Detropia

May contain spoilers: It has some interesting images,anecdotes and stories but for the most part it is nothing but ruin porn. I didn't hate the movie but it really did not go too far in depth about the complex nature of the cities decline. These things include racial tensions, mismanagement, population declines, real estate practices, recessions,public schools, politics, crime and outsourcing. I know they covered some of these things but they barely scratched the surface on many of these issues. I think if you really would like to know some of these issues in a more intimate matter than your better off researching it and watching a show like The Wire. I think that show does a great job of examining many issues that the big cities face and to a lesser extent many cities.

This movie is phenomenal for all the wrong reasons. Upon watching this film, I found myself laughing at idiocracy of the residents. They constantly miss the point. The UAW bosses, workers, the citizens of Detroit, and the mayor they elect are just classic showings of people who simply do not understand. The opening scene of the movie sums it up. They won't close the plant down on us, we need to be paid a fair living wage above $13.00 an hour. The basic understanding of supply and demand economics are simply lost, and that is what truly makes the film great. I am sure the director did not intentionally do this, but it becomes clear immediately the disconnect. $13 an hour in Detroit is a living wage. Compare that to China for $2-$3 an hour, the Chinese will soon be able to demand $9 an hour, which will make you middle-class to upper middle-class in China.

The citizens do not understand they are the ones driving away the jobs. GM needs to make profit, and they haven't in years. Even now, as they are doing a little better, we all know it is just another recession, another crappy brown sedan, before they are bankrupt once again. The best part of was the mayor, as he was watching his redistricting plan, and then denied any tax incentives or tax cuts as a way to stimulate job growth. The citizens simply demand things, and then blame it on everyone but themselves. The best part was when one of the citizens in the film begged for more government services, not realizing that in order to provide those services they need revenue.

This film is hilarious to anyone that knows the basic fundamentals of the economy. "Please, please don't take our transportation away". Sums up their just misunderstanding for the basics of business. This movie is able to highlight this on all levels, and is only for the truly intellectual to come to that conclusion. Everyone else will continue the tradition of mediocrity. Don't expect a statement from the film either way, all it takes is common sense.

An opera singer calmly walks thru a large room inside a beautiful piece of architecture, a deserted and dilapidated building being devoured by nature. His beautiful song bounces off walls littered with graffiti. Broken windows, piles of rubble, lost jobs, a city in decay, nowhere to go but up, welcome to Detropia.

This movie briefly takes us around Detroit and into the hearts & minds of its sparse population. We see that the only thing surviving and thriving is the indomitable spirit of its citizens. Most documentaries take the approach of inundating us with information. Don't expect to talk to economic experts or politicians, we talk to the ordinary citizen. We watch them live with their difficult day to day existence as they watch the city decay around them, all the while trying to understand complex causes to a complex problem. Solutions seems so distant all they can hope for is a miracle.

Detropia shows the viewer a microcosm of the human condition through conversations with ordinary folks amidst a sea of ruins. The lovely cinematography continuously compares and contrasts beauty with ugliness, despair with hope. We see small flowers growing among the rubble, a bird rests upon a heap of garbage, people smiling and clinging to what little joy they have as they struggle to make ends meet.

This is a wonderful and calm film that will require the viewer to have patience and be in a sombre mood. Expect sadness tinged with brief glimpses of hope and the answer to the question of whether your cup is half full or empty. I'm left with the feeling that the spirit may be strong in Detroit's citizens, but the realities of the world are slowly crushing them. Let us hope the spirit conquers all.

Greetings again from the darkness. Admittedly, I am tough on documentaries. My expectations are quite high. Reason being, documentary filmmakers need not be burdened with fluffy entertainment requirements. Instead, they can tell a story, debate an issue, or expose a wrong. Wasted opportunities annoy me.

Have you heard anything about the economic hardships in the city of Detroit? Of course you have. It's been a story for more than two decades. So a documentary "exposing" the hardships in Detroit should at least offer a different perspective, debate options, or discuss the challenges of progress. Otherwise, it's a wasted opportunity, which is what we have here.

The film is beautifully photographed and very well put together. It's just missing a reason to exist. It's a clump of different pieces that don't fit and provide little insight. We get a clueless local union president who is clinging to the past and offering no help to his constituents. We get some obscure video blogger whose main credentials seem to be that she lives in Detroit and has her own camera. We get a couple of guys sitting on a front porch making fun of any efforts by local officials to develop solutions.

