There are three documentary shorts nominated for an Oscar this year.
Making a short documentary takes a group of artists that are not only knowledgeable about their job, but passionate about their subject. These qualifications are found in all three nominees for 2012.
"The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom" directed and produced by Lucy Walker.
Terra King's review of "The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom".
This film tells the story of the Japanese people and their spiritual belief in the cherry blossom tree. The first part of the film shows footage we've all seen on television of the Tsunami hitting the coast. The second part of the film likens the cherry blossom trees to the Japanese people's resilience.
After the earthquake and the tsunami, much of Japan's northeastern coast was decimated. Whatever the earthquake didn't destroy, the tsunami did. The Japanese are close to the earth and they are very close to their cherry blossom trees.
In Japan, people make long trips to see the trees and take courage and strength from them which brings happiness and security to the people.
This is a beautiful film and is well deserving of its nomination.
"Incident in New Baghdad" directed, produced and directed by James Spione.
Winning the best short documentary at the "Tribeca Film Festival" is a feather in Spione's hat. Getting an Oscar nomination when there were only three films nominated is almost divine intervention.
In the film, the story of Ethan McCord is told through interviews and actual footage of this particular horrific event in Baghdad. The footage was leaked to the public on WikiLeaks, going viral almost immediately .
The US army, flying Apache helicopters in Iraq targeted groups of men walking on streets. Most of these men were simple civilians. During one of the attacks McCord found two children alive in a van, he carried them to a Bradley Fighting Vehicle. The children were then taken to a US medic united for treatment.
It was this particular event that made Ethan McCord stop feeling that he was helping the people of Iraq. He then just wanted to get home to his children.
When McCord did get home, he found he was suffering from PTSD. Post-traumatic stress disorder can be debilitating and take therapy and medication to get through to health.
This short documentary is full of horrible visuals and is often difficult to watch. A man with his foot blown off his leg, heads blown off shoulders and most of his blood on the ground around him.
McCord and another veteran, Josh Steiber, wrote a letter to the Iraqi people to apologize for the horrible things the US had done. Ethan feels like he was to blame for the killings right along with the men who pulled the trigger on the Apache gun ships.
He now gets through life by traveling and talking to groups about the incident. He wants people to raise their voices against such atrocities.
"The Barber of Birmingham: The Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement." Co-director/Producer Gail Dolgin, Co-director/Producer Robin Fryday.
This film features footage of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the African-Americans who were being kept from voting by several ridiculous means such as, making black voters read a part of the constitution and then explain to the white voting officials what that particular part of the constitution meant. If the voter couldn't explain to the officials satisfaction, the African-American citizen couldn't vote.
"The Barber of Birmingham" revolves around 85-year-old James Armstrong. James watched the whole civil rights movement from the window of his barber shop. He watched Dr. King walk by with hundreds of followers, white police officers hot on their heels. He marched on "Bloody Sunday" and had memories of the bad old days all over the walls of his shop.
The film also shows African-Americans today being excited about the newly elected Barrack Obama taking office.
Telling the story of the civil rights movement in the US is never easy but this film does a good job of revealing history.
These films are all outstanding this will be a tough call. Whichever film wins, it will be a good one.
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