Detropia

This film is interesting to watch, especially the tour through the ruins of Detroit, a fascinating graphic representation of the collapse of a major American city. The haunted landscape with its empty houses and buildings (often very large buildings) evokes emotions of loss and decline, both sad and romantic at the same time. I was thoroughly entertained while I was watching those scenes. This documentary also interviews some of the residents of those devastated areas, and while those survivors are likable and interesting in themselves, they seem to have little insight into what's going on around them or why. This video provides a paucity of information about what brought about those alarming conditions, instead focusing on allowing the pictures to tell the story.

There are a couple of major omissions that are quite glaring, as if the videographers just had to avert their eyes from the truth because of ideology or just a personal aversion. First is the alarming crime rate. Only about 21% of the homicides are solved. There is no indication here about how dangerous Detroit has become. Another omission is the abysmal condition of the public schools. Without decent schools there is literally no hope for the kids still having to live in the Detroit area. My understanding is that it is not due to lack of money because Detroit schools receive more per pupil than the national average. Only 25% of high school students graduate. A young student is more likely to wind up in prison than in college. A third glaring omission is the fact that the city has been ruled by Democratic politicians for 50 years. The city's problems are to a large extent the result of bad politics, misspent money and cronyism. Without a viable opposition who was there to keep the politicians honest?

I don't mind that much if the documentary was just meant to show the wasteland that was once Detroit as a series of visual images for their own sake. However there seems to be something under the surface that is hinted at but never developed. Why did Detroit take such a nosedive in the last decades? I would have preferred a more in-depth analysis. Why couldn't Detroit adapt to changes in the global market? Auto plants in other parts of the US are doing okay. Did the unions kill the auto industry in Detroit? This is a question that is never asked in "Detropia." Perhaps because the filmmakers didn't want to face the answer.

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.

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.

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.

All I ask for out of a documentary is that it teaches me something and makes me feel. Although Detropia doesn't belong in the trash heap, it did not live up to these simple expectations I have put in place. Detroit definitely has an interesting story; in the 1930's it was one of the most populated states in the country, certainly the easiest place to find a good job. Slowly (with the passing of NAFTA in the late 90's- thanks Clinton) jobs left, followed by people. Detroit has seen the largest mass exodus in the country. The film informs us that almost 10,000 houses per month are torn down because they have been abandoned. The city is in ruins. I thought this would make for a good documentary.

First of all, why is the city going through such problems. I think the directors blame the North American Free Trade Agreement, which is fine because it's probably true. However, they assume that the viewer knows all about NAFTA and exactly how it effected the Detroit auto industry. All they explain is that NAFTA happened and CEO's moved their jobs to Mexico, which caused factories to shut down. I would have appreciated a little more depth into NAFTA; maybe a 90 explanation of why NAFTA meant that companies could move down south, why it passed, who was for it, who was against it? Maybe an interview with a proponent and an opponent. Maybe try to get in touch with spokespeople from these companies. Instead we are left having to pause the movie and do our own research.

As a drifter in his early 30's, I'm interested in cities like Detroit. I think places like this are where the revolution is gaining steam. The documentary spends a few minutes describing what is happening. Very briefly they say that there is a plan in the works to move people who live on the outskirts into the city, in order to create more density. Then, they would convert the outlying area to potentially urban gardens. This is a fascinating idea, revolutionary even, yet that's pretty much all we hear about it. We are shown clips of what appears to be a town hall meeting about the proposal, and then we hear three elementary school dropouts saying, "they be playing gardens? That's dumb yo. People be shooting each other over tomatoes." That's it. That's all we're told about the future of Detroit.

Finally, I understand that a city that poor obviously has a pretty dismal education system (although that doesn't explain why the older people, who lived most of their lives during the boom, are also dumb as cow poop), but surely they could have found someone to interview who had the ability to put together intelligent sentences. The main characters are a video blogger (the closest of the bunch to an average IQ), a burned out owner of what appears to be a Blue's club, and a union leader/pimp. Are there no professors? Are there no community groups? Talk about lazy; it seems like the directors had a few friends in the area and interviewed them. Or maybe they just found the first few people they saw, and mic'd them up. Regardless, the documentary sucked. The only positive is that I'll now to more research on the city.