kochi. Each child had different personality. The first issue that came up was about Suchitra. Suchitra lost her mother so she lived with her aunt who wants to send her to Bombay to work “in the line,” (prostitution) because all the girls in her family are in the line. The second issue was about Avijit. Avijit is the most talented among the children. He love drawing; he states: “I like to draw pictures to express what’s on my mind.” He is a great child but he was born in an unfortunate city. His father is addicted to smoking and his mother lives in the village where no one actually cares about her. During the film, we found out that his mother was burned in a fire. Afterward Briski tried to get the children into good school but no school would take them because of their background. She was even asked to do HIV test for all the children. Luckily for them the test came out negative. Briski wanted all of them to get into boarding school so that they will be out of the red light district. She was able to get Kochi, Puja and Shanti into a boarding school called Sabera Foundation. Briski had to sell some of the work of the children to help them with their education and Avijit got the chance to go to Amsterdam to represent all the other children. When he returned, he chose to enter the Future Hope School. Suchitra’s aunt refused to let her leave the brothel, Manik’s father would not let him go to school, Gour still lived at home and hopes to go to university, Puja’s mother withdrew her from the Sabera school because her clients offered her a lot of money for Puja, Shanti left Sabera on her own accord, Kochi chose to stay at Sabera and Tapasi ran away from home and went to the Sanlaap school for girls.

            This film is special because it is about the future and the life of prostitutes’ children and also it is very rare. It is special also because it shows how some children are unfortunate that even them getting education is a very big problem for them because of their background. We got to see and tried to understand the perspectives of the children barely in their teens.

            In Waste Land, we learned that we should reduce our usage of things because if we minimize the things that we use there will not be a lot of garbage and there might not even be a landfill. We learned how art can change people’s life and how it brought happiness to the group that Vik Muniz worked with. This film made us talk things that we don’t normally talk about. For instance, we started talking about where our garbage goes and who takes care of them. We learned about how the people that worked at the landfill had each other’s back as in Born into Brothels. The children that Zana Briski worked with and taught had each other’s back. For instance, in Waste Land the people donated blood when Zumbi got hurt because they lived like one family. In Born into Brothels, Gour looks out for Puja, he even wishes he could take her away from the brothel. In both films we learned that we should stand up for each other and also that we are very fortunate to be where we are right now.

            The filmmakers had different types of strategies but they also had one common strategies and that is using the insiders’ point of view. Vik went to Jardim Gramache purposely to make a documentary film about the people and the place but Zana went just to take photograph of the prostitutes so her documentary came along when she befriended their children. Vik did not give the camera to the people but Zana on the other hand gave out cameras and that brought out more about what the children see.

            Waste Land challenges us to reduce the usage of things. We got to see and learn about the life if those that work in the landfill. We also see the power of art. In Born into Brothels, we really see that we are very privileged to be born in Canada and not at a place like the brothel. It challenges us not to take things like education for granted because there are a lot of people out there that wishes to have a quarter of what we have.

             In our class discussion, we learnt a lot about how art can be a great impact in the life of people. Art brings out what we think and how we sometimes see things. We learnt that we all have creative potential in us so we just have to tap into it. In Born into Brothels, we see how art in a form of photograph brought out the imaginations and the dreams of the children that Zana Briski worked with. Art opened their eyes to really capture their environment, education etc… We also learnt in class that art is about our experiences and in Born into Brothels we see that most of the photographs taken by the children relate to their daily life experience in the red light district. Some of the pictures of one of Zana’s student, Avijit, showed the environment that he was in.

            Waste Land speaks to us more because Deb comes from a place where you find garbage all around the city. Some of the environments are polluted because of that and they do not really do anything about it because they are used to it. It speaks to Chantal more because she has seen first hand during mission trips people from Haiti who had potential and were on their way to get a job then have their opportunities ruined when the tsunami occurred.  When it comes to Born into Brothels, we would say that these children were born in an unfortunate place. It is very sad to see children that have dreams and great ambitions not get the opportunity to go to school or anything of the sort because of the places that they live and their parents occupations and life choices. 

              In conclusion, both documentaries have explained how art can make huge differences in the artists and the audiences lives. It allows the audience and the artists to explain how they see the world. These documentaries have shown us that through art, we are able to change our worlds. 

 Waste Land accepts contributions to help ACAMJG!

13 - Fighting Aids

By Sharon & Sean 

Silence=Death

Act Up

Introduction:

  The film watched in class was “How to Survive a Plague” by David France in 2012, it was 110 minute movie that had some graphic scenes of the gay community suffering with Aids in New York and how a group formed called Act Up decided to stop watching their love ones die. They decided to stand up and fight together. The other movie watched within our group was “We Were Here” by David Weissman and Bill Weber in 2011. Within this 90minute film we also see how the gay community in San Francisco suffered through this awful period of time and how the people worked together to help someone die more peacefully. During these two films there are many issues raised between discrimination towards the gay community, government response to the crisis of Aids and learning about Aids. Aids was something relatively new at that time, due to the fact the disease never seemed to be discovered till that point but Aids has been around since mankind. 

