The Last Laugh is a study on whether or not you can make fun or have a laugh about likely the most unfunny thing ever: The Holocaust. Drawing on many great Jewish comics including Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks to Sarah Silverman, the film explores whether or not there is anything funny about this human tragedy but also looks at how and when you can be funny about any similar event from the Inquisition (remember Monty Python?) to 9/11. Although there are many opinions and some great jokes the consensus seemed to be that the you can laugh at or with the people caught up in the events of that time but you can’t make light of the event itself. The movie draws on scenes from Hogan’s Heroes which starred Robert Clary a holocaust survivor and French actor to Seinfeld’s Soup Nazi to The Producers. Lots of laughs at the Nazi’s primarily but not at their victims or the event itself. I was struck however at the one person in the film who is not an entertainer but rather an activist Renee Firestone who strives to keep the memory alive. She is a survivor of Auschwitz, and elderly woman who is very articulate but not bitter. She laughs occasionally as she tells stories of her days in the camp and brings a humanity to the situation that opens the door to looking at the humour that existed even among the Jews caught up in the horror. It is a fascinating study and a side of many of the comics featured in the film that you might never see otherwise. I highly recommend it.

Do you remember All in the Family, Maude, The Jeffersons, Fernwood Tonight, Mary Hartman among many many other classic TV shows? If you do and you loved them then you will love this movie about the genius who created them all. Norma Lear is now 93 years old and long retired but still as active and vigorous as ever. This documentary was special as it follows the career of a man who pushed the boundaries of what television could do and opened it to political and social issues long felt to be taboo for broadcast TV. Interviews with Jon Stewart, George Clooney and Rob Reiner are interspersed with clips from his more memorable programs to give you insight into one of the most creative minds in broadcasting. Now 93 he still gives generously of his time. The interviews he does for the movie are great but the real thrill, and why I go to festivals like this, was his presence by Skype for a Q and A after the film. Unlike Werner Herzog who couldn’t be bothered to hang around to talk to audiences because he is just too important (sorry I had to get that dig in) Lear gave generously of his time and answered the audience questions with wit and wisdom. A great time was had by all.

Many will remember the rise and fall so to speak of Anthony Weiner the man with the unfortunate name given his troubles. Weiner was a sharp, quick witted, left leaning. Democratic Congressman from New York whose fall from grace began with him texting a photograph of his privates to a woman admirer or at least a woman he admired. He was the object of ridicule on the Daily Show, the Colbert Report and on news media around the world. After the scandal that brought him down in 2011 he tried to revive his political career by running for mayor of New York City against Bill de Blasio. He agreed to allow a film crew inside the campaign to follow his run which he had a real chance of winning. The film gives great insight into the man and the nature of a political campaign but the outcome was not as he expected. Having already been a self inflicted victim of scandal he could not resist temptation and during the campaign he again texted images of his anatomy and was caught. The campaign crashed and burned and the film follows him all the way down with revealing comments from himself and his family and co-workers. It is stunning that he allowed the film to be released and says something about the man, his ego and the times. If you ever wondered how Bill and Hillary stayed together you get some idea of this from the film. Weiner and his wife are both political animals first and human beings afterward. She is one of Hillary Clinton’s closest advisors and is still to this day. Weiner himself is a politician in the fullest sense and while likely no longer electable is making a career out of being a pundit and political commentator. He has no shame and either does his wife apparently. This documentary is a great insight into American politics and hugely entertaining. Weiner is an incredibly charismatic, over the top personality that leaves you shaking your head at what happens, how open he is and where US politics is headed. It is out in wide release now so should show up in Toronto theatres before long.

The life and times of Roger Ebert is the subject of this film and it is not a new documentary but came out in 2014 shortly after Ebert’s death. It did have the virtue of being able to include Ebert in the story with interviews and emails – when he was too ill to speak anymore. While some may not love Ebert and his partner Gene Siskel there can be no doubt that they had a huge influence on the industry and on audiences during the run of their TV show. They were both film reviewers for rival papers in Chicago and Ebert himself fell into the job by chance, being given the assignment when the regular reviewer was unavailable. He was a gifted writer and took to the role with enthusiasm. The competition with Siskel was natural as was their eventual collaboration and in the long run close friendship. The film paints a very moving and insightful look at Ebert, his relationship with Siskel and his final years as he fought and suffered with cancer. I had not seen this movie when it came out but now would urge anyone with a love of film to have a look at one of the great film critics and a really interesting man.

