Milton Rogovin: The Forgotten Ones

This was included on the disk "Shorts: Volume 2"--a rather dull collection of short films. Shorts are among my favorite style of films but somehow the people assembling this second collection had a hard time finding quality content--and it wasn't nearly as good as the first volume or other shorts colletions. This particular short film is one of the better ones in it.

In the late 1950s, Milton Rogovin began photographing the poor residents of Buffalo's West Side. While these people usually would be ignored by documentarians, Rogovin with his Populist ideals thought it important that these folks not be forgotten. What is interesting is that again and again over the years, he revisited these same people--getting to know them, their stories and the changes. As a result, we have a very important record of just everyday folks--usually the last people you'd expect to ever appear in a photography book (which he published many years back).

In this short film, instead of Rogovin just doing his usual visits with his wife, a documentary film crew goes along to record what he does--even when he's in his 90s! You can see that the people he records are important--almost like family members.

Now I will admit that although this film is interesting from a historical and anthropological point of view, many will find the film a bit dull. It certainly isn't nor does it try to be commercial--just a tribute to an unusual man and his life's work.