Radium City
1987 documentary about the ladies who painted the glow-in-the-dark radium onto clock faces and hands starting in the 1920s, their horrible health problems and inhumane treatment by government researchers, the careless destruction of the radium dial factories in the ’60s and 80s, and the high levels of contamination that will persist in the town for something like 32,000 years.
I was excited about this as soon as I heard about it, but now that I’ve actually watched the preview I am SO SUPER EXCITED! We’re going tomorrow unless we go today.
I went to the movies twice in two days: part 2.
“THE BLACK POWER MIXTAPE 1967-1975 mobilizes a treasure trove of 16mm material shot by Swedish filmmakers, after languishing in a basement of a TV station for 30 years, into an irresistible mosaic of images, music, and narration chronicling the evolution one of our nation’s most indelible turning points, the Black Power movement. Featuring candid interviews with the movement’s most explosive revolutionary minds, including Angela Davis, Bobby Seale, Stokely Carmichael, and Kathleen Cleaver, the film explores the community, people and radical ideas of the movement. Music by Questlove and Om’Mas Keith, and commentary from and modern voices including Erykah Badu, Harry Belafonte, Talib Kweli, and Melvin Van Peebles give the historical footage a fresh sound and make THE BLACK POWER MIXTAPE 1967-75 an exhilarating, unprecedented account of an American revolution.”
It was really interesting to see a documentary about America through the eyes of Swedish filmmakers, especially since it’s a part of American history that’s pretty much avoided by the mainstream media and glossed over in history classes. The footage they were able to get was pretty incredible, including the first interview with Angela Davis while she was in prison, Stokely Carmichael interviewing his mom, and an interview with the head of TV Guide explaining how Swedish tv is anti-American. It was a lot to take in. We went with a group of about five people and all of us left the theater sort of in a daze. I knew more about this movie going in, as Channing saw it at True/False and has since interviewed the director for Colorlines, and I still thought it was excellent even though I’d been hearing him hype it since March. I don’t really know what else to say about it, other than you should definitely see it for yourself if you get a chance.
