FRONTLINE: the pbs documentary series not the flea medicine

<3 no prob
someone's gotta do it

frontine seems determined to bring us the most disturbing news the world has to offer
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/the-trial-of-ratko-mladic/

gotta hand it to em for clarity of purpose

holy shit

that one was really disturbing on a human nature level, esp when they interviewed the mladic hardline supporters.

in better news, new David Sutherland (Kind Hearted Woman, Country Boys) doc finally coming out!! his titles are getting longer: new one is "Marcos Doesn't Live Here Anymore"

ooh yay

and yeah, mladic was a touch watch all round but i am glad i watched, there was a lot i was not aware of at the time

*tough

will watch new sutherland no q's asked! It will be a frontline?

yup
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/marcos-doesnt-live-here-anymore/

premieres 4/15

Marcos Doesn't Live Here Anymore is definitely worth your time -- lots of food for thought, looming elephants in the room, awkward community meetings & very private personal conversations

ooh i forgot about this - must watch

curious what other people think about it
report back!

i still haven't been able to discuss this because no one i know has watched it
cmon ilx don't leave me hangin

plus upcoming one is about the neverending battle about legal abortion and i probably won't watch that tbh

I can't watch Frontline anymore, the daily news pushes me past the point I can bear watching anything except X-Files reruns or the Voyage of the Mimi

Caught the one covering the history of the Mueller report a couple of weeks back.
But having to d/ld them so only catching them when I see them upped.

i watched marcos. i had a lot of thoughts.

i worked on one of these once, "the future of war" in 2000. it was basically my one and only involvement with serious journalism, before i spent the rest of my 20s reviewing shit alt-country records. ah well.

Harbl I’d like to know your thoughts. I had some too. Lots actually. I can’t stop thinking about the lack of overt discussion in the film about language. How can they not talk about language? The communication difficulties between him and his wife were like a cloud hanging over the whole thing.

F hazel that makes me sad. I basically only get my news via local public radio and am on a strict no-opinion/no-prognostication diet. I get the aversion :(

i'm sleepy and not able to articulate these things well anyway but what i appreciated most about this one was it was not constructed in a way to be such a hopeful story like too many political documentaries are. it was just extremely complicated. and you say "how can they not talk about language" which is true but there are many things that were not talked about here that made it more interesting in a way. i am having trouble with how to explain this...having spent more time apart than together, their relationship had frozen in a honeymoon period in a way? these two had not enough experience being with each other. it is easy to long for a person when you talk on skype for one hour a day and spend all your other time fighting to get them back to you. together the language and other difficulties just turn sort of toxic. it was like there was a wall between them when they were together. in fact i felt that had he not been deported this may not have lasted. i feel bad for thinking that.

There are always huge elephants in the room in all the Sutherland docs I’ve seen— it’s why I love them! Language was just a small part of it. Culture was another part. Distance wasn’t so much of an elephant but an albatross they had to carry around. Thank you for your thoughts!

Sadly I thought for sure there wouldn’t be 4 kids if he hadn’t been deported but I am a romantic realist, not a romantic. His deportation characterized/epitomized their relationship in a way.

yup, i think you're right

At the same time, jfc can they let the guy back in to be with his veteran wife? Just say yes — that was all anyone had to do.

My nomination for most awkward scene was tied between them awkwardly walking around Mexico City and arguing about their (“luxury”) apartment wherever they were in the Yucatán.

"Trump's Trade War" = extremely boring imo, put me directly to sleep

That means it has its virtues, but I don't recommend watching it. Suuuuuuuuuper dull.

If you're like "this day/week/month/year is pretty nice, but what I really need right now is a way to freak out about the law of the land" then this Frontline is for you!
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/thirty-nine-supreme-revenge-interviews-on-the-record-at-your-fingertips/

i...don't think i'm gonna watch this one

same :(

new one about Saudi Arabia is suuuuper long (almost 2 hours) and O_O
haven't missed a frontline in years, why start now

Just watched the episode about Flint's water problems and I'm fucking furious.

omfg is anyone watching this America’s Great Divide series??!!?? It’s reminding me how much we (we = ppl who live in the USA, in this context) have been through. I’m halfway through episode 2 and the initial press briefings w Sean Spicer are like the 800th least shocking thing in there and they are still shocking. If you have the stomach, I recommend. No idea how I have the stomach but here I am.

