Then I watched some films about corporations:

Capitalism: A Love Story [2009]

Yes it’s a Michael Moore film which means it’s extremely biased and one-sided, but essentially all documentaries about corporations are going to appear that way, including all the ones on this list.  A positive documentary about corporations would not be interesting.  And Michael Moore may be sensationalizing, clownish and simple-minded but he does have the ability to make documentaries that appeal to the general public, thereby exposing to a wider audience issues that would otherwise be only known to an attentive few.  There is no argument that Michael Moore has introduced the documentary ‘genre’ to a lot of people and elicited much more interest in it, and hopefully more people would have looked into other documentaries that are more encompassing and educating because of him.  So this film, of course, paints a very simple and ugly picture of the way corporations have taken over the American life.  It’s not bad; like his other films, it’s entertaining.  You just need to keep in mind that it’s not the entire picture.

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room [2005]

A film that takes a look behind the scenes of  the most well known disintegration of a large corporation in the last couple decades.  It’s interesting to see how desperate people get in situations, especially rich men in predicaments that hold their immense amount of wealth at stake.  Even when the situations are dire and they’re obviously flailing in their crashing waves of lies and cover-ups, they still won’t give it up.  You’ve got to admire their strength and determination.  Maybe that’s the only way you can get to the top.  Just beware of the potential harsh, long fall that may take place afterwards.

Walmart: The High Cost of Low Price [2005]

Again this is sort of a “behind-the-scenes” type of film, but in this case the company in limelight is alive and kicking and making more money than ever.  This film isn’t actually the best-made film, as at one point I was getting somewhat bored and tired of the repetitiveness of both the style and nature of content.  By nature of content I mean the allegations being made against Wal-Mart were starting to all sound kind of similar, and at the end you get the feeling that they’re attacking for the sake of attacking.  Not that I doubt any of the accusations are false… and there are some interesting facts and numbers that are still surprising even though it’s well-known that Wal-Mart…. is……. evil, that’s right.  It’s the same story again.  The richer people are, the more they want, and henceforth they’re more stingy with their money, even at the cost of others’ well-being.  I’m not sure I want to marry rich anymore.

The Corporation [2003]

This is an educating, well-balanced film, and made in Canada.  This film, like a lot of the others, is largely comprised of interviews with various individuals, and one of the interesting things I noticed about this is that in this film, the filmmakers chose not to display the interviewees’ names on the screen.  I was miffed about this at first, but then I realized it’s possible that they wanted to present the individuals and their views as they were, without any colouring coming from their positions, identities, or possibly even recognizable names.  I mean, as you listen to them speak you eventually get to know who exactly they are and what they represent, but I realize this is actually a very good way of getting to audience to really pay attention and listen to what they’re saying.  On the other hand, you could almost tell right away which “side” they were on just from the way they were dressed.  Anyway this is probably one of the most comprehensive films about corporations; even though it’s still essentially saying “Death to corporations!”, it interviews people from all walks and sides, and even proposes the idea that “corporations as a whole are evil, but the individuals within it (yeah, even the CEOs and big boys) probably aren’t”.  I like that idea.  All those guys are still human, and all humans have a good side and an evil side to them.  If someone made a documentary about me that just focuses on my bad side, I’d also look like I was setting out to abolish everyone and take over the world.  (Oh… but I am?)

I have started on a documentary binge and these are some of the more unique ones I’ve seen so far (possible spoiler alerts):

The Bridge [2006]

Seeing footage of people committing suicide is definitely disturbing, as I’d expected, but in the end it turned out to be more sad than anything else.  This is not a film to watch when you’re down.  The interviews with friends and families don’t reveal anything too surprising, but it’s still interesting to hear how people were before they decided to take that final step.  Some people were mentally sick, some people had fun personalities but were always talking about death, and some people you just couldn’t see it in them at all.  The interviewees themselves were also interesting; while many of them seemed sad, some of them just seemed relieved or even chirpy.  And of course there is the innocent kid who doesn’t know yet the concept of death and is unperturbed by the experience of witnessing someone take their own life.

Helvetica [2007]

A film that is actually about a single typeface.  However it is not dull and a pleasure to watch (especially after “The Bridge”).  Of course from this study of one font we are able to generalize on the topic of design, and learn how typography and graphics affect how we see and interpret things. There are lots of intricacies behind the design of a typeface.  I didn’t realize this before but now that I see all the signs and logo’s shown in this film, my favourite font is Helvetica.  This film is educational, clean, and has some nice eye candy.

Zoo [2007]

I thought it would be a much more interesting film, but the TV-movie style simply ruined it all.  I did not like the style of this film and I did not enjoy it.  Considering the topic, it could have been much more interesting; maybe the film-maker didn’t want to sensationalize it.  Also I didn’t think the topic would bother me that much but after seeing some split-second footages of it I became really disgusted.  Why do people do this??  And how do they get the animals to do it??  What the radio-host says is true: how could they get the horse to do it if it doesn’t consent.  It is completely baffling and not something I’d like to think about anymore.  I don’t recommend this film; not for the topic, but because it’s very mediocre.