66. I AM DIVINE

glenn milstead--a shy, overweight baltimore kid, bullied in school, befriended his down the street neighbor, john waters. a budding, offbeat, outsider filmmaker.  described as two entwined pieces of energy, they became fast friends.  waters featured him in eccentric films, and created the phenomenon known as DIVINE.  forever to be known as the character that ate dog sh** in "polyester", s/he (they refer to this person as one or the other throughout the film) went on to star in numerous films, and delighted in co-starring with tab hunter.  big, bold, raucous--she toured and performed on stage as well.  divine also had a music career,  punk before punk was popular.  increasingly overweight and stressed by many types of excess, those around him worried.  waters cast divine as edna turnblatt in "hairspray", one of my favorite films.  the film finally brought glenn to mainstream stardom.  while reported to be upset that, as john waters muse, he wasn't  the featured performer of the film, he embraced the role that any other mere drag queen would never have taken.  edna turnblatt in all her plain jane glory made us believe she was above all else, a wife and mother.  divine played the role as a true actor, which made him proud, his parents proud and all that knew him proud.  he had lived his life wanting to be a star and he'd made it.  the hairspray role led  to being cast on "married with children".  sadly, it wasn't to be.  at age 43, glenn died in his sleep from a massive heart attack the night before shooting was to begin.  as the drag queen of the century, he remains a cult figure, but one with genuine talent, a kind heart, a likeable personality, and proof that there's not just one way to live a successful, happy and productive life.

191 DAYS SO FAR IN THIS YEAR

65 films--just short of 1 every 3 days.  not as bad as i thought i'd been doing.

65. SERVING LIFE

all i can say is WOW!  louisiana maximum security prison at angola is the largest such prison in the country, with over 5000 inmates.  prisoners described as "the worst of the worst", 85% of whom will never again live outside its walls.  faced with an aging population of lifers at the end of life, the warden established an active hospice program,  believing that no one should die alone, that each deserves compassionate care at the end of life.  but more so maybe, is witnessing the transformation in the volunteer hospice workers.  the film follows the journey of 4 new hospice volunteers, who wrote letters asking to be considered, completed a face to face interview, 2 wk training program and then began the work of caring for fellow inmates at the end of life.  the inmate volunteers see this as a chance for redemption.  instead of watching another person die at their hand, they feed, bathe, perform hygiene and comfort the dying.  they are all obviously changed by this experience of thinking outside themselves.  as the warden notes, criminals are very self centered, by nature of crime itself.  we see death; we see sadness; we see frustration; we see repugnance.....all the while, we see compassionate care in a loving, supportive environment and we hear the voices of the dying as well as the caregivers as they balance the crimes that got them in to prison with the compassion that they learn due to the hospice experience.  i cried many times.  some of the most touching scenes for me was inmate hospice volunteer, steve, fabricating quilts for the dying.  the film is powerful.  it's hopeful.  it raised the question to me about how many other such programs like this are in prison settings.  the warden here says if he teaches skills to the inmates, he just makes stronger criminals.  if he teaches compassion and empathy, he builds stronger human beings.  certainly those that were featured here seem forever changed for the better.

64. THE LOVING STORY

mildred and richard loving married in june of 1958, in washington, dc, and returned to their rural farm community in virginia.  a month later, they were awakened to flashlights in their faces and arrested.  the crime?  she was mixed race of black and native american; he was white.  interracial marriages were banned by 24 states at the time.  after sentencing, they were exiled from the state of virginia.  they could return separately to visit family, but could not live together.  the couple were deeply in love.  the local community had little racial tension at the time and richard had many black friends.  farm girl mildred just couldn't accommodate to living and raising her children in the city.  with hope dwindling, she wrote to then attorney general, bobby kennedy, who referred her to the aclu.  her case was addressed by 2 young, jewish lawyers, not long out of school.  their case was a criminal case in the state of virginia, but the lawyers would soon resolve it to be a civil rights issue.  the case eventually was heard by the u.s. supreme court.  loving vs virginia struck down anti-miscegenation laws in all the states.  a narrative by the local judge was used as prime fodder in the case.  he had written that god created all the colors of people and put them on different continents because god didn't want or allow mixing of the races.  it took 9 years until the case was resolved.  the lovings and their 3 children  lived secretly in virginia for much of that time.  the film combines video footage, photographs taken by a life magazine photographer, and current interviews from some of those involved.  we see a couple truly in love, 3 happy children, family and friends deeply supportive of the couple, and 2 young lawyers involved in the case of their lifetimes while still fresh in their careers.  in the end, richard probably said it best, as he gave a quote to his attorneys that they relayed to the supreme court justices.  "i love my wife and i want to live with her".  very simple.  

63. TINY: A STORY ABOUT LIVING SMALL

christopher is almost 30, the product of a military family who moved regularly.  he's looking for a sense of home; groundedness; stability.  he decides to build a tiny home.  these places are generally between 100 and 200 sq. feet.  there are many local rules about the size a structure must be (generally at least 600 sq. ft), so builders of tiny homes get around that by building on a trailer.  christopher has help from his girlfriend.  he thinks the work will proceed quickly.  starting in may, he expects to move the home to the country outside of boulder by the end of the summer.  of course, he's never built a home, he doesn't have plans, and the work takes considerably longer.  about a year later, he places the home on the property he's bought.  his girlfriend was never sure if this would be her home as well, and she provides interesting commentary on the thought process surrounding that issue.  there are many interviews from other tiny house owners that are interspersed in the film.  some consider tiny houses to be a "movement", away from conspicuous consumption and materialistic values, to a simpler life that's based in necessity.  some think the tiny house owners might be settling.  christopher built his tiny house for $26,000.  but one of the interviewees said it best, "this is exactly what i want from life.  i'm not settling.  i'm exactly where i want to be".  i find this concept fascinating.  i say i'm trying to downsize; bringing fewer things into the house and sending more out.  however, i am a LONG way from fitting into a 200 sq ft space.  still.............i like considering whether i COULD.

62. COMMUNE

well..........finally back at it.  a 2 wk vacation for a trip to alaska and then all the time it took to get back to normal means that my documentary viewing is somewhat delayed.  i started back with a topic i always find intriguing........the hippie life.......and, in this case, a commune established in 1968 at black bear ranch in northern california.  the film combines vintage footage of the nude young residents living and loving and working it out together with current interviews of both the adults who established the first group family, as well as some of the children raised in that setting.  the motto of black bear was "free land for free people", and the property was originally financed by hollywood stars.  social issues beget the origin of the group living, but even in the remote woods of the klamath forest, there were issues to be resolved......the role of women in the society; the fbi who contended this was an anti-american cult; whether there should be rules and what the rules should be; and, a particularly troublesome "invasion" by the shiva liva "cult" which worshiped and apparently stole children.  for many, the communal life gave way to parents with children leaving to find schools and more normalcy; many of the adults moved on to jobs using skills they learned in the commune.  many became artists, activists, healers.  interviews with the children born and raised at the height of the black bear experience portrayed that many were, and are, conflicted by the group parenting and the social "dis"order of the living situation.  the black bear ranch continues today and is legally protected as a place of communal living for perpetuity.  if i were older during this time, would i have considered a form of living as this? is free land for free people a motto that i would have embraced?   i often wonder.  i think the person i am now might, but the younger me would most likely have been too afraid.  and, it's really hard to imagine raising my children as part of a group of parents.  it seems that for most who left, it had to do with children and the desire to raise them in a more typical form.