eurograd
Joined Dec 2009
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eurograd's rating
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eurograd's rating
This is not only a budget production but a bad, bland and extremely predictable movie.
Deadly virus that comes out of some exotic corner of the World? Check.
Doctor who struggles between familiar drama and her call to save the World? Check.
Young enthusiastic but socially awkward doctor/scientist assistant? Check.
All of this comes with uni-dimensional characters, cliché attitudes you can predict after first 5 minutes, lousy soundtrack and just zero novelty or creativity. It is just a reshuffle of countless bio-hazard movies with nothing new and noteworthy.
Deadly virus that comes out of some exotic corner of the World? Check.
Doctor who struggles between familiar drama and her call to save the World? Check.
Young enthusiastic but socially awkward doctor/scientist assistant? Check.
All of this comes with uni-dimensional characters, cliché attitudes you can predict after first 5 minutes, lousy soundtrack and just zero novelty or creativity. It is just a reshuffle of countless bio-hazard movies with nothing new and noteworthy.
There have been many stories in the media about sexual harassment, rape and the subsequent mishandling of these situations by colleges and universities.
This documentary follows the journey of three young women that were victims of sexual violence in campus, and then mistreated by the institutions that should protect them as students, as they eventually coalesce around a federal lawsuit against the college where the events happened.
Rape is and will always be a crime difficult to prosecute, for it often leaves no conclusive evidence that third parties can assess. Perpetrators are very often known to the victim and part of their social/working circle, and the crimes often happen without any witness. Nonetheless, this shouldn't be an excuse for universities and colleges to sandbag victims, and to not help them go through the ordeal even if criminal prosecution of perpetrators is not possible.
In that context, the documentary does a good job of giving, as accounted by the victims, the circumstances in which they were raped: all by known people, some by perpetrators they thought to be their friends, some by colleagues from varsity athletic department. It then moves to its main focus: the aftermath, and how schools, the police and other institutions reacted to the events.
The last part of the documentary is a bit clumsy, however. It should have provided a bit more context to the lawsuits, and at least tried to hear the universities involved. It also seems the producers tried to fit too much into too little remaining time.
This documentary follows the journey of three young women that were victims of sexual violence in campus, and then mistreated by the institutions that should protect them as students, as they eventually coalesce around a federal lawsuit against the college where the events happened.
Rape is and will always be a crime difficult to prosecute, for it often leaves no conclusive evidence that third parties can assess. Perpetrators are very often known to the victim and part of their social/working circle, and the crimes often happen without any witness. Nonetheless, this shouldn't be an excuse for universities and colleges to sandbag victims, and to not help them go through the ordeal even if criminal prosecution of perpetrators is not possible.
In that context, the documentary does a good job of giving, as accounted by the victims, the circumstances in which they were raped: all by known people, some by perpetrators they thought to be their friends, some by colleagues from varsity athletic department. It then moves to its main focus: the aftermath, and how schools, the police and other institutions reacted to the events.
The last part of the documentary is a bit clumsy, however. It should have provided a bit more context to the lawsuits, and at least tried to hear the universities involved. It also seems the producers tried to fit too much into too little remaining time.
Overscheduled kids and teens, teach-to-the-test, erosion of free play time, stressful school environments are all real and serious problems that affect youth of America today.
"Race to Nowhere" is an attempt to cast a light and raise awareness to these problems, which are part of a larger tend where adult-led structured activities came to dominate virtually all non-sleeping time of students, in school, at home, or in the countless places they are chauffeured to and from. It follows the difficult-to- execute model of bringing several people who will tell their stories in parallel narratives while the director inserts other pieces to bring "familiar faces" of the issues the documentary portrays.
Excessive homework was the thread line chosen to guide the filmmaker throughout her project (which was born out of a situation she witnessed in her own family). It does a good job bringing and naming the issues and enumerating there.
However, there are 'execution flaws'. The parallel narratives of teens, parents, kids, teachers don't really add up depth and multiple viewpoints on the issue as much as they add length to the featured documentary.
More worrying, at some point the director starts shooting almost randomly at a variety of social issues: teen suicide (with a counterproductive and hard-to-believe direct blaming of a suicide case on a single event, which is something professional seriously advise against), income inequality, consumerism, social media hyperconectivity of teens, school district politics, teacher social standards etc. They could all be directly or indirectly tied to the hypercharged, hypercompetitive, test-driven school culture the films wants to take aim at, but they appear juggled around without much coherence or connection.
"Race to Nowhere" wasted an excellent opportunity to really look into misguided education practices and their effects on teens, but as it was unveiled, it certainly fails to rally up the audience to support the reforms the director seems to support right before the final credits.
"Race to Nowhere" is an attempt to cast a light and raise awareness to these problems, which are part of a larger tend where adult-led structured activities came to dominate virtually all non-sleeping time of students, in school, at home, or in the countless places they are chauffeured to and from. It follows the difficult-to- execute model of bringing several people who will tell their stories in parallel narratives while the director inserts other pieces to bring "familiar faces" of the issues the documentary portrays.
Excessive homework was the thread line chosen to guide the filmmaker throughout her project (which was born out of a situation she witnessed in her own family). It does a good job bringing and naming the issues and enumerating there.
However, there are 'execution flaws'. The parallel narratives of teens, parents, kids, teachers don't really add up depth and multiple viewpoints on the issue as much as they add length to the featured documentary.
More worrying, at some point the director starts shooting almost randomly at a variety of social issues: teen suicide (with a counterproductive and hard-to-believe direct blaming of a suicide case on a single event, which is something professional seriously advise against), income inequality, consumerism, social media hyperconectivity of teens, school district politics, teacher social standards etc. They could all be directly or indirectly tied to the hypercharged, hypercompetitive, test-driven school culture the films wants to take aim at, but they appear juggled around without much coherence or connection.
"Race to Nowhere" wasted an excellent opportunity to really look into misguided education practices and their effects on teens, but as it was unveiled, it certainly fails to rally up the audience to support the reforms the director seems to support right before the final credits.