“I want to stay here but at the same time I want to leave.” Up Heartbreak Hill, directed by Erica Scharf, is a documentary that follows three Navajo teens as they finish their senior year and apply to college. The teens are Thomas, a runner who is also trying to bring his separated parents closer; Tamara, the class who wants to attend Fort Lewis University; and Gabby, an aspiring photographer. Each struggles with issues such as alcoholic and abusive parents, finances, or broken friendships, but still give their all throughout the college process. The film shows them making the biggest decisions they have so far in their lives–whether to leave the reservation on their own–and grappling with the people and issues that are holding them back. Since I am a senior, I found it very interesting to take such a close look at how other people are going through the same process as I am but with totally different factors that make it a lot more difficult. Now when I am struggling with my college applications I think of how these students were able to do it despite having much more holding them back.

Director: Director:
Mariejosephin Schneider
Writer:
Mariejosephin Schneider

I don’t have a specific quote from the film but what stood to me the most was when she pours water onto the piano. This film was about this young girl, Jessi, whose family was separated. Her mom was in prison and her older sister lived separately. She tried to bring the family back together even if there was some tough times. Jessi’s older sister resonated with me very much because it was very hard to decide as an audience whether she was a protagonist or an antagonist in the story. The mother was the pinwheel of the entire story, even though you only see her once. She has a presence in every single scene throughout the movie. When Jessi ran away, stole, lied, and shaved her head, she displayed autonomy. Jessie wanted to make her own decisions without having any adults telling her what to do. She changed the opinion of everyone around her. Jessi used lying as a way of breaking free from the authority in her life and finds control over who she is by shaving her head.

By LN

The things that I have learned from going to facets were watching the different types of documentaries filmed in different countries and how they were viewed by different directors. We had to take notes in our booklets and talk about each documentary. For one of our assignments, we had to choose one of the documentaries, critique it and we had to write if we liked the movie or not. I am proud of my work because I feel that I choose a documentary and wrote a good review of it. For me, this was a very interesting field experience. I love going to the movies and this was my first experience seeing so many international documentaries. Even though I have not enjoyed all the movies, it has been a great way to learn to critique different movies and observe different cultures.

AH
11/15/12
55 Socks
Directed and produced by Co Hoedeman

55 Socks is an animated short film based on Holland’s “winter of hunger,” 1944-1945, when the country was being occupied by Nazi Germany. The story begins with airplanes flying and you see someone moving a dead man to a safe place. You see people waiting in line for food. The story continues by focusing on a family that has no money and only turnips and tulip bulbs to eat. In the family, there are four women, including two Jews, one Christian, and one “ignorant child.” They decided to knit socks in order to sell them for food. After they are done knitting, the mother takes the socks to the neighbors to see who might be interested in buying them for warmth. The first two women she offers her socks to say “no,” and the third only gives her a glass of water. After being stopped by a police officer, the mother finally sells her socks to a “well-fed woman” who was “ready for business.” In exchange for the socks, the woman gives the mother a side of bacon, two dozen eggs, five pounds of wheat, and a “scruffy” chicken. When the mother leaves, she notices that she dropped a sock, which she brings back to the woman for a quart of milk. The woman used the socks to knit a lacy bed spread. Soon after, the Allied airplanes drop food to signify the end of World War II.

My opinion about this movie is that it teaches you a lot of good history about the war. It shows how difficult it was to even survive in those times. It shows the powerful spirit of self-reliance and independence to be able to stay alive and warm despite the distress and adversity of their existence in World War II. All in all it had a message about what history is about and how it moves us.

The website:
(http://frederickfilmfest.com/cms/index.php/component/k2/item/212-55-socks)

Movie Critique by:MML

Title: Ursus

Director: Reinis Petersons

“Ursus” was a movie about a bear that works at a circus. During the movie you could tell that the bear was very sad and lonely, but a girl decided to give him flowers to cheer him up. One thing that got my attention was the little girl handing a bear flowers, which really surprised me.

This movie in my opinion was about a bear that feels alone and decides too take time off from his circus job to think by himself. During the process of thinking by himself in the woods, he hears a gunshot and decided to run and get back on his bike. Once he got away from the woods he saw the same girl that gave him flowers at the circus in a field next to him. Next thing you know, the girl gives him more flowers.

My favorite scene in the movie is when the bear is just laying down in the woods at night because it was a very quiet and soothing scene to watch. At the end of the day I thought this was a great movie because it kept my attention the whole film compared to other films that lost my attention.

For this week in Civic Engagements, we have been going to Facets theatre every day to watch independent films and documentaries. We are doing this because we plan to use these films as templates for the creation of our own micro-mentaries. Please take some time to read my movie critique!

“HRC” by Anja Dujakoric
The documentary begins with a young man with Downs Syndrome tending to a farm. He’s being interviewed by a woman and talking about the daily responsibilities he has.
This short film is a very interesting and empowering way of looking at a day in the life of a young man with Downs Syndrome. Although it does not follow a specific plot line, it documents this boy’s life and by the end of the film, the message was clear– we should never underestimate or belittle anyone with learning disabilities: This young man has more responsibilities and gets better grades than I do. He is the epitome of autonomy.

During this month all GCE students will be producing and facilitating a micro-film fest and workshop series. The purpose of this course (civic engagement) is to find our place in the civic community, to experience and document our learning process, and to create learning opportunities for help others. We participated and experienced in experiencial learning opportunities throughtout the city.

While participating in the film festival at Facets movie theater, we were ascribed to look for GCE values, (which are purpose, accountability, autonomy, gratitude), in each film, and do movie critiques. The following is a movie critique on a film called Missing directed by Tari.

I enjoyed watching all these this different genres of films. Missing was my favorite film. Missing was about a child who had lost his leg and had regrets about his past. Suddenly, he placed a flower in each pair of shoes in his possession. In my opinion it was a symbol of regret and happiness. This film was my favorite because it was deeply felt and told a story. The way the artist painted the picture was majestic. It portrayed every story element that should be included in a film. Some of those story elements were, the life of the characters, the breaking point, and the climax. This film required me to piece all the clues together and find my own conclusion for myself. The intentions of the filmmakers were clearly pieced together. The character’s purpose was clearly illustrated in the story and the character growth throughout the film changed. The cinematography was deeply rooted within the story itself. I loved how the filmmaker used images, lighting to project the message and helped set the tone, which clued me in how I was suppose to feel.

https://vimeo.com/42976936
The cigarette pollutes the whole earth because of the smoke. This can be bad for us in the future because it effects people and the generations to come because it can cause diseases.

4) Matter such as aluminum can create whole mess if is not cleaned but to our health the was lying down to the sand along the lake which can cut someone or something.
5) well this can happen, where it cut someone with a disease that can infect someone through blog and that’s what most people are trying to avoid.