Abstract
This essay examines the question of the presentation of film and looks at the topic of truth within the documentary film. The writer considers the words of Errol Morris, the director of 'The Thin Blue Line', who believes that documentaries can be as personal as fiction film making. The writer discusses that Morris challenges the concept that objective truth may be captured through film.

From the Paper
"Errol Morris, director of 'The Thin Blue Line', has criticized the cinema verite style of documentary, arguing that: "There is no reason why documentaries can't be as personal as fiction filmmaking and bear the imprint of those who made them. Truth isn't guaranteed by style or expression. It isn't guaranteed by anything". In making this argument, Morris is not only challenging the idea that objective truth can be captured through film, but that the generic line between fictional film and documentary film can often be extraordinarily blurred."

Tags:film, documentary, truth

Abstract
This paper provides an overview of the film "KIDS" and looks at the issues that the film brings up such as AIDS, drugs, violence and teenage sex. The paper shows that the film's intention is not to encourage the behavioral problems that the teens in this movie portrayed, but to emphasize the importance of the role of a parent in a teenager's life.

From the Paper
"In the summer of 1995 Larry Clark, an established stills photographer, shocked society with his first directed movie known as KIDS. Over the course of one humid Manhattan day this film follows the lives of a handful of teens in the streets of New York. So much controversy has arisen due to the plethora of profanity, drugs, violence, and sex that take place in the brief hour and a half movie. Within this day there are three sex scenes, occurrences of trespassing, stealing, urinating in public, and a disturbing scene where a mob of teens beat up an African American. The director used such extreme measures to force people to think twice about teenagers' activities and actions that are undoubtedly shaping our youth. Since kids are not getting enough attention from their parents they look for it in another place, with their friends. Teenagers find it fundamental to fit in with a group of friends because friendships appear to be the only way to cure loneliness. Friendships allow teens to fit in, but at the same time they can be easily influenced to do things that they would not normally do. Larry Clark portrays teenagers as violent drug abusers, who are being ignorant towards societal rules and end up living unruly lives. Obviously, not all teenagers live this type of fractious life, which is most prevalent in the inner city population. Every teenager does not do drugs and routinely walk down the streets of their neighborhood with forty's of Old English in the mid day. But the movie KIDS portrays what can happen to any teen. While parents are too involved with their jobs, inner city New York teens get lost in the hustle and bustle environment and are forced to experience reality on their own. Lacking love from their family some teenagers take it upon themselves to start doing what they want, when they want. This often results in the teen losing respect for all authority and they become inconsiderate for other beings. As they become their own parents they may get increasingly vulnerable to sexually transmitted diseases, like AIDS. All of these possible results stem in part from the absence of an authority figure in a teenager's life."

Tags:kids, life, movie, reality, responsibility, juvenile, teenager

Abstract
A paper which shows that, by calling it propaganda in the form of patriotism, the American government has been successful in influencing its people on many matters, both politically and socially, with the use of media. The paper uses America's change in its isolationist policy during WWI as an example. It also shows how the movie industry was used to influence the public.

From the Paper
"But the films were even more effective. It wasn't necessarily that movies like "America's Answer" " a documentary in 1918 about the sending of the first 500,000 American troops to France " were great art. The were professionally made, certainly, but their power to persuade Americans in the importance of U.S. engagement in Europe relied not on artistry per se but on each film's possessing a simple, clear message. The force of this repeated, focused message (a hallmark of effective propaganda in all media) combined with the immediacy of film won over many Americans who " had they simply been reading about the war in the newspaper " might well have remained convinced that isolationism was the best policy."

Tags:communist, World, War, I, Woodrow, Wilson, Committee, Public, Information, Our, Bridge, of, Ships, Mary, Pickford, Charlie, Chaplin

Abstract
This paper discusses and analyzes McNamara's "The Fog of War." It also explores John McNamara's motive for making the documentary.

From the Paper
""The Fog of War" is a documentary filmed by Errol Morris that features an interview with former U. S. defense secretary Robert S. McNamara who served under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. Over the course of the film McNamara delivers eleven lessons regarding war learned from his experience. The title refers to the fact that human knowledge is incapable of full understanding of the complexities of military warfare. As Stephen Holden says in his review of the film ..."

Tags:military warfare, casualties, reason, intellect, Vietnam, Iraq, Bush, Japan, interview

Abstract
This paper provides an examination of Michael Moore's documentary film, "Bowling For Columbine" as a work of propaganda. It looks at Moore's exposure of the roots of violence, his techniques and how they support his thesis. The paper also looks at Moore's desire to provoke as well as to inform.

From the Paper
"When Michael Moore's film Bowling for Columbine was released it was certainly a controversial film. Closely following the tragic incidents at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado Moore's film set out to expose the root of the problems behind such acts of violence. In doing so he learns that the conventional answers of easy availability of guns, violent national history, violent entertainment and even poverty are inadequate to explain this violence when other cultures share those same factors without the equivalent ..."

