An Oscar doesn’t mean squat

I was going to post this as a comment to the one left by Zelda below regarding the fact that today is the last day that Errol Morris’ documentary “Standard Operating Procedure” will play in Spokane. Then I thought it might be better to give it a post of its own.

The decisions about what and when to play certain films are made by the folks at corporate , who have no idea what Hoopfest is. Nor, likely, do they care. Move the movies in, move the movies out, and their contractual obligations are fulfilled.

Re. your view about documentaries, Zelda: That’s a pretty limited perspective, don’t you think? Or maybe that’s your point, it’s hard for me to tell (irony doesn’t always translate well).

A Michael Moore documentary is little more than a cinematic rant, which can be entertaining but isn’t necessarily informing. And you can fault Morris for his POV, too, as well as his tendency to emphasize style at the expense, at least sometimes, of substance.

I have little respect anymore for TV news, especially what’s offered by the networks. The day of Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite is long past. And, yes, I am a Jon Stewart fan.

But documentaries – the best ones, anyway – aim to present such stories in ways that reflect the opinions of their directors. You don’t have to understand the political situation in Uganda to be moved by the struggles of the children in “War/Dance,” just as you don’t have to possess a degree in psychology to grok how well Morris documents the impossible position that the MPs at Abu Ghraib were in.

Maybe the answer is to market these films as the latest reality-show productions, complete with a bit of “Survivor” and “Dancing With the Stars” manipulation thrown in for good measure.

Whatever, the fact that a documentary about an important topic, made by an Oscar-winning director , played here for just five days is pretty depressing.