I will be clear. This was simply the best film I saw during my week at Hot Docs and one of the best movies I have seen in some time. Yes I am obsessed with climate change but music is something else that grabs my attention and this film along with Song of Lahore (reviewed elsewhere on this blog site) is simply wonderful. Interestingly the film is funded entirely from Canada and has a Canadian director but it set in the deep south of the U.S. in Mississippi and Louisiana. It is a tribute to the original blues musicians of the deep south most of whom are now in their 70’s and 80’s and some of whom passed away shortly after the film was completed. The viewer however is treated to a close-up and engaging interaction with these musicians. You feel as a viewer are right there with them as they are interviewed, talk among themselves and are followed to performances. The music and the interviews are brilliantly intertwined to complement one another and not interfere with the feeling of the blues that is generated by their openness. It is hard to describe the story as such. One almost becomes friends with the singers and that is something that is a tribute to the film makers and to the musicians. The coolest part for me was at the end. The director and one of the stars of the film – Bobby Rush were standing right next to my seat and I got to thank them both very much for making the film and I shook hands with Bobby which was a real thrill. Look the only way to give you a feel for what you are going to see is to send you to the website where there are all sorts of short cuts from the film and extra scenes. Go to: http://iamthebluesmovie.com/ and enjoy.

How many of you have seen the classic 1960 film The Time Machine based on the H. G. Wells novel? Well the star of this documentary has and could not get it out of his mind. Not all documentaries are serious, depressing stories of politics gone wrong, disaster or social inequity. Some are fun and this one counts in that latter category. Rob Niosi is an animator but also an amateur craftsman who decides he wants to recreate the time machine from the movie in his basement. He has all the tools he thinks and figures it will take him 2-3 months. Some several years later he is still working on what can only be called work of art. The film follows his efforts to build the various components and the new skills he needs to learn in working with wood, metal, and fabric as his dream comes together. In parallel we follow Ron Mallet a theoretical physicist who lost his father to a heart attack when he was very young. He has, since the age of 8, wanted to build a time machine to travel back and warn his father and hopefully save his life. This dream leads him to become a physicist and to study time and space. He is actually one who believes time travel in some sense is possible and is working on the relation between black holes and their connection to time travel. The two time enthusiasts know each other through the film and come together when Rob Niosi is ready to unveil his machine. The event is a party at Niosi’s home and all the guests are required to dress in Victorian costume. It is wonderful event and the two principles of the movie are charming and interesting. You learn a lot about craftsmanship and physics in a relaxing and entertaining way. Highly recommended if you get a chance to see it.

I really enjoyed this film but mostly for the content which I strongly support. While many believe now that climate change is real and a smaller but significant believe humans are the cause, most have no real idea what that means other than it will get hotter and in the distant future (5 decades or so) we will need to do something about it. This film makes it clear that we are already dealing with the impact of climate change and need to do something immediately. Already dealing with it? The Pentagon has taken it totally seriously and recognizes that most of the conflict in the world today can be traced directly to climate change. This includes drought, famine, desertification, intolerable heat in the Middle East and South Asia and worse to come. The reality is that our civilization may not survive the next 10 -20 years. We need to address issues like flooding, wild fires, famine and drought. Our infrastructure is very fragile particularly our power grids and they are all vulnerable to increasing storms. The surge of refugees is already destabilizing Europe and it will get worse as many millions flee intolerable conditions in the southern regions. Some of the more frightening material from this film comes from people like retired US Rear Admiral David Titley. Titley chaired the US Navy Task Force on Climate Change and he has many dire warnings for us. This film was one of several at the festival this year urging us to wake up quickly to the threats facing us today. An important film all should see.

