We watched a film about Gleaners last week, prior to that I had never even heard of that word. I thought it was actually very interesting to see a charitable act like letting gleaners pick from farms become a part of culture of the French and certain others in Europe. I didn’t think anyone really cared about whether peasants were able to eat or not. I also agree with the act of gleaning itself, there are so many times in our world that I have seen food be wasted. I am in an extremely poor household and I was taught by my mother to never waste food. Even though my family does not waste food I have seen friends of my family, such as my mother’s best friend and her family be wasteful. They would buy so much food that they end up just throwing out without even opening! it actually annoys me to no end because there are so many countries including our own with starving people who wish they had that food, but they just throw it out. Besides food, I’ve seen plenty of other types of Gleaning happen here in New York City, especially from the elderly. In fact, I’ve seen this old lady come to Queensborough Community College to look through all the trash cans multiple times during my time here. I used to judge her a little in my mind, like why are you looking through all the garbage cans? For bottles? You’re going through all that work to get some money from putting bottles into the machine? But really it’s smart and she probably finds all kinds of useful things besides bottles. Thinking about it, my grandma is the same type of person to glean objects off the street. I can think of times my mother said she has taken a chair or table from off the street. Makes you think really.

Agnes Varda made an informal film about the tradition french people have of gleaning food. In a time that everything is done in excess unfortunately gleaning has died down. Cards shows us how this tradition is still practiced a little throughout the countryside and in the metropolitan city. With all the homeless and hungry people that we have stateside I find the practice of gleaning not only necessary to feed forgotten people who don’t have the means to go out and buy “fresh” food from the store but to also put the tons of food that would be discarded due to the superficial outlook that’s so rampant in our society nowadays. I liked that she included different types of gleaning as well as people from different walks of life. With her different examples of people who had to glean for survival as well as those who gleaned for the ethics as well as the pleasure of it she showed that this wasn’t just limited to a certain group of people. I found it odd that although thrifting has become so popular that gleaning food is almost frowned upon. They’re both almost the same thing but thrifting is looked at as cool but gleaning gets the opposite treatment even though it’s a huge part of our history as humans.

The documentary film “The Gleaners and I” took place in France and showed how people ravage through garbage and collect the things people throw out and do not want. The film director Agnès Varda crosses the country side of France to video tape scavengers. Going place to place from farm fields to trash cans in the city of France. She shows not only the people in  need but also the people that do not want to see anything go to waste and want to make the environment better. She captures a whole different word of scavenging in her film. From poor people to average people like you and I. What I noticed about this film is that Varda isn’t one of those directors that stays behind the scenes and just films and tells people what to do. She was highly involved in the film and even stared in it. But was also one of the people that scavenged wasted food that no one wanted. This shows that she is passionate about what she is showing in her film by being this involved in it. Also she seemed like she was having fun doing it, by the type of music she chose and in specific scenes she was just enjoying filming. Personally I found it sickening that people would eat food that has been laying in the garbage or  just laying in the street or sitting in the dirt rotting of a farm. But I guess to others that’s perfectly fine. But food wasn’t the only thing being scavenged here. In this film you saw people going around and taking other peoples garbage like chairs, mattresses etc to and bring to their houses. Using them as perfectly good furniture. When I watched this film the quote “another mans trash is another mans treasure”. I guess the person that made that quote up was a gleaner…..

last week we watch a documentary film name The gleaners and I. This discourse comes to the thread of this great French film, The Gleaners and Gleaners.  A film directed to all those people who ignore the amount of useful objects that society wastes; A fresh and close documentary on waste and waste. In the movie, Agnès Varda, its director, is traveling the roads of France and is encountering with gleaners, collectors, searchers, searchers, people who rummages through the garbage. And they do it sometimes out of necessity, or simply because they see in it a way to take advantage of the waste and what no one wants; Others do it just because, and even by pure chance. People who collect food, utensils and objects in general discarded by others. The film shows us that the world of these people is amazing. And so, the director Agnés Varda, is also in her way, another gleaner who selects and collects images here and there.

In my opinion, this tape may seem like an artistic documentary, because of the great themes of small things. But to La Varda, what interests him is the sense of capitalist luxuriousness to know the reasons and why of so much expense, waste of food, poorly harvested crops, furniture, bread, food barely expired and Soon they are no longer edible. And on the other hand, who are those people who collect what nobody wants? Where do they intend to arrive? What are your aspirations? Varda is also interested in knowing the legislation: Can you bring the potatoes that have been left under the ground without collecting? Can you keep an appliance that is on the street? Know the laws and precepts that regulate this casuistry.

Varda also looks at itself, its own aging, its limitations, its own strangeness. Agnes Varda, teaches us her aged hands, but also her house with dampness and leaks, her little sense of shame as she spices this great harvest that is life. And the result is a genuinely exceptional documentary, a document that I consider as a whisper in everyone’s ear, a whisper that speaks to us of solidarity and justly.

