Library Notes 9-30-12


Edward Hirst

Rowan Public Library has recently added a number of new documentaries on DVD that will appeal to a variety of tastes. You are sure to find one, (or two), that can be enjoyed by the whole family.

In the movie Cave of Forgotten Dreams director Werner Herzog is given rare access to film inside the Chauvet Cave located in the south of France, home to the most ancient visual art known to have been created by man. The Chauvet cave paintings were made over 30,000 years ago, depicting predatory animals such as bears and lions, as well as bison, rhinos, mammoths and perhaps most striking of all, a wall of beautifully rendered horses.

Victims and perpetrators of Sierra Leone's brutal civil war from 1991 - 2002 come together for the first time in a program of tradition-based truth-telling and forgiveness ceremonies. They revive the ancient practice of Fambul Tok (family talk) in the film by the same name that charts the beginning stages of a process to help the people and communities of Sierra Leone move past these painful memories with forgiveness.

The Hammer was inspired by the life of deaf UFC fighter, Matt Hamill, and tells the story of what it takes to be a champion, on and off the mat. Raised among those with the ability to hear, Matt later finds himself no less an outsider amidst the Deaf Community. But through sheer determination, he uses his 'perceived' disability as an asset, and becomes not only the first deaf wrestler to win a National Collegiate Championship, but an inspirational force to both hearing and deaf alike.

In 2009, U.S. Marines launched a major helicopter assault on a Taliban stronghold in southern Afghanistan. Embedded in Echo Company during the assault, photojournalist and filmmaker Danfung Dennis captures the action in the movie Hell and Back Again. When Sergeant Harris returns home to North Carolina after a life-threatening injury in battle, the film evolves from war reporting to the story of one man's personal struggles to overcome the difficulties of transitioning back to civilian life with the help of his wife Ashley.

By 2006, as many as 5,000 electric cars were destroyed by the major car companies that built them. In Revenge of the Electric Car the viewer is taken behind the closed doors of Nissan, GM, the Silicon Valley start-up Tesla Motors and an independent car converter to find the story of the global resurgence of electric cars, following the race to be the first and the best, and to win the hearts and minds of the public around the world.

Fans of car racing, especially the elite Formula One, will enjoy the excellent documentary Senna, a profile of Brazilian driver Ayrton Senna. Senna would go on to become one of Formula One's best and most accomplished competitors ever--and his steely nerves and willingness to take risks on the track paid off in Grand Prix after Grand Prix. Though Senna's racing career would be far too short, his legacy lives on, and Senna is a gripping reminder of how blazing a talent can be--even behind the wheel of a car.