How to Survive a Plague:

  The theme this week was “Global Activism” which related to the film because the issues brought up within this film had eventually made an impact on the world. It also shows people from the state acting up together to stop the discrimination towards the gay community. The issues that were raised throughout this film were discrimination, government response towards the crisis and the activist. Also, we saw the challenges the group Act Up had to face just to create awareness and a treatment. 

  Discrimination was shown throughout this film very often when we saw the homophobic people react to the gays when they were out publicly fighting for help. When Peter was doing an interview on what Act Up was all about and the efforts they had put to become successful. The two host seemed very judgmental to Act Up's movement especially homophobic, since it seemed they were more against the idea of homosexuals. We also saw how badly the police had treated them, sometimes they were just being so violent just because they weren't supportive in their cause because of their sexuality. Another thing which seemed so frustrating was how George Bush was handling the situation. He was completely homophobic, the audience could see it clearly. He just did not put any importance to the fact that so many young men were dying everyday. He seemed so heartless. Also when one of the men were talking in the congress and how someone had said it was their right to have freedom of speech. He was like yes but if they aren't disturbing everyone else. It seemed like by forming this activist group, Act Up, it ended up being the best thing these people did. They eventually were able to have medication they could take to slow down their process.

  Aids became something people could live with just could not cure for the moment. This film is special because the director uses the media clips and how they presented the view on Aids. We see video clips on what the president at that time thought about Aids. The viewers saw all the protest and riots going on. We could see the activist going to all the pharmaceutical companies saying they would not sit around but were going to force them to let out those drugs they needed. In class we discussed similar topics as in how the activist had responded by causing awareness, creating social services and doing medical practices. How they organized themselves and how they took control to have less discrimination against themselves. 

  Concepts such as learn, fight and love also helped Act Up take more stands because then people saw how much they learnt, fought and their love to another. The people catching the aids started off by learning everything they could possible about the disease, how they caught it and the process of how the bacteria was going to kill them. They sometimes even knew more then the doctors but they never knew too less. That created them to ask the right questions because they knew the same information and wanted to find solutions to how to cure this disease. When it came to fighting, well the people fight this organization never backed down, knowing the consequences of fighting they still did it. This lead many to go to jail but they knew that if they did not fight, that nothing was ever going to be done about this terrible disease. These people were dedicated, since they knew they were ill and dying yet they flew on planes to talk to over cities. They went outside having riots, knowing police would abuse them.  Nothing stopped Act Up from making sure they would succeed. Lastly, their love brought the furthest in this war against government, society and pharmaceutical companies. They all came together as a whole, even the lesbians were standing up there with their gay men, taking a charge. They had compassion for each other, love, warm and so much more. They were dedicated to another knowing the fact that some would not make it for the medication, they still did it for the future generations to have a treatment. That way not everyone had to die a miserable death that they were about to face.  

We Were Here:

  During this film, we see how the gay people in Castro, San Francisco were dealing with Aids in their city. Castro was known for having a city full gays, it was their community and all of a sudden these men living here were dying within weeks from these spots all over their bodies. Some were turning blind, while other had gotten pnuemonia. Some lost weight quickly and others seemed to be ageing rapidly. Media took it as if it was some gay disease but over time they realized this was Aids. 

  Watching this documentary, the audience can see how the theory of Aids had developed and it is a sexually transmitted disease. In this film, they are interviews of people who survived the terrible disease and how they talked about the loved ones who did not make it. They talked about their story throughout this tragic time. The difference with this film compared to "How to Survive a Plague" is they are regular member of society, that did not carry this disease that took a charge to help the men that did have Aids. Some had volunteer hours to make these people have someone to spend their last few days with to make it seem less terrible, like a companion. Such as one nurse talked about what she watched this people go through and how sometimes they knew so much more then her. She said they had their research, they knew what they were about to go through. This brought up one of the ideas of the learning process. How these patients made sure they knew it all, that way no one could lie to them about anything. They had the knowledge on the disease that was about to take away their life. 

  Act up ended helping these suffering people more then anything when they had started their protest against government. Government did not do much other then close down their clubs. They thought the clubs in Castro were not sanitary enough. The issues they faced were discrimination and people who just did not want to help. Like they were trying to get help from government and it just was not working. They knew they weren’t going to make it so they did their best to fight for the future generation to not have to go through the same tragedy like them. This caused these people to fight for what they believed in. In Castor the lesbians decided to have other donate blood because their boys needed it. This led people to come together to fight for the men dying but this also created these men to fight. Not only to fight for their life but for others. Just like one of the men who were interviewed had said, some people became lab rats for these new medications just to try to find some treatment to help. They knew if these treatments were successful not only would they make through it but that everyone they loves would too. They all took chances to win this battle with Aids. They fought as hard as they could to survive.

