Daphne Matziaraki’s documentary 4.1 Miles chronicles a single day in the life of the Greek Coast Guard men who are saving Syrian refugees from the Aegean Sea. Matziaraki is a native Greek, but lives and works as a documentary filmmaker in the San Francisco Bay Area. This documentary was released on September 1, 2016, during one of the most desperate times of the refugee crisis. Though the documentary is short, it is undeniable that Matziaraki has developed a theme of collective responsibility in this film, by way of cinematography and content. As stated, Matziaraki’s 4.1 Miles is the report of just one day in the life of a select few Greek Coast Guard men. The film displays the refugees who cross the short 4.1-mile span of Aegean Sea separating Turkey from the Greek island of Lesbos. This mass influx of people has been occurring since 2015 when a war-torn Syria became too dangerous a place for the civilians to live. 4.1 Miles illustrates the fear and desperation that these …show more content…
Many scenes in this film rested on poignant moments for many seconds, which encouraged an emotional response from the viewer. For example, near the beginning of the film, one shot rests on a face of a shivering, soaking wet boy for eight seconds. A few moments later, the camera remains fixed on a man performing CPR on a young child for twenty-six seconds. Such profound moments as these should spur an emotional response from the viewers, and by garnering their sympathies, Matziaraki is capable of drawing people into her cause. When one believes in a cause, they are likely to take on or work towards helping that cause. Through cinematography, Matziaraki brazenly and explicitly draws viewers into the collective responsibility she believes all should have in consideration of the refugee
Rolf de Herr’s 2002 film The Tracker represented some human beings in the past who have been extremely naïve, barbarous, and bigoted when it came to dealing with Indigenous Australians. This film portrayed white racism in the characters of the Fanatic, the Veteran, and at first the Recruit until he becomes stronger and eventually changes his demeanor towards the Aboriginal people. Even though the Tracker experiences immense hardship throughout the movie he was always two steps ahead of his bosses since he was very familiar with the land and was also able to outsmart his superior officers. The Tracker is a gloomy film which presents the dark past of Australia that must never be forgotten.
In the article “Swimming for Her Life” by Kristin Lewis the main character Yusra Is a 18 year reefuge who is a olympic swimmer who faces many problems early in life. She and her sister had to flee their country because of terrorists and war. There where not many countries that would allow refugees into their country. So they had to hire a smuggler to get them to germany. While they rode on a boat to greece The motor stopped working so yusra and her sister had to jump in the water and push the boat for three hours. After they got to Greece they had to walk for 25 days to get to germany. Finally they got there and they were very luckie to find a refugee camp. Then when the olympics started they announced that there would be a refugee swim team.
The movie Dope, written and directed by Rick Famuyiwa, follows the story of Malcolm through his senior year of high school in the Inglewood California. He lives in a poor neighborhood, with only his mom, yet he still strives for greatness. He has a couple of friends, and they all love 90’s hip hop culture. They try to do their best to stay out of trouble and away from bullies. Malcolm sees a girl he likes and ends up following her to a drug dealer’s birthday party. When the cops bust the birthday party, he unknowingly goes home with all the drugs and the gun that the drug dealer owns. This sets off a wild chain reaction, as he now has to sell these drugs to payoff the supplier, who happens to be the Harvard Alumni that Malcolm’s needs approval
While Mexican Americans were considered white by law, the documentary A Class Apart sheds light on the struggles and eventual triumph of Mexican Americans in the their journey for racial equality within the United States. Following the Mexican War, Mexican Americans were subjected to a Jim Crow style of discrimination. Despite retaining U.S. citizenship, Mexican Americans were treated as second class citizens. Frustrated by social, political, and economic disenfranchisement, Mexican Americans sought the assistance of the United States Supreme Court, in what would become a landmark case, to secure the full rights afforded to them as United States citizens.
The film Declining by Degrees effectively argues its claim that all is not right in higher education. They do this by interviewing countless professors and students that still attend college or that have recently graduated or dropped out. Their use of personal experiences, statistics, and expert opinions helps build their credibility and emotional appeal for the viewers of the documentary. The main audience for this documentary being anyone who cares about college, parents, students, and even the professors and staff at colleges in the United States.
The Three Here’s for Cooking The romantic comedy, Today’s Special, expressed the worries of Indian parents becoming at ease. Also, expressed the struggles a parent faces in search of a better life, the passion and dedication going unnoticed in the work field, and the connection between friends, a lover, and family. However, the film centered its attention more on the development of Samir’s “cold” cooking within the Indian food, with the help of Akbar. In addition, the main actors in the film looked the part and associated with the main idea of the culture of an Indian family. For instance, Samir’s appearance showed he had drifted away from his family’s culture and developed a professional understanding and love for the cooking industry.
