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'The River and the Wall': Film Review | SXSW 2019
6:34 PM PST 3/9/2019 by Caryn James [Edited for classroom use]
Visually stunning and politically sharp, this documentary follows five adventurers as they travel the Rio Grande, assessing the ecological and social impact of a border wall.
The five adventurers in The River and the Wall set out with a purpose and a point of view. They will follow the Rio Grande for 1,200 miles where it forms the U.S.-Mexico border, trying to scope out the ecological damage Trump’s proposed wall might cause. Led by the film’s director, Ben Masters — the subject of a 2015 documentary, Unbranded, about his trek driving wild mustangs from Mexico to Canada — the group includes an ornithologist, a river guide, a National Geographic explorer and a conservationist. Along the way, as they switch from bikes to horses to canoes, they occasionally talk to the camera to tell their individual stories. The documentary starts with a spectacular overhead shot of the river flowing through a rocky canyon, boats appearing as tiny specks below. The travelers begin in El Paso on dirt bikes, whose wheels soon become caked with mud. In those early scenes they also talk to two Texas Congressmen. Beto O’Rourke, who was then a Democratic representative (before losing a Senate race and currently considering a presidential run), recorded his interview before he became a national figure. But his comments mirror recent news, as he explains that El Paso has become one of the country’s safest cities, despite its proximity to the border.
Will Hurd, a Republican representative, actually rides along with the group for a short stretch, at one point wading through water and carrying their bikes overhead. Like O’Rourke he rejects the wall, citing practical reasons. “Every mile is different,” he says, pointing to the way the border goes along the riverbank, hills and desert. No wall across that would work. “We already have a physical barrier — it’s called mountains,” he says. More important, he cites technology as a better tool, with surveillance cameras spotting anyone crossing illegally and more border patrol employees to apprehend them.
When the group reaches more open terrain, a trailer arrives carrying horses. Masters is an expert rider, and Filipe DeAndrade, the National Geographic explorer, can barely sit on a horse, but they are all game. Along the way, Heather Mackey, the ornithologist and the only woman of the five, points out that there are 150 species of birds in the area, some only found there. The cameras capture a rich sense of the natural world in the background, including ocelots and bears, as the journey moves past green hills and scrubland, pastel skies in the background. The travelers have more difficulty and the film gains some drama when they switch to canoes and try to navigate around rocks in the rapidly flowing river.
On land the group finds stretches of barriers already built, many resembling high picket fences, none of them very imposing. DeAndrade climbs to the top of one in less than a minute. Masters asks two Mexican fishermen what they think about a possible wall, and one answers, “They’ll just fly over it like Superman.”
Masters, who modestly positions himself as part of the group, talks to landowners who have lived peacefully along the border for years. They fear that their property will be seized, and that the animal life that now freely moves back and forth will stop flourishing. There is no alternate viewpoint offered, but The River and the Wall doesn’t mean to be balanced. Without preaching, it immerses viewers in the natural world and makes an effective case for keeping it that way.
If you reach this point get John's attention for massive summarizing points!
YOU are going to make a (mini)documentary too!
YOU need to bring in a permission slip to go!
If you bring your slip on MONDAY you need to bring $4.00 BART FARE TOO
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HOMEWORK & Announcements:
iPhone kids: TURN OFF HIGH EFFICIENCY VIDEO
Continue filming How-To footage as necessary
Prepare for and film for your Miniature Documentary as time and inspiration allows
Watch
a few different types of TV shows & COUNT how many shots they have
in 30 seconds. Divide 30/by that number and you can see how many average
seconds each shot lasts for that genre of TV. Is ACTION the fastest?
What about dance? What about romance? Reality? Game show?
DEADLINES:
How-To is DUE 90% finished at the end of class Tues/Weds (Block Days) - we are moving into HEAD DOWN, CHURN OUT THE WORK, TIME FOR THE HOW-TO
100% finished and turned in by next Friday - Limited Editing Time Thursday and Friday 5/10/19
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