NEW SEGMENT! Documentary Wednesday

     I know what most people think of documentaries; they think they're boring, or that they all come from PBS and are about lions and their cubs or shit like that. That is exactly why I am making this segment, because there are so many documentaries that cover so many subjects and absolutely kick ass.  They expose you to the most bizarre and obscure people and places that you would otherwise never know about.
     A documentary filmmaker/director actually made headlines today, but for a very sad reason.  Tim Hetherington was killed in Libya today while covering the conflict that has continued there for weeks.  His documentary, Restrepo, was a film released last year that followed a platoon in a dangerous part (danger is relative term here) of Afghanistan.

  

The film won recognition at Sundance and even took home the Grand Jury Prize.  If you recognize Hetherington's name from anywhere else, it was probably because he was the director of photography for The Devil Came on Horseback, another documentary covering war and genocide in Sudan.  He was 41 years old.

 

     Though I have not seen Restrepo yet, I will in the near future, and post the review here.  It's a shame that making good films that are truthful, real, eye-opening, and creative costs not a million dollars, but a man's life.