  These public affairs caused awareness for the future men and women who were capable of catching this disease, so that maybe they had a chance to still live their life and not die at a young age. They wanted to find a treatment or even a cure to just help someone live through it, that way these young women and men did not have to be ill at all times. They did not have to suffer the pain or the scaring/spots left behind from Aids. The gay community in Castro also wanted to aware other how to be careful from Aids, which lead them to promote safe sex. By promoting safe sex to the people around them, to their community and especially younger generation show the love they had for another. The gay men wanted to help another to make no one had to lose anyone they loved, since many of them watched their friends, brothers, family members and their boyfriends die. It was this one disease after every person in this one happy community that lost every soulful person. Love is what created so many people to get through Aids and to even fight so hard for a treatment. 

This film was special because we also saw the live interviews with these people and what they lived through. How they saw their loved ones pass away. One man had lost three of his boyfriends. He said at one point he never knew how he made it through the many that didn't. He was glad he did though because lead him to tell all the stories those men couldn't, the world needed to hear the stories they could not witness. This film brought many emotions out because they showed many graphic scenes and interviews with people who lost too many friends. Fits in the the topic “Global Activism” because we see how this impacts the world and how active these people were within their own community. They took their problem in their city worldwide because this was not the only city of people dying from Aids. The world had to be aware of all that was happening and how they could prevent people from catching Aids. How they were slowly creating test that let people check if they had Aids and if they did not how to prevent not catching it. They were activist because these men took it out on the streets fighting hard for that they believed in. They did the best they could for make sure no one else was going to die young from Aids.  

We Were Here Website

Reflection:

Aids is a disease caused from HIV. It causes your body’s immune system to shut down and make it easier for you to attract other sickness’s. ‘We were here’ takes a look at the aids epidemic in San Francisco. HIV dates back to the late 19th century  in west-central Africa but was only first recognized in the 1980’s. Maintaining the perfect balance between the political and the personal, this is a documentary that will make you feel as well as think. The aids epidemic changed hundreds of thousands of lives. Everyday loved ones and family members would be killed and there was nothing anyone could do about it. 

 There is not one single documentary that could really explain the devastations faced through this period. Living under our parents roofs, eating our parents food, having school being paid for, getting gas money for your car. We don't always realize how extremely lucky we are. We don't think of what else is out there and how much people can suffer. These documentaries focus in on what the filmmakers wanted us to see; the sick, the help, and the drug companies. For a long time the government did not care at all about “these people”. They were different and nobody wanted to be seen or to see two men kissing. It just didn't make sense and more then 95% of the population outcasted them. So when they all started to get HIV positive a lot of people were happy to get rid of them. If someone does not believe in homosexual relationships does not mean they should agree with human beings suffering. This world needs less judgments, love is love, does not what who or what you love. It should not impact the world on who one is loving. 

  We learn a lot by watching films such as these. The biggest message we were able to grab from both these films was the perseverance to never give up. Act up, always let your messages and demands be heard. Without the pursuit of these young men and women we would not be where we are today in the fight against HIV’s. Silence = Death! The world is not a perfect place but we know that by uniting and fighting for what we believe in, we can accomplish wonders throughout. Before watching these two documentaries we did not know much on Aids or ever heard anything on these events. That shows us just how much media and news hide more from us and how much there is out there for us to learn on our own. “When faced with the unimaginable, they did the impossible and fought back!’’ - (How to survive a plague intro.)

Act Up Website

Conclusion:

In conclusion, "We Were Here" and "How to Survive a Plague" both represented very well the Aids epidemic in San Francisco and New York. Fighting for every last bit of their lives, the lesbian and homosexual communities came together to change the world as we know it. Through countless years of protesting and watching loved ones die, these activists stood up for what they believed in! They are a lost generation with a great deal of success. They show us to pursue our dreams and regardless of the consequence at some point, the work we put in makes a huge difference. These two documentaries will remind you that there are way bigger problems in our world and that without the freedom of speech, our culture would not be where we are today.

Act Up. Fight Back. Fight Aids. 

12 - Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance Nations and Communities

by Thomas, Noémie and Pippa

Introduction

            Dating back thousands of years, the First Nations, upon arrival, staked out land throughout Quebec. They lived off the land and by advancing through time, they became close to the land which they worked, fought for and lay their dead upon. In the latter years, when the white men came to Quebec, they  staked out the most fertile and beneficial land to them which also happened to be the same land in which the Natives claimed in the first place, obviously for the same reasons. Being more advanced in society, the white men pushed the natives to wherever they wanted them. Although this force of displacement is still seen today, we have started to see the natives finally putting their feet in the ground and standing strongly to protect their land in which they deserve. Two documentaries were created on this 270 year old racism act of pushing the Indians and where it ends up leading to a confrontation.  “The Invisible Nation” and “Kanehsatake : 270 Years of Resistance” are not only great for giving accurate factual evidence of these happenings but they also allow the viewer to be taken right to the front lines of these crises and through pathos, the filmmaker is able to take the viewer off their seat, bring them right into the action and experience  the pain, stress, frustration  and anguish in which the Indians and the opposing sides have to face.