I tried watching some of it online. Having lived through it once, while paying attention, was enough to teach me everything I needed to know about the past dozen years. A reprise is not particularly instructive, although you're right enough that it is quite painful in retrospect. But it was painful enough the first time through that the lessons hadn't faded away.

I was also paying attention while living through it -- seeing the summary was actually quite instructive for me because 1) it made it easier for me to be able to explain what happened to students and 2) it gives people who weren't paying attention/were too young to get it a solid primer for "how did we get here?!"

It was actually easier to get through than the first time it all went down because I have better coping skills now. After a lot of work...

New one!

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/how-amazon-convinced-millions-of-people-to-welcome-listening-devices-into-their-homes/

Even one of the founders of Amazon Web Services approaches his Alexa devices with caution.

Robert Frederick, who left the company in 2006, tells FRONTLINE that he turns off his Alexa devices “whenever I want to have a private moment.”

“I don’t want certain conversations to be heard by humans,” Frederick says. “Conversations that I know for a fact are things that should not be shared, I turn off those particular listening devices.”

"listening devices" literally turns my stomach but this is still some pretty lite content comparatively

there'll no doubt be another snowden-esque revelation that the devices were indeed listening all along, for national security reasons naturally, and everyone will be outraged for two to three weeks

It's only a matter of storage density and voice recognition capability both increasing beyond certain points that you can expect to be recorded in every public space (and most private spaces) 24/7/365. Will it be abused? In early 21st century terms, yes. In 2040 terms? It'll be as normal as being required to carry picture ID on you at all times, which similarly used to freak people the fuck out.

If I live until 2040, I plan to communicate in public only by scribbling notes on pad of paper and handing it to people. Using a number 3 pencil.

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/coronavirus-pandemic/

Not as alarming as you would think -- made me feel proud of medical professionals and determined to fight this shit

Some good new ones -- I really liked the one about Iraqis/the war (Once Upon a Time in Iraq) and the most recent one about C19 + agricultural/meatpacking workers is essential if you have eaten a piece of broccoli in the last 5 months (and didn't grow it yourself, and if you did enjoy your high horse!)
Covid's Hidden Toll https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/covids-hidden-toll/

1) Here to stan for Independent Lens' docu-series Philly DA (the series, not necessarily the man although I believe he has good intentions)
2) There's a new Frontline about refugees from Eritrea and one of my students wrote her final project about this very same journey! Looking forward to watching that one
3) Have not watched the covid retrospective docs yet -- I feel like it's a little soon?!?!

first ep of Philly DA was great, not looking forward to the way this unravels... it unravels right? How can it not unravel.

It's so gooooooooood!!! I like the eps that drift away from the central Krasner-tory the best but he was obvs the reason for the season. I watched the whole thing already bc I have PBS passport & was hungry for docs. My only recommendation is to watch it quickly because it's easy to get confused and the filmmakers didn't remind us what everyone's name is so it's always "that lady w curly hair who was a holdover from previous administration" or whatever.

Also the screaming FOP-supporting white people = background players in Mare of Easttown

Krasner-Story
typo oops

This looks promising! Sort of boring, but I like that --

A trove of nearly 12 million confidential documents, collectively known as the Pandora Papers, reveals the hidden assets and secret deals of some of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful people, including 130 billionaires, 35 current and former world leaders and more than 330 politicians and public officials.

The documents — shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists by an anonymous source — include records from 14 financial service providers around the world. The leaked files illustrate the global entanglement of political power and secretive offshore finance, and how U.S. trusts are sheltering millions in controversial assets.

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/pandora-papers-video-news-icij/

Some earlier talk here: The proof is in the Putin: thread for Panama Papers/Mossack Fonseca leaks.

the el mozote episode from yesterday is heartbreaking

i don't think i'll be watching that one. for the curious and non-googling https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/massacre-in-el-salvador/

i am however interested in the Pandora Papers segment that apparently also finally aired. I've been out of the loop lately!

Welp. I haven't made it through the USA and the Taliban three-parter but I am almost through the one about Clarence and Ginni and I am here to recommend for anyone who lives in USA and is subject to the rulings of the Supreme Court (aka everyone who lives in USA or cares). These people, my god. If you're not there for "how did they get here?" seeing his testimony juxtaposed with Anita Hill's and knowing one of them had to be perjuring themselves...and that it wasn't Anita Hill? Bone chilling.

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/documentary/clarence-and-ginni-thomas/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJuRx1wARUk