Lucas Film Documentaries?
I recently watched a documentary on Paul Robeson, and it was wonderful. I stumbled across it one evening when I was checking out documentaries on You Tube. Yes, You Tube.
In fact I have stumbled upon a treasure trove of documentaries that I didn’t know existed and many of them come from a place I would have never suspected.
Lucas Film.
The guys who made all of the Star Wars, and Indiana Jones films? What the hell are they doing making docs? And not just a couple, they have made a whole bunch.
So far I’ve watched documentaries on The Tuskegee Airmen, Franz Kafka, Ernest Hemingway, Paul Robeson,Winston Churchill, Poncho Villa, T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), Erich Von Stroheim, Edgar Degas, and more.
These are well made docs. According to what I’ve read, these films were made as historical companion pieces to the Young Indiana Jones series. Now, I have never seen any of the Young Indy series, but I did see the first film a long time ago. It was fine. I enjoyed it for what it was and was never interested in seeing any of the other films in the series. This is just not my genre.
It’s the same thing with the Star Wars films. I saw the first three. I enjoyed the original back in 1977. The first time I saw it was at a drive-in in Hood River. I saw it again at Grumman's Chinese theater in Hollywood right after I moved to LA to attend film school. It was a huge difference watching it on a big screen with a great sound system as compared to sitting in my old Toyota Land Cruiser with a metal speaker hanging from the window. Although in the Land Cruiser I did have beer...
When I was in film school at USC, we were invited up to 20th Century Fox for a private advanced screening of Return Of The Jedi, with George himself. I was less than impressed with that film but still found many things about it interesting. By the time the third film arrived, I watched it and all I could see was the merchandise that would soon be flying off the shelves. The story didn’t do it for me.
I have not had a desire to see any of the others since then.
I get shit all the time from fans of the films and from some of my contemporaries from film school. That’s fine. If other people love those films that’s great. They are wonderfully made, they are just not the kind of films I wish to watch. I have always maintained that the best film Lucas ever made, is American Graffiti. To me it feels like a deeply personal film about growing up. I have seen it multiple times (not the sequel) and I have enjoyed it every time.
But I digress...
These documentaries are another thing entirely. I never would have suspected they came from LucasFilm. They’re all around 30 minutes and they move along at a good clip. They are very informative, but I also found them emotional. That might be just me. I have gotten so much more emotional over the years, I think it has something to do with age.
I am a bit of a history buff. I enjoy learning new things. I look at the various titles and I recognize names or events and when I dive into the films I see things I remember from other sources I’ve studied over the years, and I’m relearning things I have forgotten. The other thing these films are showing me is how we may feel like we have moved forward, but in a very real sense we have not. We are still fighting the same battles over and over.
Watching Paul Robeson: Scandalize My Name, highlights a great American Artist who is often forgotten because he dared to speak out. He dared to exercise his right of free speech. He was accused of being a communist after World War Two and although there was no solid proof, he was blacklisted and his career never recovered.
Supposedly in this country you are innocent until proven guilty. Depending on your skin color or your political beliefs, that is not true! Instead of allowing people to speak up or out we demonize them and call them all sort of names. Sometimes we do it in the name of religion, most of the time it’s because of political beliefs.
We are still fighting the same battles that people like Paul Robeson, and The Tuskegee Airmen fought decades ago. I found myself feeling sad at the end of these films because we’ve taken a giant leap backwards. I’m also happy I watched these films because it helps me to remember. It’s important to remember history and the struggles of a great many people.
There are many more films in this series I’ll be viewing, and I encourage you to do the same. The people in these films are important. History is important. And these films are free!
I also encourage you to go onto You Tube and look up the PBS series’ The American Experience, and American Masters. There are some great films here that will challenge you. These films are very entertaining, and you don’t have to do anything except sit and watch, and maybe even learn something.
So many people hate reading (which is something I don’t understand). Hopefully they’ll sit down and watch these films and maybe, just maybe, some will want to learn more about history and these struggles that are still going on.
I know I’m probably dreaming about that last sentence, but why not dream a bit?
Are these films thorough? Some more than others.They don’t go into great detail about their subjects lives, but they give you a great starting point and if you wish to learn more you can do that on your own. These films are a great introduction. And did I mention they’re all around 30 minutes?
Please check out the LucasFilm documentaries and the films from PBS. They are well worth your time and attention.
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