The Invisible Nation

         The Invisible Nation is a Richard Desjardins and Robert Monderie film of 90 minutes made in Canada and released in 2007. It explaining the Algonquians’ situation. The film explains in details what they have been through since the English have taken control over the French.                                                                                                           

           At first, with La proclamation royale in 1763 guaranteed the Algonquians a politic autonomy. La proclamation royale says that no white could go in the Indian Territory without an express permission from the authority in London. In fact, the proclamation was not made to protect the Indians but to protect the beavers in that region. For the English, the Indians are just savages who are in their way. They even made a law about them where they are considered as child and have no right; la loi des sauvages.  To add to this, in 1850, they tried to assimilate them and to do that, they tried to scare them, telling them about Hell. They also want to take everything from them. They prevent them to speak their language and their identity. They numbered them, they do not use their names anymore but they call them by numbers. Also, if an Indian woman marries a white man, she will lose her Indian identity as well as her children. They only got the right to vote in 1960 and as time went on, they lost all their territory and now live by the Ottawa River. They are living in small reservations, are marrying between cousins because they do not have a big population. They do not own their land and most of them do not have much inside their house because they are poor. Since the English have taken control, they have acted like they were never there, like they were invisible.  You can read more about here: http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=b5940e0b-a3b2-4d74-bccb-57360837038b

            The main issue in this film is the Algonquians’ rights. In fact, they barely have rights. The Algonquians have seen everything they had been taken away from them. They have been subject of assimilation, people they can not understand trying to take their identity and culture away from them. They are treated as children and have no rights. The Whites have also taken the Algonquians’ land and do not have much now. It is a lot for them because the land is the central place in their culture, history and community.

            What made the film special is that there are pictures and small videos from the past presented in the movie to help us have a better picture of the situation. There were also interview with a lot of Algonquians from a lot of reserves to explain what they are living. They are describing their reserve, how they live and also the major problems they are facing. For example, there is a reserve where they do not have electricity neither they have water.

            This film teaches us two main things. It teaches us about the Algonquians and how their transmission of knowledge are by storytelling and that the land, which cannot be owned, is very important for them and also that power can sometime be so important for people that they are not respectful towards others. The White had power over them because of their knowledge and their firearms and took everything away from the Algonquians. They have also promised things to them and the Indians believed them. They still remember today what the White had once promised them but it seems like the Whites seems to have forgot.

Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance

            The Canadian movie Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance, was released in 1993. It is a 120 minute long film directed by Alanis Obomsawin. Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance covers the issues of the Oka Crisis (1990). It all started when the burial land of the Mohawks in Oka was going to be taken to have housing developments and a golf course built. There was a covenant (a formal agreement) on this land, to protect it so that the First Nations peoples could continue on with their traditions. The Mohawks, furious, blocked off their area so that the construction equipement couldn't make its way onto their reserve. The mayor of Oka asked for it to be removed, and because they denied, he then called in the SQ (Surete du Quebec). The SQ launched tear gas and grenades into the Mohawk reserve followed by a gun fight resulting in Marcel Lemay being killed. The SQ then started blocking off roads and forming their own barriers. The Mohawks decided they were going to barricade the mercier bridge so that there would be no Montrealers entering their territory, this caused problems for the non-Aboriginals of Oka who as a result couldn’t leave. The protesters at this point, asked for full sovereignty (supreme power or authority in the state).

        The SQ was clearly not helping the situation move forward, so Robert Bourassa called in the help of the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) and the Canadian Armed Forces. After many problems with the RCMP and Canadian Armed Forces against the Mohawks, the blockade finally ended on August 29th 1990. The protesters continued until September when they then surrendered as well, by dismantling their guns and walking forth into the midst of the armed forces. In the end, the golf course and housing development plans were cancelled. Read More about it here : http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/oka-crisis/.

        Canadian film director Alanis Obomsawin has a very unique way of presenting her information in this film.  There are a series of interviews from the mohawks and people from the non-Aboriginal community. Obomsawin captured the moments which would have been indescribable and unbelievable really, if not seen with one’s own eyes. She put together a montage of video from the Mohawks perspective. The film was very unbiased because it demonstrated what was really happening and there was no glorifying of any party in particular. She taped what was happening then and there for people to watch all over the world. Read more about why she decided to make this movie here http://www.cbc.ca/archives/categories/society/native-issues/general-21/alanis-obomsawin-behind-mohawk-lines.html .

