2010 Sundance Film Festival

For production value, I'd give this 2 stars---it was all over the place and disorganized in its story telling and editing---not to mention its very disturbing and abrupt background noise differences from one interview scene to another. For importance of the material I'd give it 4 stars. The Q&A session after the film was by FAR the most animated and involved Q&A session of the 19 films I saw. People didn't want to leave the theater. Being from Utah, and having paid particular attention to the role the LDS Church played in California's Proposition 8, most of the content of the film was not new to me. The only new part, and the most intriguing & shocking part was the fact that someone inside the Church had delivered some very confidential internal communications between Church leaders to a journalist. These communications clearly point out that the Church leaders were very concerned about keeping their involvement in lobbying for Prop 8 as clandestine as possible---since they realized how devastating it would be to their image should the news get out. Well, the news got out, and one fall-out that perhaps they didn't consider was the loss of members who would leave the Church over this. This became evident during the Q&A session. Several people in the audience who were Mormons said that they officially removed their names from the Church's records over the Church's involvement in Prop 8. The fact that the Church leaders enlisted an "army" of Utah-based Mormons---who are taught that one of the most important principles of the Church is "obedience to Church leaders"---to donate time and money and make phone calls to people 2 states away in California---is clearly a case of Church & State boundaries getting crossed. You'd think that since the Church was itself persecuted for practicing its own non-mainstream, alternative notion of marriage (polygamy) in the late 1800's, that it would have more compassion for the desire gay couples have to have their own alternative style of marriage sanctioned. Not unlike the tendency for Mormons who judge gay marriage as being motivated by evil and god-forsaken sexual lust, their own persecutors felt the same about the Mormon men who were succumbing to their sexual desires to sleep with many women by practicing polygamy. The Mormons back then had all kinds of reasons for marrying multiple wives (i.e. it wasn't all about sex, they were just trying to take care of and love women who were widowed. But if gay couples say that the real drive behind their desire to marry has more to do with love than sex, somehow it falls on deaf ears with those Mormons who line up soldier-like to follow their leaders (in being non-Christ-like), in judging and condemning gay humans who truly have found love... Like I said... the film causes controversy. I just hope they can clean it up a bit (production-wise) before it gets to a wider audience.

I enjoyed this film... a realistic look into a modern family with 2 kids and 2 moms---something that hasn't really been examined much in media. The fact that Annette Benning, Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo star in this film means a fairly broad audience will be drawn to it---which is a good thing. It had lots of very funny moments, some tragic moments and many tender moving moments. The effects of the tunnel-vision/hearing moment, when Nic (Benning's character) realized some bad news during the dinner scene, were particularly impactful. In my own moments of tragedy, I've experienced very similar "tunnel-like effects". Mia Wasikowska, the actress playing the part of Joni, the 18 year old daughter, is a very talented actress. I remembered her from "In Therapy".

This and Restrepo were my favorite docs in SFF 2010---I saw four of the 16 in the US Doc competition. I left the screening definitely educated about education! Having two sisters who are teachers, I was already aware that problems exist, and that the problems are complex, dealing with squabbling, petty power-struggles amongst the adults who comprise the education system (teachers, principles, school boards and politicians). But this film shed a lot of new light on the inner workings (and failings) of our education system. The most shocking to me was the Tenure System, which far too many teachers take advantage of and simply give up teaching, while still reaping the monetary benefits. The weight of intractable bureaucratic issues amongst the adults in the system, and just how selfish they all are---in particular the Teachers Unions, who masquerade as proponents of education, when all they really are is an unbending mafia protecting the teacher's from ever having to worry about doing a quality job. The film was done very well. Production value was very high. Good stories with real characters that you end up pulling for, with great crescendo pacing that keeps you interested. An eye opener.