 

In the case of ‘Ronaldo’ I was not too confident that they would surprise me with a risky documentary that would allow us to get to know the Real Madrid star better, but at least I expected something more interesting than a sample of poor propaganda at the service of someone who I think he is just a second Leo Messi.

I do not feel any kind of sympathy towards the Portuguese player and also for several years that football interests me much less than when I was a kid. All this is clear that it impacts to some extent my opinion towards a work of these characteristics, but it is also true that I have been passionate about tapes with themes or stories that on paper gave me the same. The key is to know how to raise it and ‘Ronaldo’ is satisfied with a superficial analysis.

What I would like to point out is that ‘Ronaldo’ does raise some of the most controversial moments in the life of the Portuguese, but that serves little good if you show no interest in going beyond the easy comment. That also translates to essential elements in his development as a person and player such as the loneliness he felt when he was younger or the fact that he wants his son, since there is sought to offer a more human portrait that never gets to make it Connect emotionally with him because even there arise several failures of that excess of ego that has made so many feel antipathy towards him.

In the end everything is reduced to a kind of extensive interview agreed upon in which the player has accepted to involve some of his loved ones and to use some recordings of his past. A self-help audiovisual that does not contribute anything and is reserved for fans who accept anything unconditional – not surprisingly some get to have goose bumps at some point, but for the memory of what happened and not because the documentary brings something In this regard.

 

Watching the film the gleaners makes one admired that in some countries they try to use everything instead of waiting it. The United States even though they recycled we through out a lot of stuff in the garbage specially food. Supper makers, schools, and households if the food might had expired only one day it’s bye bye to the garbage. Specially schools because the food gets inspected and they have a regulation one day expired it is garbage. Even kids eating lunch they are so picky in food that instead of giving it to the classmate the food they dislike they go and throw it in the garbage. Even though they have different stuff on the plate they see one thing they don’t like and the food becomes garbage material. Kids these days in the United States do not value food anymore they don’t take in consideration the cost of the parents working for it to feed them. Whose fault is it the whole culture fault everyone in this country is so waist full when it comes to food. It is because people will always have food they might not have shelter or cloths but always food. The government gives out food vouchers, schools gives food f or those who doesn’t have, and people volunteer to feed the homeless. Food it’s so easy to get in this nation that its value and meaning has been lost. Watching this film makes me happy to see that other countries are not as waist full when it comes to food. France has the law that allows people to glean especially in food so it does not go to waits. Farmers and supper markers let this people savior the food that people will not purchase because it doesn’t fallow certain guidelines. In Ecuador they have a supermarket and an open air market. The supermarket has everything and also food to purchase. In the open market also they have everything with the difference that the owner farmer or producer sells it but in a cheaper price than the supermarket. Also the open market doesn’t throw out food either gives out the food that is going bad to the people or they take it back to give it another use like to feed the animals. The supermarkets too in Ecuador don’t wait food at all. Sometimes when it is things that it’s expired one day they go in the clearance section after the merchandise is expired for three days it’s taken out of the clearance section and given out to the public before it becomes complete bad. In the United States they should allowed having an open maker on every neighborhood and few supermarkets. The open market the farmer would sell its on weird looking food at a cheaper price. As for the food regulation people should not worry because farmer fallow the law anyway to keep doing what he knows best to provide people with food. Also parents should teach their kids the value of food and how important it is not to waist it. Even make them think how lucky they are to have it as in other countries there is people who starve because food is scarce. This film makes one think that nothing should be waste everything should be giving a second life. Even humans after they dies are given a second life as they become part of the soil and become nutrients to new forms of life keeping the ecosystem in valence.

 

https://www.brit.co/more-than-500-girls-missing-from-dc-in-2017/ Over the past few days I’ve read countless articles or social media posts about the insane number of girls that have gone missing since the start of 2017. However  I and from what I’ve read many others have failed to notice any major media coverage on it. Not once have I personally seen it on the news. In the article link I’ve attached it seems the police in DC are using the excuse that  majority of the girls are repeat runaways, now I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed but I find it almost impossible to believe that over 500 young girls from the same area all just “ran away” since the start of the year. Three months if you really think about it their expecting people to believe that over 500 girls in ONE place just all happened to run away, I don’t buy it. Even if they are just “run away’s” I still have trouble understanding why not more is being done to find them these are still young 13 and 14 year old girls run aways or not they shouldn’t be out there alone. However that’s not all that doesn’t sit well with me about this, just today actually I read a post that Linwood Barnhill a D.C cop who had been accused of “pimping” teens had been arrested and another that Laura Silsby the VP of the company “Alertsense” who provides the technology for Amber Alerts was caught trafficking 33 kids out of Haiti. Clearly I would never attempt to make the reach that these two individuals took these 500 girls that have gone missing over the last three months. However I don’t think it’s a reach at all to assume there is something way more serious then just some “run away girls” going on in DC and in my opinion there’s a lot of covering up happening. I decided to post about this, this week because aside from it being a serious issue in my opinion, I know I for one I wouldn’t have known about it without social media especially because of the insane lack of major media covering it. The more attention this gets can hopefully bring some of these girls home or at least find out some type of information of their possible where abuts. It’s just horrible to think 500 families are going to bed tonight not knowing where there daughter or sister or cousin or niece is and the DC police seem to be doing little to nothing about it.