        This film is special because it relates to the topic of the week- Nations and Communities- in our class: Documenting Myths with Sylvain Duguay. The movie Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance demonstrates to societies that by invading the Mohawks territories, they were ruining the traditions and communities of the mohawks. The tradition, history and community of any culture takes place in the central area, the Land they value. The Mayor of oka, Jean Ouellette, wanted to exploit the land that the Aboriginals lived on. He made Colonialist and Racist decisions by attempting to have control over the Mohawks land with the drive to make profit, while looking down upon the Mohawks for having a different set of cultural values.  It is important to accept every race even if one doesn't agree with their morals and values. Obomsawin’s film educated viewers of self-determination and land claims through solidarity, the unity or agreement amongst individuals. The Mohawks did what they could when what was happening was unfair, just like in John Locke’s “Right to Revolt”, “The right to fight applies to civil societies when: The law cannot be effectively exercised;       There are threatening circumstances of threatened arm; The administration of the law is corrupt, or employed to commit violence and injury; The rules for election are tampered with.”

Reflection

            We can learn not only about Indians but also about ourselves in both films. They are very instructive and teach us about our past. In both films, we can feel the emotions the Indians have. We can see how much they are angry now, how sad they are. They were the first here and have been moved away. They have been treated like children for so long. They have been promised things that they still do not have today. The government still ignoring them today and still wants to take things away from them, like seen in the first film, Kaneshatake: 270 Years of Resistance when they wanted to take another part of their land to make a golf course. In both films, we can observe that power can be so important to people that they can act inhumanely. We can also observe that equality is still very present. Still today, Indians do not have the same rights as us and it should not be that way.

            One can relate the problems in this film and even what is happening today in many countries. Something close to home that we could all relate to is how the students have been fighting with the education prices in Quebec for a while now. Two years ago there were many protests because they wanted to be heard and have the rights given to them. The films we watch open out eyes to issues we've never heard of, they are a tool for us to not repeat all of the wrongs that have happened in the past. We can all help and get involved by joining organizations, signing petitions and even going out to the protests if we feel like what's going on in our world is wrong.

            The filmmaker, Alanis Obomsawin, in Kaneshatake: 270 Years of Resistance really reaches out to the viewers through a pathos method of presenting the situation in which the natives were in. With the hand held recorders, live visual recordings of the faces of some of the saddened natives were able to be used to pull the audience into the film, trying to make them feel that of what the Natives felt through their resistance. The audio was also key in reaching out to the pathos side of the audience as we were able to hear the cries of anguish and anger, and the different tones of each and every individual which was truly a perfect example of their feelings. Another great aspect of this Documentary in which the filmmaker did an excellent job in fulfilling was merging the two stories, each from one side of the barricade into one story. This is not only an effect that cannot even be acquired in real life but it left the audience with un-biased footage from both sides of the argument which let the audience decide which argument was more agreeable to them.  Alanis Obomsawin validated and strengthened her documentary through the pathos aspect of her film. With the use hand help film recorders and audio recordings, live accounts of the event were able to be derived from both sides of the barricade allowing a un-bias account to be presented to the audience. Another method of publicizing this resistance that is going on with the natives was through a tour by Neil Young, a popular 

Song writer and artist. More information can be observed from the our at: http://www.honorthetreaties.org/

Conclusion

            Although it may seem as if we have reasonable reasons to drive Indians off of their land, there are many different aspects of the issue that must be studied before any form of physical actions should be taken place. I believe one area in which the government dealt with the issue in a horrible fashion was through the film “Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance”. As the SQ did not have enough force to hold back the natives, the Canadian army was called to power to aid in the control of the first nations. The government seemed to treat the natives as enemies rather than individuals who are getting their land revoked from them for no justifiable reasons. I think we need to learn from this situation and not brutally force anyone to a place in which they don’t wish to be. Especially when it comes to people who claimed the land first and there is no beneficial reason to rip up an emotionally connected burial ground to build a golf course which could have been built somewhere else. We should treat the natives with more respect than ourselves and debate in a more humane fashion 

11 - Portraits of the Self

by Sereena and Aïcha

Throughout life, anything can happen. These events can help shape who someone is as a person. These also help build the story of your life. Many families share a story that helps them know who they are and where they came from. A documentary is one way that we can find out about the stories of other people. Through the documentary Stories We Tell, we get more insight into the story of Sarah Polley's family, and more specifically, the story of her mother, Diane. We find out most of her story from the point of view of Diane’s family, lovers and friends. The documentary Silverlake Life is the personal story of two partners, Tim Joslin and Mark Massi, and how they dealt with AIDS. Through this film, we get the point of view of the two men. We get to know more about their story and what they went through. Everyone has their own story to tell.

Stories We Tell

Stories We Tell is a 109 minute documentary made by Sarah Polley in Canada in 2012. It is about Sarah trying to find out more about her mother Diane and Sarah coming to terms with the truth, and dealing with it. Diane Polley died from cancer when Sarah was 11 years old. Diane was described by everyone as very happy, outgoing and joyful. She was always full of energy. Sarah interviews family, friends, and previous lovers of Diane for the full story. Each person has a different story to tell about Diane, as they all knew her differently. Everyone had a different relationship with her; some were her children, some her lovers, and some her friends and family.