Tags:bowling for columbine, michael moore, propaganda

From the Paper
"While it may be debated for years to come if the term auteur belongs to Hitchcock, it will never be debated that he was a genius in his own right. And if being an auteur means that one exerts much control over his films, it is impossible to contradict the fact that Hitchcock, did indeed, show an unprecedented amount of control in each of his films. If the argument is to be sound, a closer examination of the meaning of auteur might be recognized.Hitchcock was a genius of film and art. His work was revolutionary and gave inspiration to many other filmmakers. His unwavering discipline of creating the best works proves him to be one of the best filmmakers in history. No doubt, his work will be debated and discussed for centuries to come. "

Tags:biography, british, film, vertigo

Abstract
This paper takes a look at the Nazi antisemitic movie called "Jud Suss" which was aired in the 1940's in Germany. The question is asked whether the director Veit Harlan should have been held responsible for subsequent antisemitic actions which took place after people saw the movie. An analysis of the strength of propaganda.

From the Paper
"The real Suss was born in 1692 in Heidelberg, and he came to Wurttemberg, where he gained a large amount of power in the financial sector, lending a large amount of money to the Duke of the town, Duke Karl Alexander. For various reasons he was hanged in February 1738. Based upon these events, a novelist called Feuchtwanger wrote a story, which was far from being anti-Semitic and in fact sympathized with Suss. This story was banned by the Nazis in 1933, along with many of his other books. Then the Nazi version of the tale was decided to be made into film, with Harlan directing it, and it depicted events very different from the original, had extra characters added for effect, and used anti-Semitic stereotypes of Jews with long beards and shabby clothing, so as to win over the audience to the anti-Semitic message. An example of an added character was that of classic Aryan looking Dorthea Sturm, daughter of an important incorruptible townsperson. In the film she was depicted as innocent and one of the many victims of Suss. According to Hull (1969), she was not based either on the real story or that of Feuchtwanger. This conflicts with the Nazi's claim to its audiences that it was historically authentic and real."

Tags:anti, film, history, jud, nazi, propaganda, semitism, soviet, suss

Abstract
A critique of the fast food industry that discusses Eric Schlosser's book, "Fast Food Nation" and Morgan Spurlock's documentary film, "Supersize Me". It contends that both present ample evidence that the health and longevity of the American people are being severely damaged by the fast food industry.

From the Paper
"Eric Schlosser's, "Fast Food Nation" uses the truth to persuade his readers of the reality of the facts and opinions presented in his book. Unlike the devious deceptive and manipulative methods used by the fast food industry to stimulate sales on ..."

Tags:obesity, fast, food

Abstract
This paper is a historical film review of the John Irvin movie, "Hamburger Hill." It examines the movie for content, historical accuracy and context.

From the Paper
"John Irvin's film, "Hamburger Hill," details the events of the battle in the A Shau Valley to gain control of Dong Ap Bia (a small mountain) during the Vietnam War. It was a ten-day battle, fought up hill, from May 10, 1969 though May 20. Most of the film takes place on Dong Ap Bia (Hill 937), nicknamed "Hamburger Hill" by the soldiers who fought there because of the high amount of casualties. The casualty rate of this battle was 70%, (Larson 1). It consisted of several battalions attacking and retreating for ten days up the hill. Scenes in the movie that show the men scrambling up and sliding down the hill in rain and mud being bombarded by grenades and machine gun fire are horrifically graphic and, unfortunately, accurate, (Larson 1)."

Tags:film, hamburger, history, irvin, movie, review, soldiers, vetrans, vietnam, war

Abstract
This paper takes a look at one of America's top documentary producers Michael Moore. In particular, the paper focuses on Moore's documentary, "Bowling for Columbine", a film on the gun culture and its wider political significance in the United States. The paper describes several creative and dramatic techniques of Moore's filmmaking to manipulate the audience into sharing his disdain of America's fascination with firearms and violence and discusses the ethical obligations involved in producing documentaries such as "Bowling for Columbine". The paper analyzes possible reasons as to why Moore chooses to use such exploitative techniques to express his views on gun culture but concedes that in spite of the controversy surrounding the film, it has undoubtedly succeeded in bringing the complex issue of America's relationship with firearms to the foreground of public debate.

From the Paper
"This has led to suspicions being raised concerning the modern documentary's commitment to realism, along with the ethical obligations involved in producing such a film. On the other hand, the considerable disagreement over the very definition of the term "documentary", has prompted some to praise Moore's approach to filmmaking, describing it as a dramatic and creative expression of reality. In spite of the controversy surrounding the film, however, it has undoubtedly succeeded in bringing the complex issue of America's relationship with firearms to the foreground of public debate."

Tags:documentaries, firearms, politics, ethics