I absolutely loved the documentary The Gleaners and I by Agnès Varda! It was such a metaphorical documentary and I loved that. The following is some of the things that stood out to me in the film. The rap in the film was so unexpected, not to be ignorant but I wouldn’t expect rap in an elderly French filmmaker’s documentary, but throughout the film I learned how cool the filmmaker’s personality is so it would’ve been expected if I have known about her prior to watching this. The lyrics of the rap were also very good and relevant to the film’s content. Restaurants buying some of the potatoes from the gleaners was very surprising to me, I would assume restaurants to buy the best quality produce but for them to buy from gleaners is crazy to me, especially because of the price they charge consumers for their dishes. One thing I was surprised no one brought up in class was the filmmaker showing that very dark painting of “The Last Judgement” and right after showing a man who doesn’t allow gleaners to pick the grapes but lets them rot. I guess some people found no relation between the two, but I definitely think her showing the painting of people’s deeds being weighed in order to go to hell or heaven and a man who lets his produce rot instead of helping the poor right after was for a reason because we know she probably would consider that man a sinner. There was a scene where she shows where she lives, and on the ceiling there was a leak/damages which she started to see the beauty of. I feel like there was a strong common message of “Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder” throughout the film, and that was one of the parts that was an example. She kept bringing up her age throughout the film, her grey hair, her hands, but I think she found the beauty in her aging which most people dislike, such as the gleaners, who found beauty in things that are no longer wanted by most people. A common assumption amongst people is that the rich are stingy and the poor are generous and this film really proved that. There was many scenes where they show gleaners helping other gleaners, and the rich letting things go to waste rather than letting others consume/use it. Only thing I would have preferred is for her to end the documentary in that scene where she shows the clock without hands, I think that scene would have been such a creative and poetic way to end the film, but that’s just my preference. I know this is just a blog and not a film review, but I would definitely recommend this to others.

Last Thursday, I finally watched ‘Beauty and the Beast.’ I heard a lot of comments from my friends who watched already. Since the original animation released in 1991, and I watched it in 1994. On that time, we don’t have a DVD, just a VCR. Two of my best videos were ‘Little Mermaid’ and ‘Beauty and the Beast’ had to say goodbye because I watched and rewound too many time. Yes, I love Disney’s movies that are why I covered few Disney’s sings.  So I guess there is no spoiler alert on this post because I’m pretty sure most of us watched this film. I was inspired by all the staff’s hard work. For examples, the dresses what Emma Watson’s wore and the 3D worked, etc. At the end, I cried for no reason. I guess it reminds of my childhood. I can’t stop singing myself. Hope you can watch this movie in the theater with the 3D. Why? It’s Emma Watson friends. Emma Watson.

Last time we had class, we watch the documentary film Harlan County, USA which was about the coal miners’ strike. The film was made by a woman, Barbara Kopple, and the film showed the roles of the women as very dominant and determined characters throughout the strike. I was really surprised that no one in class made a connection between the director being a woman and the strong characters of the film being women. I would assume someone, especially one of the guys in class, would say or think that maybe she was being biased towards the women, as a woman she wanted to present the women as very strong beings so maybe she made sure to include scenes where the women seemed dominant and valuable, and didn’t show many scenes where the men are seeming to be strong. I really appreciated the guys in the class for not having that type of mentality and instead, discussing in class how they also thought how essential these women were in the strike. Personally, I don’t think the director was biased, I do think many of the women were truly very supportive of the strike and helpful and the director captured just that, but I was just surprised no one else thought otherwise. Although, it does make me wonder if a man made this film instead of Barbara Kopple, would it appear to be different? Would a male director allow to show how strong and essential women were during this strike, but I guess that depends on which director it is. A particular scene that I really liked in the film was when the “gun thug” asked the filmmaker for her identification, and she asked him for his instead. That scene really made me fond of the director. You can sense her courage and also her support of the coal miners and their families. When I searched about this film, I also learned that even when the director would run out of film, she would pretend to keep filming because it prevented the violence a bit. I don’t wish for workers to be in such bad conditions again where they have to strike, but if that time does come, I do hope everyone is as unified as the coal miners and their families were.