Diane had to deal with divorce of her previous husband, and with that, she also dealt with the custody of her children. She was featured in an article and called unrepentant because she didn't get custody of her children because she committed adultery. Diane also had some secrets. While Sarah tries to piece together her mother’s story, she found out something that she didn't know before. Everyone grew up believing Michael Polley was Sarah’s biological father. Sarah later found out that Diane had an affair in Montreal, while she was working, with Harry Gulkin, who is revealed to be her real father.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/entertainment/sarah-polley-s-stories-we-tell-examines-filmmaker-s-family-history-1.1281216

Sarah Polley uses different forms of narration to tell the stories. Sarah uses interviews and interrogations to get the story of her mother. Also, throughout the film, her father, Michael, does a voice over to tell his story. There was a lot of archival footage used. However, Sarah deceives us because there were also actors hired to play the part of many people and this was only revealed at the end of the movie.

This film is special because it shows us that every person knows us in a different way. We all have witnesses to our life; every person has a different story to tell about us. Each person that witnesses a part of our life has a different point of view. There are many different sides to every story. In Stories We Tell, through each person’s different point of view, we are able to construct the story of Diane and find the truth. Her story was shaped by what people said about her, and how they felt about her. However, sometimes putting the story of our life together can be difficult; there are some obstacles. We don't remember our life fully, but rather different pieces of it. We can put it together with our different memories but it will be fragmented. We also sometimes avoid painful things that happen in life. Some people also don't know the full truth. For example, many people believed that Geoff might have been Sarah’s real father, and they said this in their personal interviews. However, Harry was the real father, and Sarah found this out during the process of creating the documentary. Sarah herself had said that the “truth about the past is often ephemeral and difficult to pin down”. Therefore, it can be hard to remember the past and we might make up a story about it. One of the main questions that can be raised while watching this film is the question of authorship. Since many people are telling their own story of Diane, this shows that there are many authors of her story after she died. These are the people who were involved in her life, and witnesses. The people who are listening to her story are from the outside looking in.

Silverlake Life

http://www.amdoc.org/projects/truelives/pg_silverlakelife.html

Silverlake Life is an American film about two men, Tom Joslin and Mark Massi, living together and battling AIDS. They filmed their journey and explained the struggle of living with AIDS and how they are dealing with it. They couldn't direct the film because they died before it was finished, so it was directed by Peter Friedman. Silverlake Life shows us all the difficulties and challenges which people affected by AIDS have to live with. It shows us how it feels like to live with it and how hard it is not being able to do the things they were once capable to do. It shows how frustrating it is to live with the conscience of having AIDS and how challenging it is to face the world when you know all kinds of people are judging.

The biggest difficulty for Tom and Mike was that they couldn't live without the reminder that they will die. No matter what they do, they will die. When they had to take their medications every day, it was becoming really depressing and tough for them. It wasn't a healthy way of living even though they had no choice. They couldn't go anywhere because they would get tired easily and had bad headaches. Physically, they couldn't do anything because they were quickly losing weight. They were afraid of scaring people with their bodies, for example a lady at the pool asked them to put their shirts on so they won’t freak other people. They had to face comments of people who didn't really understand their situation and judgments that kept reminding them that they have AIDS.

What made the film special was the fact that the two partners were telling us their story by filming themselves. It felt like they welcomed us into their personal life. You could see how their lives changed in such a short time. It was interesting because we were able to see how their physical appearance and their mentality changed. They included their family and friends in their film. We saw that some members of the family had their own point of view on them living together and having AIDS. They weren't comfortable with themselves when people were watching but still showed their body. When you're with someone you love, it facilitates your journey. We could see that they had each other to make it easier. At the end of the movie, we saw Tom's face when he just died and his body was wrapped. It showed what people with AIDS have to go through.

Society tells you who you are. People put all their focus on negative things about your life. They don't care about the consequences that you will have because they only care about themselves. That is why it is important to have witnesses. They know who you are. They know what is right and what is wrong.

Reflection

These movies are about family, and the relationships we make in life. They are about the stories we create through our life and how we are able to tell them. Both Stories We Tell and Silverlake Life had something to do with death and the story of our life before death. There are many diseases in the world, such as cancer and AIDS, which can take your life or your loved ones life away so quickly. They can both teach us to not take life for granted and appreciate every moment we have because these moments create the story of our life. We can learn that we all have our own story to tell. The way we act can help shape our own life. It gives a perspective to outsiders and witnesses and helps what they say about us. In Silverlake Life, Tom had said that "You live a happy life, you live a happy life. You live a life of nay saying then that the life you live." We all have the capability to change our life, and create our own story. Everything we do creates the story of our life. Mark had also said that the little details in our life can create our story. The people that witness our story can tell our story, but we are the creators of it. You can be the one to tell your own story, which is how Tom and Mike did in Silverlake Life. You can also get other people to tell the story of someone, which is how Sarah Polley got people to tell the story of Diane in Stories We Tell. Tom and Mike used a handheld camera to get their personal point of view and tell their story. Sarah used interviews, footage, and actors to get different points of view to tell the story of Diane. Sometimes though, there is a question of if the stories of the past are true. In my life, it can be difficult to remember every single detail about my childhood. Sometimes people tell me stories of when I was younger and I combine them with what I remember. But alltogether it might not be the full truth. However, they are still good stories and I can tell them to others as I get older.

