Asheville, NC

Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.

                                                                                                                                  - Mahatma Gandhi

Today, I watched the documentary Prom Night in Mississippi - with the apt tag line "nothing changes until you do". I had been wanting to watch it since hearing an interview with the filmmaker on the radio last year. It's hard to believe that in this day and age, a high school in Mississippi was having separate proms for its students. It seems that it took Morgan Freeman and a documentary crew for the students, school, and school board to recognize that this was an archaic notion - and still some parents wouldn't let their children attend. The idea that prom ought to be integrated was too much for some of the parents to take. Some parts of this documentary were eye opening for me.  In theory, I understood that there are some attitudes that remain prevalent in parts of the southern US. But, I couldn't quite wrap my head around the reality.  This doc is definitely worth watching. 


Next up on my list: The Bodybuilder and I. This was a very compelling doc about a 59-year-old bodybuilder competing to be the top of his age category. The person documenting this quest is his 26-year-old son.  While this is indeed a documentary about bodybuilding, this is secondary to the filmmaker's own narrative, as he tries to come to terms with the fact that his father abandoned him when his parents divorced. Through the process of making the doc, he strives to come to terms with his anger, to know his father, and to find a way to forgive, and move forward.