I love this documentary, largely because it's actually very "ordinary"-- by which I mean unadorned and straightforward.
In order to dig any gold out of a flick like this, you have to participate. You have to care enough about the subject to exert yourself to see the strange, determined pageantry of his life and life's work.
This is my own take on this particular kind of filmmaking, and I understand that many will not agree: For this reason, I give it a "lowly" 9 rating.
Technically? Fine cinematography, good editing, decent story management (pacing), good sound... technically, no dropped balls. We're free to judge this man on whatever terms we have at our disposal, on the basis of the mythos weaved by the presentation.
Strange thing... I lived in the DFW area... even made my pilgrimage to Dealy Plaza... BEFORE the creation of the 6th floor museum. Also tuned in to the Hour of Slack on KNON 90.9 ("The Voice of the People!"), back when they did a three-part series revisiting the Kennedy assassination... the Observer would publish assassination-related event bulletins... but I'd never heard about this guy 'til I saw a recent Observer piece about his numerous ticketings by the cops!
Anyway... The core subject matter is as such: Is there, or is there NOT, a philosophical demand of personal integrity which must chase down *all* loose ends 'til the full truth is arrived at? Or is it in the nature of the social beast that the best course is the collective settling into a rosy bed of neatly woven half-truths?
Perhaps that's the most important message of the movie... even pushing it toward an unexpected universality; that these questions are not just pertinent to an historical event that happened in late 1963 in Dallas: They're applicable to the approach to everything in our lives; our interpersonal dealings, our businesses, our governance... even our approach to matters of "faith".
In order to dig any gold out of a flick like this, you have to participate. You have to care enough about the subject to exert yourself to see the strange, determined pageantry of his life and life's work.
This is my own take on this particular kind of filmmaking, and I understand that many will not agree: For this reason, I give it a "lowly" 9 rating.
Technically? Fine cinematography, good editing, decent story management (pacing), good sound... technically, no dropped balls. We're free to judge this man on whatever terms we have at our disposal, on the basis of the mythos weaved by the presentation.
Strange thing... I lived in the DFW area... even made my pilgrimage to Dealy Plaza... BEFORE the creation of the 6th floor museum. Also tuned in to the Hour of Slack on KNON 90.9 ("The Voice of the People!"), back when they did a three-part series revisiting the Kennedy assassination... the Observer would publish assassination-related event bulletins... but I'd never heard about this guy 'til I saw a recent Observer piece about his numerous ticketings by the cops!
Anyway... The core subject matter is as such: Is there, or is there NOT, a philosophical demand of personal integrity which must chase down *all* loose ends 'til the full truth is arrived at? Or is it in the nature of the social beast that the best course is the collective settling into a rosy bed of neatly woven half-truths?
Perhaps that's the most important message of the movie... even pushing it toward an unexpected universality; that these questions are not just pertinent to an historical event that happened in late 1963 in Dallas: They're applicable to the approach to everything in our lives; our interpersonal dealings, our businesses, our governance... even our approach to matters of "faith".