In the film Stories We Tell, it makes us realize that sometimes keeping secrets can be the better for you. It creates something better than if the truth is revealed because it might hurt the people you care about most. It shows that multiple version of the story may be better than one because no one knows the truth you are hiding from them. However, sometimes when the truth is revealed it might not hurt those who you are close to. It also makes us realize that even though someone seems opens about his life, that doesn't mean he's not hiding something. For example, one part of the film where there were multiple truths was about who Sarahs real father. Many people had different ideas of who her father could be. When Sarah found out her real father was Harry, she had to tell Michael. In the end, after she told Michael, neither of them were hurt, but Michael said he felt closer to Sarah.

In the film Silverlake Life, it makes us understand that people don't understand the struggle that other people go though every day. People forget that others are dealing with bigger problems than they do. There will always be people who don't care.

The first film, we can see that even though they lived through some lies, at the end, they are still together and appreciating life. We don't really care about the lies, life just continues. Only the important things matter. Family will always stay family. Being curious is a good thing because it can help us find more stuff than what we wanted to find. In the second film, the message is that everyone needs someone to get through difficult moments. It is harder to live without family or friends that can help you. No matter the judgments of others, we have to live for us and not to please them.

Self Portraits

We can learn and understand a lot by entering into the personal life of others and themselves too. Self-portraits makes you realize how people perceive you in different ways. It is easier to connect with the person. You learn more about yourself every day. We are able to see our feelings and our personality through self-portrait. We all have witnesses to our life to tell our story, but we have the power to tell our own story and be the author of it.

10 - An ideal society

by Samantha, Elisa and Jessy 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peSpUDMcGR8

     We all want to change something in our society; however small the change is it would be important in order to get closer to what we think is an ideal society. Many of us wonder what would be the perfect society and what would take us there. Throughout history people have tried to create the perfect society but always failed in the way. Utopia refers to the idea of a perfect society. A society with an ideology of life perfect without mistakes, where everyone can live an ideal life and the word ‘equality’ reign. Our current modern society makes us think progress will take us to the perfect society but we really think they are right. The films Surviving Progress and No Impact Man, show us the idea of ​​utopia as something that we can get but we have to start changing some things and making some sacrifices.

                     "No Impact Man"                               (Laura Gabbert, Justin Schein, 2009, USA , 93 min)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjpAboJsXKk

         Colin Beavan in this documentary shows how small changes in our lifestyle can make a big difference for our planet and can give us great benefits for our life. Sometimes we do not realize the damage we cause to the planet and how it affects us no just now but also to future generations. Would be good if we began thinking how in 25 years we could wipe out the world's resources and how this can destroy all the life in the planet. We can make the relation no planet no life and this involve us so we can finish with our life in this process. Colin is a man committed to the planet and determined that if a person starts with the change giving the example for other people and they will be convinced to start the change too. This determination gives him the idea to start the No Impact Man project with his family, this project consists in for a year they won't cause harm to the planet and they will start a better lifestyle.

         Utopia means an ideal society but this does not have to relate that all live in a consumerist style and we can have whatever with want, but rather as a society that come together and start thinking about solutions to our problems when everyone can give his ideas for how can we create the ideal society . But this is not only thinking of solutions because everyone could do this alone but rather unite in practice in order to obtain results we all hope for our society and start the change for a better society.

        Colin teaches us that a person and his family start changing little things in their house this is already a big difference. These changes will not only bring benefits to our planet but also for our family that will work together for obtain the results, start changes makes us share more quality time with those we love. Everyone in the house can be involve in this change Colin shows us this when he involves his little daughter in all the practices one example is when they show she how to wash their clothes without machine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nc4AESIu14I

       Some of us have heard of the three R's but not put into practice. This is the foundation of the No Impact Man project; the first step is to reduce and is perhaps the most important. The more reduce is equal to more benefits can we obtain , an example of this is when the family of Colin began to reduce electricity use in your home and the use of transportation to get to their jobs this brought them profit decreased their electricity bills and a more active life.The second step is to reuse, this will bring benefits to the planet and to reduce our spend on packaging that normally increase the cost of all the products, an example is when they begin to use food jars more than once. The last step is to recycle, it helps not to deplete resources and reuse as much as we can and a good example of this is when they begin to reuse clothing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLBE5QAYXp8

         Colin implements more than thirty ideas for his project, but this does not mean that we should start with the thirty but rather we can start step by step and gradually implemented so few we want. What matters in all this is to start thinking about our future and how we as individuals can do for begin the change for our planetand not only that we can start the change that our entire society need.

http://noimpactproject.org/explained/

                  Surviving Progress

      (Mathieu Roy , 2011 , Canada, 82 minutes)

       How do you describe progress? Is it through your efforts or actions or is it the nature of how humanity and technology has advanced? Or the cultural and ethical advancements in the past two hundred years?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IAs3tMZneM

      Surviving Progress is a Canadian documentary made in 2011 by Mathieu Roy. It runs for about an hour and 22 minutes and it fits rather closely to No Impact Man in the same vein of ecological problems with the Earth and humanity.