In the documentary “Fed Up,” sugar is responsible for Americas rising obesity rate, which is happening even with the great stress that is set on exercise and portion control for those who are overweight. Fed Up is a film directed by Stephanie Soechtig, with Executive Producers Katie Couric and Laurie David. The filmmaker’s intent is mainly to inform people of the dangers of too much sugar, but it also talks about the fat’s in our diets and the food corporation shadiness. The filmmaker wants to educate the country on the effects of a poor diet and to open eyes to the obesity catastrophe in the United States. The main debate used is that sugar is the direct matter of obesity. Overall, I don’t believe the filmmaker’s debate was successful.
In his documentary Classified X, Martin Van Peebles describes three areas where African-Americans could be receive some sanctuary from the racism that pervaded almost all Hollywood films. These three places were: the Hollywood version of an all-Black film, the church, and entertainment. Black culture and music is prominent in mainstream society, but the people behind this culture don’t always receive recognition and respect for their creations. Mainstream White pop culture excitedly consumes and appropriates Black culture, but disrespects the source.
Abstract: Millions of refugees had perished through the Mediterranean Sea before 2015. The 2011 film Terraferma, directed by Emanuele Crialese, depicts the European refugee crisis through Filippo’s, an Italian fisherman, encounter with several refugees at the sea to demonstrate how his life became intertwined with the family that his grandfather Ernesto and he saved from the Mediterranean Sea. The director tries to give the audience a better understanding as to how the refugee crisis affects certain individual rights through a third person point of view to also demonstrate how European citizens feel overwhelmed by the migrants seeking aid. To gain a better understanding of Filippo’s mindset in the film, I included Pamela DeLargy’s article Deadly
I chose to analyze Despicable Me, an animated film geared towards a younger audience, because I was interested in examining underlying theories and messages that this film would be relaying to its viewers. Often times, when watching animated films, children are not aware of these messages, as they are absorbed by the characters, special effects, and humor. But as we have learned throughout this semester, our brains are subconsciously primed by the various surroundings we are exposed to. Since we also studied the impacts of entertainment, such as television and video games, on children, I wanted to see how a popular children’s film might also affect them.
The character that will be focused on is Whip Whitaker in the movie Flight. Whip Whitaker is a male African-American, pilot that has no religious beliefs or spiritualism in the beginning of the film. Prior to his career with SouthJet Airlines, he was a pilot in the Navy. He is divorced with one son; in the beginning of the film he has a relationship with his co-worker, Katerina, and throughout the movie builds a new romantic relationship with Nicole. While he initially showed lack of faith throughout much of the movie, the change in Whip towards the end of the film demonstrates faith by facing the truth and allowing the higher power to be in control of the next events. Before admitting the truth in the hearing, he mutters “God help me” and proceeds to show integrity and courage despite knowing that the consequence for telling the truth will be jail time for him. He displays courage, valor, and expertise when he takes control of a crashing airplane and saves 96 out of 102 people on board the plane. When he finds out that Katerina as well as 5 other people have been killed, he shows toughness and resilience and is able to overcome the loss he experiences and the guilt he is ridden with. He is an experienced airplane pilot that is courageous, persistent, resilient, and at times, brutally honest. Whip’s coping mechanisms are denial, dissociation, acting out, displacement, and undoing. While he is going through an immensely tumultuous time, he displays resiliency and perseverance to overcome the legal ramifications of the airplane crash that he was piloting. Whip also displays kindness and courage when he rescues Nicole from her landlord that is attempting to beat her, without hesitation. He has diff...
Another casual night: the air is sticky, and the water is scarce, all throughout the country, the sound of gunshots ringing through the air. For most people, this “casual” night is beyond their wildest imagination, but for Syrians, it is an ongoing nightmare. Faced with the trauma of a civil war, Syrian refugees seek protection and a more promising future than the life they currently live in their oppressive country. Many seek refuge in other Middle East countries like Turkey and Jordan, but others search for hope in the icon of freedom, the United States of America. However, in America, there is an ongoing debate about whether or not Syrian refugees should be accepted.
As refugees continue to flee their countries, the surrounding countries struggle to cope with the influx of new people into their country. Camps for displaced people hoping to cross into and gain refugee status in neighboring countries can be seen from miles away, as white tents stretch into the distance.... ... middle of paper ... ...
However, by paying close attention I was able to observe the intelligence and cleverness that was put into it. Over the course of the film, I put together numerous events from this particular national background during the time of World War II, that helped contribute to the overall major themes of the work, that dreams can become reality if we just allow them to do so.
A.I.: Artificial Intelligence is a Steven Spielberg science fiction drama film, which conveys the story of a younger generation robot, David, who yearns for his human mother’s love. David’s character stimulates the mind-body question. What is the connection between our “minds” and our bodies?