Bound by Haiti

In the documentary Bound by Haiti the story of two inspirational men is told about their struggles in the effort to save Haiti from its current state. John Bougher and Roman Safiullin capture the obstacles and crisis that Haiti finds itself in today. Through this documentary, the audience connects with the main characters American Aaron Jackson and Haitian John Dieubon. In their story, Aaron and John have not only formed a beautiful friendship but also work together to move Haiti in a positive direction. Aaron spends most of his time in the United States raising money thru his non-profit organization that works to de-worm the children of Haiti. Meanwhile, John spends most of his time in Haiti in charge of an orphanage with children who have no family and nowhere to stay as well as building a school to demonstrate that there is still hope for the people of Haiti. That one day they can move forward. The documentary also captures a moment of great tragedy when Haiti was struck by an earthquake with a catastrophic magnitude of 7.0Mw. This film demonstrates that there are still people who are determined to bring change into Haiti so that it can one day become a stronger more united Haiti. It is also a message to countries around the world that Haiti needs our help to move forward.

After the screening of the film, John and Roman voiced their opinions on the issues of how to execute scenes for their documentary and when to put subtitles so that the audience could understand John Dieubon. During the earthquake scenes, John and Roman strategically showed the chaos in which the country was in as well as the falling buildings and the dead people around the streets under the buildings. John and Roman were able to portray these scenes in a tasteful manner where it was not demeaning to those who had lost their lives.  

Full Metal Jacket

In the review of Full Metal Jacket by Roger Ebert, Ebert does not provide a whole lot of the plot synopsis. Ebert mentions that the movie is about the Vietnam War. Ebert refers so a couple of scenes in the movie but does not go into depth to the point where it can spoil the movie for someone who has not seen it. Ebert provides some criticism toward the director and screenwriter of the film, Stanley Kubrick although he does consider it the best-looking war movie made on sets and stages. After reading this review, I wouldn’t necessarily be dying to see this movie. Although Kubrick does refer to important scenes, overall the review includes more negatives points than positive. Ebert did praise the character the gunnery sergeant and the tubby misfit, as Ebert would say, for their performances. He considers them to be the best performances of the film that never recovers after they leave. Ebert points out how Kubrick likes to show close up of the man glowering up at the camera insinuating that something may happen, ruining the suspense of the film. Ebert does an excellent job on emphasizing how Kubrick uses different angles of the movie to show the same scene and how that loses the audiences focus. Ebert also pointed out the fact that at the beginning of the movie there is a war/sex connection that is very noticeable. I had actually pointed that out myself while watching the movie. This review does indicate that Ebert is “literate” in the visual literacy of movies. In my opinion, Ebert reviewed the movie not just with a plot synopsis but went further into speaking about the films style and structure. Ebert also took into account other movies Kubrick has directed into account when reviewing this film.

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19870626/REVIEWS/706260302/1023