Apocalypto
The film Apocalypto is described by its makers, Mel Gibson and Farhad Safinia, as reflecting the time at the end of the Mayan civilization. The final scene in the movie depicts the arrival of Spanish conquistadores. The movie was controversial for its depictions of Mayan civilization. The criticism spanned two major themes. The first was historical accuracy and the second was balance in its depiction of Mayan culture. In particular, critics were concerned that movie would be viewed by many people unfamiliar with Mayan culture who may otherwise absorb incorrect ideas about the real nature of Mayan culture. On both of these dimensions, one can argue that the movie does a disservice to history. The alternate argument is that Apocalypto is not a documentary, an thus there should not be an expectation of historical accuracy any more than one might critique Hamlet's portrayal of medieval Danish society or Johnny Depp's depiction of pirates in the colonial Caribbean.
Whether Apocalypto does disservice to history depends on how much license...
Film: A Class Divided The documentary film A Class Divided has become a standard for exploring the origin of racial prejudice in a diverse society. Jane Elliott was a third-grade teacher in 1968 at the time of Reverend Martin Luther King's assassination. Elliott devised an exercise to conduct with her students to help them understand how racism and stereotyping emerge and are maintained in groups of people. Using eye color as
Ken Burns' Documentary: The National Parks -- America's Best Idea The reputation Ken Burns has acquired over the years is a glowing, highly lauded reputation, and for good reason. His use of history, video and well-written narrative has won awards and has entertained and informed all those who have come into contact with his documentaries. The documentary to be critiqued and reviewed in this paper is The National Parks -- America's
The way that it uses John Alpert, a therapist who consulted a great deal of important Wall Street figures, with the purpose of showing how these people were basically no different from ordinary criminals (seeing prostitutes and using cocaine) when considering the way they spent money further contributes to increasing the terror of the thought that they were in charge of the world's finances. More precisely, it provided very
(Berardinelli) Overall, the movies received lots of appreciation and did great business on the box office. Film was also shown in Iran where American films are not supposed to be shown. Film also received positive response by the critics. Most of them also felt that the movie depicted one side of point-of-view but in spite of that, it was worth watching. Fahrenheit 9/11 became the highest grossing documentary of all
From this came our insistence on the drama of the doorstep" (cited by Hardy 14-15). Grierson also notes that the early documentary filmmakers were concerned about the way the world was going and wanted to use all the tools at hand to push the public towards greater civic participation. With the success of Drifters, Grierson was able to further his ideas, but rather than directing other films, he devoted his time
Richardis a documentary film made by Al Pacino in 1996 and is based on the historical play Richard III written by William Shakespeare. Richard III remained the King of England for just two years only (1483-1485). In Richard III, Shakespeare has sketched how Machiavellian tendency of Richard III enabled him to gain power despite his brother Clarence being prior to Richard III in line of succession. Since Richard III
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