There seems to have been a very narrow focus on choosing who to interview. At least Tommy Stevens, a local bar owner, is an interesting guy to follow around. He holds out hope that GM will open a Chevy Volt plant and spur business at his club, so he can re-hire his cook. His hopes are dashed when he attends a local auto show and finds out that China has an electric car that at a significantly lower price than Chevy. He recalls the days that stubborn US automakers refused to acknowledge upstart Honda in the US.

We are offered brief glimpses into some type of town hall meeting and the absolute rejection by the union of the "last" offer from American Axle. We are shown a few clips from inside the Detroit Opera, which the Big 3 automakers continue to finance. Lastly, we are introduced to a couple of young artists, who are part of a growing trend of relocations to inner city Detroit to take advantage of the low rents and low housing costs.

All of the above are interesting enough, but again, it's been two decades and we only get one angry lady spouting off about Mayor Dave Bing's seemingly appropriately creative idea of consolidating the outlying areas into a smaller geographic area, so the city can provide services for its citizens and start the process of healing and growing.

There seem to be two real issues worth analyzing. First is the unwillingness of so many to accept that change has already occurred ... so fighting change is a lost cause. Your city is broke. No need to make things worse. Secondly, looking into the true cause of the downturn could lead to interesting discussions of greed. Corporate greed as well as the greed of the people. The Chinese can make a car (and TV's, washing machines, etc) so much cheaper because they are not holding on to our standard of living. Detroit has been called the birthplace of the middle class, but just what is that definition today? These are some of the discussions that need to be had. Just one more look at houses being torn down and empty hotels ... all with the shiny GM towers in the background ... is just a re-hash of what we already know. So yes, the wasted opportunity has me annoyed.

Detropia is a film made by Hiedi Ewing and Rachel Grady which follows the journey of the residence in Detroit struggling with the economically bleeding city. This film really speaks through visually stunning images that look into the every day lives of individuals rather than at macro city level. This movie does more than just tells you facts that look surprising, Its purpose is it to humanize Detroit, to take the stereotypes and knowledge people have and twist it into an personal level. As the film markers follow four people in Detroit, we see how they make their lives work within a city that is failing to provide optimized support. We see the lives of a bar owner, a young artist, a young woman, and union leader...and though their occupations vary, It becomes clear that Detroit is on each of their conscious.

People have this image of this Detroit, as a failing, unhappy, poor place to be. Detroit is a shrinking town, now supporting 700,000 people instead of some 2 million. But that is not the point of the film, even though they address some statistical points, the directors want people watching the film to dismay the background information that has been built up by the media. The Film works to create a complex image that looks at the people and relationships, rather than the overall dismal economic stance the Detroit has. To be able to get the most from the film, one must keep and open mind and let the film lead them.

The most interesting part of the film, is the young white artist who moved to Detroit for opportunity. Obviously more people leave than enter, but it becomes interesting to think that people can find opportunity in Detroit. The artist wanted to do street art and public installation, and the reason he picked Detroit from anywhere else he was was:

"25,000 dollars for an amazing loft (and studio), that just makes it accessible to people like me. I would have never be able to afford or own a home as a artist (elsewhere), here I can" ... "We can experiment here cause if we fail, we haven't really fallen anywhere." He and many young artist who are making a community here find Detroit a place to experiment and actually provide them with more than better cities as house values are extremely low in Detroit. This examples makes the viewers really focus on the individual level, cause it proves the big picture does not always apply to the individuals living in that picture.

Throughout the whole movie whole film, we follow the different characters and feel their pain. The union leader gets to tell people that their wages will go from $12 or $13 to $8 or $9; and for every one step forward he gains, he loses two. Young woman explores the abandoned houses, filming herself the empty and sorrowful decay of beautiful structures that once provided so much. And the bar owner, providing culture, food, and drinks to less and less people as car jobs dwindle ever more. By looking at the city though their eyes we get to have a much wider view of Detroit than most people who only read the news.

This documentary was very successful at being an insightful film. It forces people to look at different perspectives while narrating in a hauntingly beautiful way. There was lots of silence in the film, which allows for the audience to absorb the important conversation created from the residence, to let it dwell in their minds before the movie redirects their attention. Even the opera music in this, has story of its own...as we watch The Detroit Opera house struggling to survive another year. We learn that Detroit affects everyone but not just through a sweeping statistic, everyone feels from the effects from Detroit different. This film would be highly recommended from me as I feel it truly adds another complex layer to poverty and filing cities. This film also holds attention so well without even asking, one just simply gets sucked into the music and the profound images. They do not try to explain everything right away, they just allow you to site there and place yourself within the scene before making a comment. This Film is a very good what that I highly recommend to anyone who wants to experience as much as, if not more, than learn about the city.

This is a great film worth the watch.