FunkyGreenJerusalem
05-13-2009, 07:23 PM
- I found the letter from the person mourning Vertigo to be quite odd... as you point out, they are about to launch a line of Crime Graphic Novels... but especially the 'now they only have Fables and Hellblazer' comment - seems that's much more to that particular readers tastes, rather than any truth about the company as a whole.
Scapled for instance, is a great 'crime' book... no it's not about capers going wrong, or running from the law, but it's a ripper of a story.
It started slow, but with each storyline the danger for the characters, and the feeling of oppression and impending doom keeps growing.
I've heard some consider it to be quite far removed from the reality of living on a reserve - but it's not really about that, more people living at the rock bottom of humanity, with absolutely no hope of a better future.
Throw in DMZ, Northlanders, Young Liars (fucking shame this is getting canceled, Lapham is out of control and it's fantastic!, hopefully his new one takes off), Air, the upcoming Geek Street etc etc and it seems to me Vertigo is covering more genres than it ever has before.
- Another good doco on the Bush governments love of torture and lack of trials is 'Taxi To The Dark Side', which won the Academy Award for best Documentary.
I saw an unrated version at the Sydney Film Festival - I would imagine they might have pulled back some of the images for classification, nothing was censored in the doco, and there's pics of torture and corpses throughout - and sort of stumbled out of the theater in a daze, just wanting to sit in the gutter and sulk/cry.
Very brutal and unapologetic, shows not jut Abu Gahib (and anyone who thinks that wasn't bad really should be shown the photos they didn't show on the news), but all the places (Camp X-Ray etc) where people have been getting tortured and the conditions they were held in, linked together with a framing device - the story of an Afghan taxi driver, who was arrested along with his passengers (who were the targets) and beaten to death by American troops.
The interviews with the troops are quite intense, they seem very shell shocked by their time in the camp, and although it's hard to link it to a direct order, they do show signs of indirect orders to do it (repeated requests for interrogation training were ignored, they were trained to beat people without actually beating them - you slam your leg into them, so it's not technically a kick, nor technically a punch) - as well as stuff like the infamous Cheney 'I stand eight hours a day' memo.
You can never really bring yourself to forgive the troops, but you do feel sorry they went through it (you'll feel sorry for them, but then you'll see the room they kept the prisoner in, or a photo of his corpse or an interview with his family...), and really feel they were purposefully lacking in leadership.
Also good interviews with people higher up in command, who it's hard to believe are being so frank and open about what was happening.
(At a Q&A after the screening I saw, the producer mentioned they sort of got in early before the whole thing blew up, so people weren't under orders to not talk, and some were eager for the chance to share their disgust).
I'd say it's essential viewing to understand what the hell was going on in these past few years.
Scapled for instance, is a great 'crime' book... no it's not about capers going wrong, or running from the law, but it's a ripper of a story.
It started slow, but with each storyline the danger for the characters, and the feeling of oppression and impending doom keeps growing.
I've heard some consider it to be quite far removed from the reality of living on a reserve - but it's not really about that, more people living at the rock bottom of humanity, with absolutely no hope of a better future.
Throw in DMZ, Northlanders, Young Liars (fucking shame this is getting canceled, Lapham is out of control and it's fantastic!, hopefully his new one takes off), Air, the upcoming Geek Street etc etc and it seems to me Vertigo is covering more genres than it ever has before.
- Another good doco on the Bush governments love of torture and lack of trials is 'Taxi To The Dark Side', which won the Academy Award for best Documentary.
I saw an unrated version at the Sydney Film Festival - I would imagine they might have pulled back some of the images for classification, nothing was censored in the doco, and there's pics of torture and corpses throughout - and sort of stumbled out of the theater in a daze, just wanting to sit in the gutter and sulk/cry.
Very brutal and unapologetic, shows not jut Abu Gahib (and anyone who thinks that wasn't bad really should be shown the photos they didn't show on the news), but all the places (Camp X-Ray etc) where people have been getting tortured and the conditions they were held in, linked together with a framing device - the story of an Afghan taxi driver, who was arrested along with his passengers (who were the targets) and beaten to death by American troops.
The interviews with the troops are quite intense, they seem very shell shocked by their time in the camp, and although it's hard to link it to a direct order, they do show signs of indirect orders to do it (repeated requests for interrogation training were ignored, they were trained to beat people without actually beating them - you slam your leg into them, so it's not technically a kick, nor technically a punch) - as well as stuff like the infamous Cheney 'I stand eight hours a day' memo.
You can never really bring yourself to forgive the troops, but you do feel sorry they went through it (you'll feel sorry for them, but then you'll see the room they kept the prisoner in, or a photo of his corpse or an interview with his family...), and really feel they were purposefully lacking in leadership.
Also good interviews with people higher up in command, who it's hard to believe are being so frank and open about what was happening.
(At a Q&A after the screening I saw, the producer mentioned they sort of got in early before the whole thing blew up, so people weren't under orders to not talk, and some were eager for the chance to share their disgust).
I'd say it's essential viewing to understand what the hell was going on in these past few years.