Audible (USA)
4.5 stars out of 5
No, this isn’t a documentary about the audio book company. If you’re a fan of Friday Night Lights, fire up your Netflix and watch this 38-minute doc. (The similarities are no coincidence: Lights’ Peter Berg is a producer here.) Audible focuses on the high school football team at the Maryland School for the Deaf, and star player Amaree. I got choked up quite a lot watching these teens navigate not only the normal ups and downs of life, but the added challenges — and loneliness — of being deaf.
When We Were Bullies (Germany/USA)
3 stars out of 5
This one didn’t really come together for me or the filmmaker. He’s compelled to explore a bullying incident he participated in in 5th grade, 50 years ago. (He already touched on the topic in a doc 30 years ago.) But interviews with old classmates and even the teacher don’t yield the sort of a-ha moments or insight that would tell us something bigger. As a result, it just felt like the director was trying to make himself feel better, while the film only isolates the bullied individual further.
Three Songs for Benazir (Afghanistan)
4 stars out of 5
This is a world I’ve never seen — life in a camp of Afghanis who have fled their homes. They fear both the Taliban and the foreigners who seemingly monitor their actions from a balloon drone that continually floats overhead. We meet Shaista, a charming, goofy young guy who loves his wife but wants something more, to be educated or to join the army. His relatives feel he should stay at home, raise a family, and harvest poppies. Will Shaista be able to break free?
Lead Me Home (USA)
4 stars out of 5
Homelessness has reached epidemic levels in many American cities — 500,000 Americans are homeless every night. This heart-wrenching doc takes us inside the tent cities that have sprung up in western cities, and among the social services, workers, and advocates who struggle to keep up with the growing numbers. What really jumped out at me was the extreme difficulty of breaking out, and staying out, of the cycle of homelessness.
The Queen of Basketball (USA)
4.5 stars out of 5
After a few downer docs, it was great to smile. We meet Lucy Davis, women’s basketball superstar in the days well before the WNBA or even NCAA women’s sports. Her humor, humility, and pride in her accomplishments are absolutely infectious. And why shouldn’t she be proud, she was the first woman drafted by an NBA team! Of course there were obstacles in her path, but Lucy seems to have always stepped up. This is a story more sports fans need to know. And non-fans too.
Jack Silbert, curator