Slingshot Documentary Analysis

The Crash Reel is a documentary that was created in 2013 and directed by Lucy Walker. It covers the life of Kevin Pearce, a legendary snowboarder. The documentary focuses on the life changing accident that occurred to Kevin in Park City, Utah while training for the Olympics trials. The feature shows Kevin’s life and his recovery process after the horrifying incident. In the film, we see Kevin battle for his life with the support from his family and friends.

The film “Juvies” really made me think about how the criminal justice system treats young children. Before watching the film, I was under the impression that children were treated fairly and with care when they commit a crime. After all, they are just kids. However, to my surprise, this was not the case. Many children have been cheated by the law because they are put through the adult system and are not given a fair trial. Meanwhile, these children are expected to make the rational decisions that an adult would make. There is biological evidence that kids do not have the ability to control impulsive behavior because their brains are underdeveloped. Thus, I believe this system is extremely unfair because children are not protected in adult prisons, which makes it very difficult for them to succeed once they are released back into the free world.

The Patriot. A person who is willing to fight for their country against enemies. The Patriot begins in the year 1776 in the colony of South Carolina. Mel Gibson plays a planation farmer who fought in the French-Indian war named Benjamin Martin. A War was about to begin and Benjamin wanted no share partaking in the soon-to-be American Revolutionary War. He was more concerned about his two eldest sons who wanted to fight under General George Washington. The beginning of the movie starts out with Benjamin Martin peacefully living with his kids whom no longer have a living mother. Benjamin’s oldest son, Gabriel, joins the war without permission from his father. As the rest of the family are at home one afternoon, Colonel William Travington burns the Martin Plantation to the ground and his second oldest son was killed immediately for interrupting Travington’s plan. Benjamin finds a way to seek revenge because of the rage he experiences after his family is hurt. He begins to realize that he needs to fight for his children and he will not do it alone. Both Benjamin and his oldest son, Gabriel, decide to join the militia as a way of showing what they are capable of. Throughout the film, Benjamin Martin becomes a soldier whom others respect and admire. He shows the militia what it means to truly care for not only his men, but also for his family. As the film progresses, a turn of events take place that show Benjamin’s continued want of revenge against General Charles Cornwallis. The Continentals and the militia soon commence the battle at Cowpens. This is when Benjamin Martin meets his enemy, Travington, who murdered his two eldest sons. After a drawn-out battle, Benjamin stabs Travington in the neck and kills him for the sake of his children. It is then that General Cornwallis retreats his forces and the rest celebrate. Even though some portions of The Patriot aren’t as accurate as we perceive, it is a film full of war and despair, but also a film that contributes to the importance of dignity and the love for one’s family.

Junior Johnson, a NASCAR hero, is a true example of where the sport came from. He was raised in a moonshine family. Johnson's father taught him many values such as no stealing or lying. Although it seemed contradictory that they were breaking the law everyday with their business, apparently it was all they could do to survive. When a school friend named Millard Ashley was asked about Junior’s driving, he replied, “Junior? Hell, he’d run wide open all the time….Yeah, he was pretty bad about that. He was always blowing a head gasket or somethin” (Menzer, 61). Junior had a talent for making his cars faster with better handling than those of the law’s. Outrunning law enforcement officers became a means for the drivers to learn the knowledge needed in increasing a car's, or racecar's performance.

Lastly, Nacar has a lot of entertainment. As in entertainment, I mean drama! When it comes to Drag racing, there is not anything to get angry about at another driver, since the drivers are separate and have shorter races. Nascar has an exorbitant amount of drama, especially if one driver wrecks another. Not including Drag racing, a Nascar fan can see the drama on television from the

Knees weak from climbing a flight of stairs or the anticipation of meeting Brian, I walked into his office announcing my presence with a raspy, delayed voice. Upon flinging open the door, his face lifted of his desk and stared at me with a distant expression. My first take of Brian caught me off guard, with his apple red mohawk, wearing his branded castle racing jacket and pants. Looking at his appearance you just knew he was into racing. After building up the confidence to murmur good morning we left his office to his own personal race track he made at his house. “There is more to just sitting down on a vehicle and holding down the throttle. If it was that easy everyone would do it.” For Brian racing has come at a cost and has been through adversity on and off the track.

Racing is a difficult sport as it is dangerous. To succeed a racer must have grit, determination, and endurance. These qualities shine from Denny. Denny is able to adapt to his environment and conditions. Thus, not only is he a phenomenal driver but a winner in life as well. The book The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein discuses humanity’s ethics, morals, and antics. From reading this book the reader may take a new way of life. Certainly, the reader with evaluate his or her own life choices and analyze the human condition.

