jjunebrown Reviews

The Year of the Dog (2022)

Power of Trust and Love in a Great Recovery Story

[10/10 · 29 March 2023]

I loved watching The Year of the Dog and going through all the extreme emotions with the main characters in this great story.

The film is about developing trust and love after deep losses, classic man versus himself conflict. And a great rescue dog. It was so realistic I did not want it to end.

Wonderful sensitive performances from the lead actor (and writer) Rob Grabow, and amazing actors Michael Spears and Jon Proudstar who are Native American. You will find history and strength and wisdom in their words.

I learned a lot about sled dogs and dog psychology that I did not know before, even though I grew up with a best friend dog - a German Shepherd mix not unlike the dog in the movie - and am a lifelong dog lover. The movie star dog is a stray Husky underdog (and was a rescued abandoned dog in real life too), like the fictional main human character says of himself in the trailer. He is a man estranged from his own family and recovering from alcohol addiction.

Watching the relationship grow between the headstrong dog and the equally obstinate man, who starts out clueless about dogs, was a delight. A few moments of the film are burned in my memory, one when the Husky and recovering alcohol nap together is so peaceful.

Montana is beautiful in the movie. I had never been there or seen dog sledding before, but it is really remote. Watching the movie in theaters at the Village East in New York City, I was transported to a wilder cleaner place. The music in the movie is original and lovely. I hope this comes out on streaming sites so I can watch it again.

At some scenes I laughed, but I also cried. As a reviewer here said, bring tissues. Recovery from alcoholism is a tough road to watch. I had alcoholics in the extended family and I wish they had had friends and a dog like this to bring them love and hope.

I highly recommend The Year of the Dog to viewers!

Bidder 70 (2012)

A heroic youth is jailed for bidding to keep parks public in the US.

[7 June 2014]

Don't miss this deeply moving true story of a youth who derailed an illegal auction of Utah's public lands to energy companies. Tim DeChristopher chose the lesser of two evils. He avoided the energy company takeover of public parkland by bidding on the auctioned lands himself - without having the funds on hand to actually buy.

His brave and spontaneous act of civil disobedience landed him in court and then in prison for two years. He served a jail sentence many people thought was grossly unjust. This movie documents a part of the environmental movement in the US that many of us know little about, and is inspiring.

Promised Land (2012)

Gives a voice to work angst and captures beauty of country life with true colors.

[10/10 · 29 December 2012]

Promised Land, the new movie from director Gus Van Sant, takes a long hard look at people's decisions to sell land use rights away to energy companies for gas drilling. Small landowners and large farm owners each face a crisis when the gas man comes to town. The Pennsylvania landowners are not the only people to go through a crisis of conscience in the movie. The energy company employees also struggle with sorting out the truth and the lies behind their work. As one employee says, "it's just a job". Increasingly as the real news comes out day after day about chemical contamination after hydraulic fracturing – fracking – one person's job morphs into another person's tragedy.

I grew up in the foothills of the Catskill Mountains in New York, a rural area that is now at a the center of a raging debate over fracking land rights for the Marcellus Shale gas. Fracking was put on hold here in New York, due to concerns over health impact of chemicals used and chemical waste produced. The story in the movie, Promised Land, as written by star actors Matt Damon and John Krasinski, captures parts of country life from my childhood with true colors. Closeness to the earth, respectful of honesty in conversation, I remember this well. The dialog throughout is natural and believable.The movie is beautifully filmed to share the peace of nature.

Escape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare (2012)

Escape fire shines a light on powerful dark matter of medicine.

[10/10 · 8 October 2012]

As a person working in health care education, I think Escape Fire, the documentary film, shines a strong steady light on the powerful dark matter of medicine.

Personal stories of patients seeking care are interwoven with expert commentary from heads of government, insurance companies, doctors and journalists. While the call that US health care is broken seems old, the stories shown here are shocking and new. They uncover why it is broken and how it can heal. The stress points that are breaking seem to be about focusing on sick-care instead of health care.

A heart surgeon exposes what he names "perverse economic incentives" that reward doctors for doing procedures, instead of rewarding them when patients become healthier. A former head of a health insurance company visits a US remote areal medical service - where people come from miles around to line up for free care in sheds and tents - and he has a crisis of conscience. A doctor shows research evidence that reducing stress reverses heart disease, and then forms teams of physicians, psychologists, nutritionists and yoga instructors to help patients heal.

One patient in the ER for heart disease talks to the doctor about when he'll change to a heart health diet. For him, it will be when he knows what's wrong with him. Education about what causes leading chronic health problems is missing from our schools. And the movie Escape Fire points out that preventative care and nutrition education are also lacking in most doctors' educations too.

This new movie is not all gloom and doom, far from it. With a focus on healthy living, healthy foods, keeping active and reducing stress with yoga and meditation, the film makers give us a great big dose of hope. One patient portrait is of a veteran, Sgt Yates, who served in Afghanistan and returned with PTSD and back injuries, unable to walk. He is transformed and says, "I'm not changed, but I'm changing".

This movie made me want to change too, and take more responsibility for my own health. We needed health care reform, now we need a health care revolution, with each patient being part of the change.