Crawford
Director: David Modigiani
Studio: Live Action Projects
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Running Time: 74 Mins
Official Website: http://www.crawfordmovie.com/
Crawford Trailer:
“Crawford” is a documentary that had its premiere at the 2008 SXSW Film Festival and has earned praise in “Variety” and from critically acclaimed director Richard Linklater (Waking Life, A Scanner Darkly). The film begins in 1999 when then Texas governor and current U.S. President George W. Bush brought a farm in the small town of Crawford. The town was set into the spotlight, especially when escalating protests that took place during the height of the Iraq war, as Cindy Sheehan and her peace movement begins to divide the town and ignited tensions nationally. But the main thing that this documentary focuses on is the people that live in Crawford, TX. If you are coming into this film thinking that this is a political documentary, then you will be disappointed. It’s a documentary about human stories that showcases life, in a way that people don’t see from most documentaries.
Film Review:
Very rarely, I get a chance to see a documentary that really captures a lot of aspects that I’m looking for, without the director trying to get too personal or trying to force feed, a message. “Crawford” is very realistic documentary that gives you an inside look to the people, who live there. Director, David Modigiani does a great job capturing the town and the people, as I found this film very interesting throughout. One of the things that I liked personality was the fact the director didn’t interjected his own personal political views, to the film, as he stayed neutral to his thoughts on President Bush, and lets both sides on the issue, be heard. He does a great job focusing, on the town from when Bush moved to the quiet small town in 1999 to 2005, when protesters, who were protesting the Iraq war, bombarded the town to 2007. This was nice for a change to see a documentary that focuses on people, than solely on politics or the director’s views. I was very interested with each of the people that were interviewed, regardless of their views. They come off as regular individual people. The other thing that Modigiani does very well, the way that he focuses on the effects, the town goes through during George W. Bush’s presidency. This is when the film, really started to get interesting and focuses on the townspeople. I liked how, he focuses on the stability of his subjects and how it affected the town financially, before, during and after the protests. It gives this documentary creditability because it focuses on the people and not the political views of the director. That in return provided very interesting stories about the people and gave a very realistic tone to small town America and made the characters very interesting and loveable to watch.
DVD Extras Review:
The Dvd comes in a two-disc set, with the first one being the feature film and the second disc, dedicated to the extras. The first thing on the second disc, is the standard trailer.
Next on this disc are the character outtakes. At first glimpse, it would look bad, as some of the characters had one outtake, but this wasn’t that bad, because most of the outtakes were from some of the people that who were the most interesting, in the documentary like the pastor and Pug Meyer (a couple of the interesting people, in the film.) It gives you more insight on those people personally.
Finally, the featurette on the Dvd was forty-eight minute documentary, “Crawford Premieres in Crawford, TX: The town responds". This was the most interesting and most entertaining extra. I liked how, Modigiani decides to include this on the DVD. I thought it was nice to reconnect with some of the characters, in the film, while also letting us see the director interact with them, in a more social setting, as it went into their experiences shooting the film, right up to the film’s premiere at SXSW. It’s a great final chapter to a great documentary.
Crawford is a film that I suggest you go and find out for yourself, as this focuses on the people and the current political climate while not getting too political and trying to send a message. It’s the best documentary that people should be talking about.
You can purchase a copy of the film at: http://crawfordmovie.com/dvd
Film Review: 5 Stars
Extras Review: 4 Stars
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