Style Wars

StyleWars from stylewars on Vimeo.

This film, Style Wars, was filmed in the Bronx, New York, in 1983. It is about the Hip-Hop culture and it starting in the Bronx. There is bboying and rapping throughout the film. But the film is also about  how young teens use their graffiti to express themselves. And how some people don't understand why teens do graffiti and they think it's vandalism.

In the film they show young teens showing their point of view of graffiti and why they like it. In the film they also show views of one of the graffiti artists' mother, officials, subway maintenance, and the New York City Mayor during the time, who think that graffiti is vandalism.

I understand both views on the teens that use graffiti to express themselves through their art and how others see it as vandalism to the street. Some people want the streets and walls, buildings, and trains clean, While others want to express themselves on these things and don't see why the other people see it as a problem. All in all, I like this film and the way it was made, and how it shows back in the day.

The Archive

The Archive from Sean Dunne on Vimeo.

The Archive is a film about Paul, a man who's collected a lot of records. The records are from back in the day to a little modern. He explains that he like records better than the music that people now record onto a computer because when people record music onto a computer they cut out the originality of an instrument while on the record it plays every instrument that is recorded raw. All of his records is worth up to $50 million but he wants to sell it for only $3 million.

In the film  you see Paul owns a store named Record Rama, and you see him and his wife. His wife was the one that suggested he gets rid of the records or start a business. Around the mid 1990's he started the business. Throughout the years paul built the world's largest record collection. He gets excited when people enter his shop and look around because not many people do.

I think that it's pretty cool and interesting to be able to have so many records from back in the day. You can see how music has changed and shaped from then to now. It went from people recording on records with every instrument being recorded to people recording on the computer and cutting out the originality of the instruments. I wonder if the store is still there or if someone has already bought all of the records.

Amar

Amar (all great achievements require time) from Pilgrim Films on Vimeo.

Amar is a film about a 14 year old indian boy who is his family's main breadwinner, working two jobs six and half days a week. But this film isn't about his misery and suffering because he has two jobs and has to go to school.  Vimeo describes the film as a quiet celebration of the human spirit–of a boy whose tenacity and quiet resolve carry him through every day.  The focus of the film is about Amar's daily life.  In the end, the film is not requesting we view Amar as a hero, but to pay attention and give up nine minutes of our lives to realize that there is some beauty in the world still left. 

Amar has to wake up at 4am to do a job that consists of distributing newspapers to the neighborhood. By 6am he is reviewing his school work. Around 8:46am he is in a store helping his father. At 1 in the afternoon he takes a shower,gets dressed, eats and then he's off to school. After school around 5 in the afternoon he has to go to another job. He is home by 10 at night and he is studying schoolwork.

I acknowledge Amar because he does way more than I do at such a young age.  I have never woke up at 4 in the morning to go to work to then go to school, and after school go to another job to get home late at night to do homework and repeat. Of course, because America is different than India and kids at a young age can't start working, only attend school. But at a certain age kids could start working.

Zewdu

ZEWDU the street child. from Enrico Parenti, Takae film on Vimeo.

This film, Zewdu, was shot in the capital of Ethiopia in Central East Africa, and shows us the immense suffering children can be born into. It reminds people that they should be thankful for what they have because there are other less fortunate people all over the world. It also reminds us to be outraged that the world would let such things happen to those who are the most fragile and innocent and don't deserve this. They didn't plan for such a thing like this to happen to them, if they could it is sure that they would prevent this from happening because no one wants to suffer.

Zewdu is a kid in Ethiopia and he's homeless. To get money to eat he sells candy, someone gave him a lot of money and he wanted to spend it by going to the village that his dad lives. He makes a phone call to try to reach someone who knows his dad, the lady he was looking for wasn't working that day so he called the next morning. When he called she picked up and he asked for his dad, he told her to tell him that he's coming home. She told him that his dad was sick for days and he passed away and his aunt was at his funeral but she left. He went to write a letter to his aunt and send it but he didn't know the address, so he couldn't send it. 

I think it's very sad that kids have to suffer from hunger. If I had thousands and thousands of dollars, I would try to help these kids and try to end world hunger even if it is a slow working progress. I have to appreciate what I have because there are thousands of other kids that don't have not one of what I have, I do thank god that I don't suffer what they have to go through, but I feel that they shouldn't be going through it at all. It must be devastating not knowing where any of your family members are and being alone and both parents being gone.