Four Documentaries and an Angel

It's been a busy week of viewing pleasure here in Portland. Every Wednesday, I grab a copy of the free city paper - the Willamette Week - and start making plans for the coming days. This particular week, there were a number of good things going on, and I didn't want to miss any of them. That's how it came to be that I spent 5 of the last 6 nights in a darkened theater. My roommate Alisa joined me for four of them. I saw some amazing stuff this week, so I thought I would share.

In the Shadow of the Moon - This is probably the only documentary I saw this week that anyone will have heard of. Produced by Ron Howard, it contains in depth interviews with several Apollo astronauts as well as plenty of incredible footage. There were no special effects in this movie, just what the astronauts themselves filmed. I've often daydreamed about being an astronaut myself, so this was a must-see. I think what I liked most about it was that it dispels the myth I had about astronauts somehow being superhuman. They were all incredibly bright and capable guys of course. But in these interviews, they talk about how scary it was, how crazy it all seemed at times, and 38 years later, they still seem tickled pink that someone chose them to do it. And when you think about it, what an incredible feat it was. When JFK announced to the world that we'd put a man on the moon by the end of the decade, no one had the slightest clue how it was going to be done. We hadn't even gotten a man into space at that point. There were so many unknowns, but NASA and America just got behind it and said, "We're going to do this." And it actually worked! It made me feel proud to be a part of a humanity that dares to dream big and works to see it through. Next stop, Mars!

King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters - Imagine a world in which feathered mullets are the pinnacle of fashion. In which no entertainment exists finer than Miss Pac Man, Q-Bert, and Donkey Kong. Now imagine that world still existed in a small community of devoted enthusiasts. It does. Billy Mitchell is the world's greatest Donkey Kong player. In the 1980's as a teenager, he broke the world record, and no one has ever been able to touch it. Enter Steve Wiebe, an unemployed husband and father with a desire to break a lifetime record of defeat and finally be the best at something. Billy has been part of the gaming community for more than 2 decades, and his fans are equally awed by and terrified of him. He is Arnold Schwarzenegger in Pumping Iron. And Steve Wiebe is poor, dejected outcast Lou Ferrigno. He's a genuinely nice guy who wants to be the best, but can he triumph over the godlike power of Billy and win the hearts and minds of the Twin Galaxies community? This documentary is a fascinating window into a subculture of ubergeeks and just what they'll do to be the uber-est.

Angel - I don't know if the Mission Theater just didn't get the word from Twentieth Century Fox or if they've managed to find a loophole, but they continue to play the ouevre of Joss Whedon like there's no tomorrow. Perhaps because it's free they can get away with it. So I know where I'll be spending my Tuesday nights!

For the Bible Tells Me So - Part of this week's Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, this documentary examines the biblical passages concerning homosexuality and interviews several scholars to provide interpretation and context to them. Even more powerful are the human stories of Christian families dealing with the sexuality of their sons and daughters. There are interviews with former representative Dick Gephardt, whose daughter Chrissy came out just as he was starting his political campaign for president. Also interviewed are Gene Robinson, the first gay Episcopal bishop, and his aging parents. Each family describes the struggle they endured to try and come to terms with their children's sexuality and to love and accept them as they are. It does have a liberal slant, but no one can watch these stories without being moved.

Buddha's Lost Children - This documentary with English subtitles takes place in northern Thailand on the border of Burma. There a former Thai boxer turned monk named Khru Bah wanders on horseback from village to village with a band of young novice boys to rebuild temples and give service to communities. He teaches the boys strength through meditation, boxing, hard work, and the occasional chest tattoo. He takes in boys who are orphaned or desperately poor and tries to give them a better life, often far away from the families they love.

So there you have it - my movie reviews of the week. All are well worth seeing, but they probably won't be coming to a theater near you.