Search - POV - 20th Anniversary Collection on DVD

What a great show!

M. Nastasi | Grand Forks, ND United States | 02/09/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"POV (Point Of View) is a series presenting hard hitting looks at slices of life often very different than those of the workaday folks who comprise its audience. These eye-opening, sometimes shocking, and always thought-provoking documentaries originally aired on PBS.

The DVD presentation is good: nice packaging and lots of additional material on the disks. Two of the 15 documentaries are presented, sadly, without extras ("Tongues Untied," "American Tongues"), while some have only text bios ("Best Boy," Maya Lin:"). Many are brilliant - consisting of outtakes, film-makers' notes, and even other short films on related subjects. The short subjects attached to "Well-Founded Fear" and "Dark Circle" are particularly strong.

In this collection, you'll find (my individual star ratings for each):

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Best Boy - What happens to a mentally-challenged man when his parents are too old to look after him? 4 out of 5

Dark Circle - brilliant (sometimes furious) look at nuclear power. 4 out of 5

Silverlake Life: The View from Here - A video diary of the last few months of a man's life at the peak of AIDS - simply heartbreaking - 5 out of 5 - would give it 6 if I could!

Leona's Sister Gerri - a look at the life behind the subject of an iconic photograph of a woman who died from a back-alley abortion. 4.5 out of 5

Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision - the story of the Vietnam Vets Memorial. 4 out of 5

Licensed to Kill - terrifying view of violence against GLBT people. 5 out of 5

Regret To Inform - American and Vietnamese war widows... very affecting! 5 out of 5

Passin' It On - from Black Power to prison - the story of Richard Moore (Dhoruba Bin Wahad) and the Black Panthers. 3.5 out of 5

Tongues Untied - sassy, triumphant, shocking - Marlon Riggs on being black and gay - yes, this is the documentary that caused all the uproar about PBS and the "Culture War." Love it or hate, it no one can deny that it's a landmark piece of documentary history. 5 out of 5.

Of Civil Wrongs and Rights: The Fred Korematsu Story - great story of a Japanese American man who refused to leave his home and move to the camps in WWII. 5 out of 5

Well-Founded Fear - What is political asylum? Who gets it in America? 3.5 out of 5

American Tongues - American English in all its variety and color. This one is a hoot! 5 out of 5

Farmingville - When America's love/hate relationship with immigrants and immigration reaches the suburbs. 4 out of 5

Taking On the Kennedys - follows the campaign of the unknown dark-horse who almost unseated a Kennedy. 4.5 out of 5

The Chances of the World Changing - a man, his endangered turtle friends, an ark, and a deeply satisfying look at what we're willing to give up for what we love. 5 out of 5

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I heartily recommend this collection!

Thanks for reading!"