This is a film that shook me up and embarrassed me for my ignorance about Canada’s temporary foreign workers program and how the “local” food I buy and eat is produced. Recently there was a hue and cry when it was discovered that Heinz was no longer going to buy tomatoes for its best selling ketchup from farms in Leamington Ontario and closed a bottling plant in the town that had been operating for decades putting lots of locals out of work. Loblaw’s took the brunt of the criticism when they decided to drop sales of French’s ketchup. French’s ketchup it turned out used tomatoes from Leamington. The outrage was so bad that Loblaw’s had to back off and reinstated French’s ketchup. (which actually tastes better if you ask me.) At any rate I joined in the sense of outrage at least moderately but this was before I knew what I know now. This movie paints a pretty awful picture of the industrial farming that goes on in this “Idyllic” farming community of Southwest Ontario. Huge green houses are used to grow crops and are staffed by migrant workers who are virtual prisoners of their employers. Part of the defence for the employers is that they hire through recruiting agencies and are at arm’s length from the way the workers are treated. Without getting into detail you need to see this film to understand how our national and provincial governments allow this abuse to continue. I hope you will see the movie but then go to the website and sign the petition. Here is the link: http://www.migrantdreams.ca/ and Petition

When I was a high school student my father took a one-year contract position to help establish educational and children’s programming for the newly established national Israeli television broadcasting service. As a result, my family moved to Israel for a year and lived in a small village north of Tel Aviv. The year was 1966-67 so by chance we ended up being in Israel for the Six Day War (yes I am that old) my one and only chance as a Canadian to experience international conflict. To be honest it was somewhat uneventful for my family. The Israeli’s took the war to the enemy destroying their air forces on the ground and swiftly defeating the ground forces in a surprise attack to take the good ground and end the threats. Rabin was the brains behind the victory. His preparation of the Israel Defence Force and the Air Force over the years leading up to the war meant Israel was more than prepared for a war Rabin himself was convinced was coming. He then led his forces to its overwhelming military victory. It was a stunning victory but Pyrrhic to say the least. The following 50 years have been fraught including a second war and ongoing unrest both within the conquered territories and in the country itself.

While this paints Rabin as a warrior the film itself paints a far more complex picture of a leader who was convinced of the need to finish the war with an honourable peace even if it meant compromise with Israel’s enemies. He had a long and eventful political career that ended in 1995 with his assassination. He served as ambassador to the USA, Prime Minister in the 70’s during which he authorized the Entebbe raid, and again prime minister in 1992 until his assassination. During his second term he worked for peace agreements with Egypt and the PLO and lobbied against the resettlement plans of the Israeli government in the period between his prime ministerial terms. Despite his key role in defence of his country he was killed for daring to make peace. The film uses his diaries, speeches and newsreel film to tell the story of one of the 20^th Centuries most remarkable leaders and arguably the greatest Israeli leader in the short history of that country. This is not only a great story but a great film that engages the viewer from beginning to end. I highly recommend it.

When I was a high school student my father took a one-year contract position to help establish educational and children’s programming for the newly established national Israeli television broadcasting service. As a result, my family moved to Israel for a year and lived in a small village north of Tel Aviv. The year was 1966-67 so by chance we ended up being in Israel for the Six Day War (yes I am that old) my one and only chance as a Canadian to experience international conflict. To be honest it was somewhat uneventful for my family. The Israeli’s took the war to the enemy destroying their air forces on the ground and swiftly defeating the ground forces in a surprise attack to take the good ground and end the threats. Rabin was the brains behind the victory. His preparation of the Israel Defence Force and the Air Force over the years leading up to the war meant Israel was more than prepared for a war Rabin himself was convinced was coming. He then led his forces to its overwhelming military victory. It was a stunning victory but Pyrrhic to say the least. The following 50 years have been fraught including a second war and ongoing unrest both within the conquered territories and in the country itself.

While this paints Rabin as a warrior the film itself paints a far more complex picture of a leader who was convinced of the need to finish the war with an honourable peace even if it meant compromise with Israel’s enemies. He had a long and eventful political career that ended in 1995 with his assassination. He served as ambassador to the USA, Prime Minister in the 70’s during which he authorized the Entebbe raid, and again prime minister in 1992 until his assassination. During his second term he worked for peace agreements with Egypt and the PLO and lobbied against the resettlement plans of the Israeli government in the period between his prime ministerial terms. Despite his key role in defence of his country he was killed for daring to make peace. The film uses his diaries, speeches and newsreel film to tell the story of one of the 20^th Centuries most remarkable leaders and arguably the greatest Israeli leader in the short history of that country. This is not only a great story but a great film that engages the viewer from beginning to end. I highly recommend it.