Six and a half movies in three days

On occasion I see two movies in a week, but that is rare.  This week the Academy for Lifelong Learning had a midwinter movie festival.  It was well planned and well attended. The first day three documentaries were shown. I had seen Gasland before and felt as angry and helpless and despairing as the first time as I watched how the natural gas companies are polluting the waterways, deep wells and probably aquifers of about a third of the United States and injecting carinogens without being called to task.  The movement was begun by Halliburton, lead by then CEO Cheney who saw to it that gas companies' "fraking" was  not subject to any EPA oversight at all. I can't say more. I am too upset just remembering this much and thinking of the probably thousands of people who are going to suffer cancer and other diseases because of the pollution. They will suffer, our healthcare system will be further burdened and the gas companies get richer and richer and tell us it's "the clean fuel". 

After that we had a  breather and watched September Issue, about Vogue magazine, especially about editor Anna Winter and her "assistant" Grace Coddington. I had seen it before too, but it was delightful to watch skinny Anna in her graceful print dresses and perfect makeup and Grace (once just a beautiful) without makeup, her red hair a firestorm around her face, mostly wearing the same black dress and squishy sandals.  A third documentary was shown which I had also seen and I was totally overcome after two movies.

The second day concentrated on Grapes of Wrath which I wrote about a couple of days ago,

The third day we saw three Australian movies beginning with the mysterious and beautifully photographed Picnic at Hanging Rock. The photo above is from it --it's a 1900 finishing school for young ladies. Three girls disappear along with a teacher on that picnic. A true story, true mystery never solved. Lightening the whole event, the after lunch movie was Babe, the pig who wanted to be a sheep dog. I had never seen it and was delighted to be taken into an animated animal morality play.  Finally the festival ended with Shine which I had seen and would see again and again for the performance of the Rach 3 (and other music). This is a story with many psychological layers. I become angry that a father can so (unwittingly) abuse a child and drive him really to psychosis.  But it's a deep and wonderful movie.

I'm movied out ... for a couple of weeks.  I don't know how other people can watch many movies a week.