The film Warrior was released September 9, 2011 by director, writer and producer Gavin O’Connor. O’Connor takes us through a story of two former MMA fighting brothers dealing with a harsh family past (“Warrior”). Gavin has also directed the 2000 film, Tumbleweeds, and the winner of the Best Sports Movie Award in 2004, Miracle (“Gavin O’Connor”). Tom Hardy (Tommy Conlon) was also featured in a major 2010 film, Inception, and This Means War in 2012. He also played one of the main roles in The Dark Knight Rises as villain Bane (“Tom Hardy”). Joel Edgerton is most recognized for his role as a main character in an Australian Television show, The Secret Life of Us, but is also famous for his role as Uncle Owen in Star

Half the Sky is a movie that discusses the oppression of women around the world. It brings to light the issues that, even in today's society, are still occurring. Women, young adults, and children everywhere in the world are becoming victims to abuse, rape, and being deprived of getting an education. This film documents Nikolas Kristof going around the world with the help of well known people in America to show some of the issues and some organizations that are working to change the way society views women and children. Early in the documentary a shocking statistic was given. It stated that around 60 million to 100 million females are currently missing out of the population. Where are all of these women going, and how are we letting this

The film first starts off with showing how the ball competitions are held. It shows a variety of contestants showing of their looks for the crowd. Some do a regular runway walk while others improvise their moves based on the categories they choose to model for. They are judge based on uniqueness, beauty and how they present themselves in the competition. We see many of the

The “Lost Battalion” film was a great film about World War One. It showed a lot about the horrors of the war. It also brilliantly depicted the reality of the war.

“The Mission” is a film that gives a historically accurate depiction of the events that took place in South America around 1750, displaying the jesuit missions and their attempt at expanding missionary ventures in the area. These missions foresaw the Jesuits going to uncharted areas of the jungle inhabited by the Guarani people, demonstrating the significance assimilating the Guarani people meant to the Jesuits. Additionally, the Guarani people were accurately displayed as a self-sustained society where basic components such as: productivity, protection, justice regulations and a form of a leader was evident in the form of their King. Nonetheless, the Guarani were an isolated group of individuals who were secluded to the outside world; their only contact with outside personnelles were slave traders who would put them into forced slavery for personal benefits. Not to mention the “Treaty of Madrid”, which resulted in the social and political disputes between the, Portuguese, Spanish and Catholic community; manifesting in the form of territorial conflicts and misunderstandings amongst the three vigorous societies, where each have a different purpose for the Guarani people.

Glory Road is a film based on a true story starring the 1966 Texas Western Miners basketball team coached by hall of famer Don Haskins. The story of Glory Road is not an average sports movie, but the link between the sport of basketball back in the 60s as well as the history of racism. Don Haskins was a high school girls’ basketball coach who got the opportunity to coach the typically all white-men’s basketball team at Texas Western University. At this time football was king at the school and thriving, while the basketball program scraped by with limited recruiting funds. The spectacle of this team changed when coach Haskins recruited seven African American athletes and at this time, this act was unheard of, and it took the country by the storm representing the evolution in society of racial discrimination in the movie.

The movie The Patriot takes place in South Carolina in 1776. The colonies were tired of paying taxes and all of this from England. They decided to go to war and fight for independence. This movie is mainly about how a farmer named Benjamin Franklin lived in South Carolina and the British brutally murdered his second oldest son right in front of his family then later the same person Col. Travingston kills Benjamin’s oldest son Gabriel. Due to this he joins the militia in order for justice of his sons. At first he wants nothing to do with it but once his sons were murdered he wanted revenge. The Patriot was about the American Revolution, the Patriot militia fighting against loyalists in the south. The film was mainly about Benjamin Martin’s family and fighting for liberty against England. They did show us about the war and them fighting in it but it was mainly about Martins’ life. They did show us them fighting in the war and how they would line up and fight in the war but they didn’t show us enough.

War Horse’s camera movement shows its largest change during the beginning of the war. The focus shifts from the peaceful grounds of Devon to the front line and battlefields of the raging war, the cameras function is now to capture the action in a dramatic and intense way. The brutality of the war is shown through camera movement which is contrasting to Pulp Fiction. The war scenes, an example being the “No man’s land” scene, are often filmed via a tracking or dolly shot which varies in ‘both momentum and direction in order to create and generate diverse effects’, as supported by Dix (2008, 28). The use of a tracking shot reoccurs throughout War Horse and creates realistic and believable scenes. A tracking shot makes the spectators feel that