      Surviving Progress tells us that if we don’t change our ways, in a few decades, or centuries, we’ll be fighting for simple necessities like land mass (due to global warming), wealth and water. These kinds of consequences would be considered the fall of modern society itself and civilization. There’s also mentions about “humans becoming gods” and the god complexes some people have today when it comes to progress and engineering that as a society we’ve been getting cocky and our ‘improvements’ can easily lead us to a dead end or a ‘trap’ (We might think at first that everything’s fine and dandy, then you realize the severity of the event and there’s no escape.)

        No Impact Man does make a mention about how much garbage and waste we make today when it comes to society (which leads to pollution) and how corporations almost rule all and that society is materialistic. Surviving Progress also talks about how our economic and poor distribution of wealth is so unhealthy and inflated that if ecological resources, space for food doesn’t catch up to us and cause the beginning of an ecological collapse, the distribution of wealth will and its effects would be catastrophic, as the only people who have millions and millions of dollars are powerful figures like the government or head of companies.

        Another unique idea that the movie brings up is that today, everything is at the tip of our fingers through the internet. We can connect with people from all around the world to discuss similar things or just to watch the news unfold that many people believe that the internet can serve as one huge human ‘brain’ network. Before the internet everybody was secluded in their own societies and if there was information of other countries or cultures, it was rather muted or hushed away. But with the internet we can easily show our humanity and express it through social media and raise awareness….which has led to popular social networks like Twitter to be banned in several countries.

 We can do something 

        By watching these two documentaries we can establish two facts about the human race, we have grown very dependent on items which we do not need because we are growing into an over consuming population which means that we will exploit our natural resources which can result into disaster!

       In the film that we watched in class : No Impact Man, we can clearly see that it is very difficult to leave behind bad habits and that it is incredibly overwhelming as a viewer to know  that it’s possible to live without the polluting products that we have become accustomed to.

      In the documentary of Surviving progress, we can see that the evolution of society is not entirely a positive matter for many negative reasons. Basically it is in a way the same concept as the film: No Impact Man, because it shows that we are being careless into exploiting our resources, over consuming and that all this might bring a disastrous end to our planet.

     In No Impact Man, Colin Beavan’s idea was to cut off everything that might be a huge impact on society and the well being of our environment. For example: He turned off his electricity for approximately six months, he hasn’t used any chemicals that can be flushed into the sewer lines, and so on.  His main idea was practically achieved because many organisations and schools started practicing this activity.In Surviving progress, the main idea has been clearly demonstrated by the negative images and many theories on how the outcome of our irresponsibility could be horrendous. Has it had an impact on our society? Maybe not, due to the fact that most of us refuse to give up our “necessities”.

     Colin Beavan has challenged our understanding of the world by showing us that we can survive with the simplest things that don’t bring much impact on the environment. We don’t need high quality products, or technology to survive and these are one of the main things that many people can’t deal with. As it was mentioned earlier, many schools and organisations have tried following his footsteps and making this idea grow bigger.The surviving documentary can challenge our understanding of the world in the simplest way. After watching it we could easily realize how much damage our intellectual evolution has been done to our planet without noticing it. We see the horrors going on around us even more clearly than before and gives us an idea of what should be done to prevent this from becoming bigger than it already is. Many viewers might only feel sad about the situation and still end up not doing a thing to help the situation while others might finally have enough and speak up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9wYQKGyVD4

    There are a few ways we can relate the message of these two documentaries to our own lives and society. There are many people trying to fix our problems of overconsumption and many volunteers strive for their voice to be heard when it comes to taking care of our planet. 

                    Be the change 

      “We're gonna change the World by changing ourselves. I don't believe that you can really change the World outside until you change the World inside yourself. And I really do believe that love, if you really have love in your being, then it's very difficult to be unkind or cruel to another person or the planet. And I think, I really believe that we, as a species mankind, we really need to live from our heart more. And when that happens we will stop being destructive to each other and destructive to the planet. But we've lost touch with that, and that's how we can commit such cruelty to each other and the planet we live on.”

                -Rodger Hodgson - The voice of Supertramp

          Protect the planet for future generations does not mean giving up our lives or abandon everyday activities. By adopting simple habits and common sense, each of us can save energy, reduce pollution affecting the temperature of the Earth, and conserve our limited natural resources. 

       The challenge is big and can seem overwhelming. But when many people make small efforts, these add up to make a positive change on a large scale. The main thing is to start the change for our planet.