Reality Behind the Reel, Research Paper Example

Life is full of struggles; its twists and turns often involve events that are almost impossible to deal with. Through time, this particular fact has been proven repeatedly especially through instances when historical events prove the strength of people to face challenges that seem to never stop coming. No matter how hard life may blow on a person or on a community, it is manner of standing up to face the challenge is what matters the most. Practically, people have become more accustomed to the desire of becoming more furnished as life itself makes a distinct impact on how they live and how they perceive the most practical and most prosperous way of living that they could adapt to. These particular concepts about the facts of life have been repeatedly represented in each of the short films that were viewed and featured in class. For this particular response, the presentation and discussion would be closely related to the three particular films. One is that of The October Crisis by Robin Spry; another is The Back-Breaking Leaf by Terence MacCartney; and finally, The Children of Fogo Island by Colin Low.

These movies have been chosen to be the basis of this particular response as they echo the same points of presentation about life and the facts that surround it. From the message that they portray for the viewers to give attention to, a distinct indication on how humans tend to surprisingly face life’s adversities shall be given specific focus in this response. Filmmaking is indeed one of the most lucrative industries around the globe today. With the new genre of ‘indie’ films [or also known as independent films], documenting the facts about life has become one of the most sought after themes that are used to teach and reach the people’s thoughts and affect their perception about life through the lenses of reality.

What makes filmmaking interesting? It is basically the art that provides the creator the freedom of exploring life as it happens. To some, it works well for them to handle sci-fi movies that present supposedly realistic possibilities based on science. However, on the more popular side of the industry, the utilization of themes that directly define human living never ceases to amaze the target viewers. The reason for such enthusiasm is the fact that seeing or watching films that are most often than not realistic, allows the viewers to fully relate to the stories; especially if it connects to a particular historical account that they may be interested about. The rising popularity of documentary short films follows the same trend of influencing the viewers decision to watch. Their interest over the realities of life simply cannot be overcome by the desire to know almost impossible futures that other films offer. In the movies that were shown, such a theme of presenting life’s facts as they are is a common ground that makes each piece of artistic work undeniably interesting to watch.

For instance, the story that commemorates the hard days of people in Montreal as they face the agonizing days of fear that is caused by terrorist acts in 1970 specifically relates to the impending fear that the world still lives with today. This is the primary theme suggested by the film of Robin Spry as he creates the visual distinction of The October Crisis. While terrorist attacks are being assumed to happen, viewers of this film are given the chance to have a peek on how it really is for a community to survive within a very unstable situation which is even aggravated by the entrant of the Canadian Army in the situation. On the other hand, the film on the Back Breaking Leaf specifically gives a distinct presentation on how the people of Ontario used to depend on Tobacco production; their plantations being the primary source of their lives. It depicts how hard it was for the community to cultivate a crop most of their days and have a onetime harvest that serves to be their ‘feast’ in the community. Simple life; it is specifically the key element that defined the surviving strategies of the people of Ontario during their Tobacco days.

Meanwhile, the film The Children of Fogo Island aims to discuss more on how the supposedly disdain situation in the eyes of grownups simply go unnoticed or perhaps being cared less about in the eyes of the children. Children are often noted as jolly, happy-go-lucky and often times silly. These characteristics of children are what make them much capable of sustaining their happiness and contentment about what life has to offer them. Learning from how the young ones face their lives and their every day conditions of living, the people of Fogo learned how to embrace their life in the short and be more accustomed to it than simply complain about the uncanny situations they may be experiencing every now and then.

From these particular films, it has been repeatedly noted how flexible the human character is; especially when facing life’s greatest adversities. The capacity of humans to adjust according to the situations they encounter everyday makes them more capable of surviving life and all the different challenges that comes along the way. The need to be more observant especially in seeing how others intend to survive their own challenges shall provide each individual a chance to see the silver lining that is embedded within every tough situation. True, challenges and hardships are evident parts of life that cannot be avoided instead should be dealt with accordingly. There are times when giving up seems to be the only way to take, however, as featured in the films that were viewed and presented in this response paper, it is the desire to push for a more successful condition of living that drove many people to fight for the possibility of experiencing both happiness and contentment amidst life’s most adverse situations. Overall, the movies’ capacity to present the reality of life was successful enough that not only did the presentations entertain viewers, they also provide exceptional lessons that could be practically used in facing life’s hardest turns.

Works Cited:

Longfellow, Brenda. “Hyperbolic Masculinity And The Ironic Gaze In Project Grizzly.” Canadian Journal of Film Studies (ARCHIVE), 8:1 (Spring 1999); 87-101.

Glassman, Marc and Wyndham Wise. “A Filmmaker of Vision: Take One’s Interview with Colin Low.” Take One, 23 (1999), 18-24, 29-31.

Blumer, Ronald and Susan Schouten. “Donald Brittain: Green Stripe and Common Sense” in Canadian Film Reader. Edited by Seth Feldman and Joyce Nelson. Toronto: Peter Martin Associates, l977.

Elder, Bruce. “On the Candid Eye Movement” in Canadian Film Reader. Edited by Seth Feldman and Joyce Nelson. Toronto: Peter Martin Associates, l977.

Stone, Tammy. ”Candid Eye, Lonely Boy & Unit B: Take One’s Interview With Wolf Koenig.” Take One,XI 37 (May-June 2002). 34-38.