Documentary Film Review Assignment 

Due Date: Submissions no later than 11:59pm, Friday June 25th (Canvas)

                 Assignment accessible from Week Four to Week Six 

Requirements: Students will choose one of the provided documentary films to watch. Their descriptions are below. After viewing the documentary, each student will be required to provide a written response to the film.  In this response, you will be expected to provide a review of the documentarys key themes and arguments, and relate these to the core issues of the course.  There are guiding questions for each documentary available on the assignment sheet PDF.  There is a three-week window to complete this assignment. Your 1,200-word response is due through Canvas no later than 11:59pm on 6/25. You are not required to use outside sources but if you do, they must be cited appropriately. If you would like to watch and review more than one film, I will accept additional reviews as extra credit.

Grading: A good response, in addition to meeting the content requirements noted above, will adhere to the highest standards of academic writing in terms of syntax, grammar, and spelling. Grammatical and typographical errors should be addressed before handing in your assignment. Take time to proofread your writing, as sloppy mistakes and careless presentation of written work will be reflected in your grade. Repeated and consistent grammatical issues will result in substantial deductions.

Preparation: You must watch the documentary in full.  Without doing so, it will be impossible for you to adequately review/critique the documentary.  Furthermore, in order to complete the second aspect of the assignmentconnecting the film to the themes of courseyou must stay up-to-date on all required readings. It might be helpful to take notes during the film. For each documentary, keep in mind the following four questions that might inform your viewing of the film. You may provide further insights, but the questions are aimed at helping guide your viewing and writing process and should be addressed in your response.

All four films are available on the Kanopy streaming service, to which FAU has a subscription. You can access it using your FAU email address to set up an account. 

Maquilapolis: City of Factories (2006) 

Carmen Duran works the graveyard shift in one of Tijuana’s 800 maquiladoras; she is one of six million women around the world who labor for poverty wages in the factories of transnational corporations. After making television components all night, Carmen comes home to a dirt-floor shack she built out of cast-off garage doors from the U.S., in a neighborhood with no sewage lines or electricity. She suffers from on-the-job kidney damage and lead poisoning from her years of exposure to toxic chemicals. She earns six dollars a day on which she must support herself and her three children.

Starting in the 1980s the U.S. and Mexican governments initiated a trade agreement allowing components for everything from batteries, IV tubes, toys to clothes to be imported duty-free into Mexico, assembled there and then exported back duty-free as finished consumer goods for sale in the U.S. Tijuana became known as the television capital of the world, ‘TV-juana.’ Globalization promised jobs, and working class Mexicans uprooted their lives to flock to the northern frontier in search of better paying work. After a decades long boom in 2001, Tijuana suffered a recession as corporations chased after even cheaper labor in Asia. When the Sanyo plant where Carmen worked for six years moved to Indonesia, they tried to avoid paying the legally mandated severance pay. Carmen became a promotora, or grassroots activist, challenging the usual illegal tactics of the powerful transnationals that are poisoning their workers and the barrios they inhabit.

Last Call: Are There Limits to Growth? (2013) 

Last Call provides a high-level examination of one of the most fundamental environmental questions of our time – are there limits to growth?

In 1972, the publication of the book The Limits to Growth stimulated worldwide interest and debate, selling 30 million copies in 30 languages. It marked a turning point in thinking about the environment. Prepared for the Club of Rome, the book was based on the work of a team of young scientists from MIT who created the first computer model to analyze the interaction over time of exponential growth with finite natural resources. Their primary message was that the human footprint, if unchecked, would grow beyond the carrying capacity of the planet on a sustainable basis. They concluded that humanity must adapt to the planet’s limits or risk overshoot, which could result in the collapse of global support systems and human decline.

Four decades later, the surviving authors and mentors of The Limits to Growth assess their earlier predictions, update where we stand today in relation to the earth’s limits, and present a “final call” on what we need to do now to avoid global ecological collapse in the next few decades. Supported by archival footage and other materials, Last Call provides provocative insights into the fundamental reasons behind the ongoing global ecological and economic crises, and what it will take to ensure a more hopeful future.

Stop Filming Us (2020) 

Can a Western filmmaker show anything of truth about the Democratic Republic of Congo? Or do their ‘good intentions’ only cause destruction and frustration? Three young artists from Goma resist the one-sided reporting that only reflect stereotypical images of war, violence, illness, and poverty — all results of years of Western domination.

The Hungry Tide (2012) 

The central Pacific nation of Kiribati is expected to be one of the first countries to disappear as a result of climate change. Sea level rise and increasing salinity are threatening the homes and lives of 105,000 residents spread over 33 atolls. One of the least developed countries in the world, Kiribati has contributed little to worldwide carbon emissions, yet has the most to lose from global warming.

The Hungry Tide shows clearly the tragic impact of climate change on Kiribati, and exposes the stark global inequalities driving the global warming phenomenon. The film personalizes the story by following the life and work of Maria Tiimon, who evolves to become one of the most prominent advocates for the rights of Pacific Islanders. Originally from Kiribati, Maria works for an organization in Sydney as an impassioned campaigner for her sinking nation. But right from the start, Maria finds herself frequently torn between the needs of her family on Kiribati and her role on the world stage.