Documentary – We Are Movie Geeks

PERCY GREEN: MAN OF ACTION Documentary – Review

Many St. Louisans who know a bit of Civil Rights history, Percy Green is known as the man who climbed the Arch, when it was partly built, to protest the lack of minority hiring by the company that was building it. As the 60th anniversary of the St. Louis Arch approaches, it is the perfect time for PERCY GREEN: MAN OF ACTION, the documentary the local legend by Joseph Puleo, which airs on PBS Nine on Monday, Oct. 27, 2025 at 7pm.

But there is much more to this Civil Rights activist – icon, actually – than that one spectacular protest, as you will learn in this insightful, engrossing documentary. Now 90 years old, Percy Green is still committed to Civil Rights, and worked with documentary filmmaker Joseph Puleo in the making of this first-rate, inspiring documentary. PERCY GREEN: MAN OF ACTION delves into Green’s life and work, and the Civil Rights movement generally, offering insights and information through archival stills, footage and interviews, as well as some excellent animated sequences.

For one, Percy Green participated in one of the earliest Civil Rights actions in the country, the groundbreaking Jefferson Bank protest in 1963, where protesters didn’t just march but laid in the street to block trucks as part of their non-violent resistance. Green is truly a man of action, which is what he named the Civil Rights organization he founded, ACTION.

Joseph Puleo’s film PERCY GREEN: MAN OF ACTION is skillfully-made, both informative and enjoyable, spotlighting a local hero of the Civil Rights whose name and actions should be known by all. Puleo’s previous documentaries include 2020’s AMERICA’S LAST LITTLE ITALY: THE HILL, about St. Louis’ Hill neighborhood, 2022’s A NEW HOME, about the Bosnian War refugees who settled in St. Louis and transformed the area around Bevo Mill, and the filmmakers has won awards for this work, including a Mid-America Emmy for Best Documentary – Cultural for the latter one. He is currently working on another documentary, BROTHERS IN BLOOD: BALCK IN VIETNAM.

The other big action Percy Green was famous for was the “unveiling” of the Veiled Prophet, an invented pseudo-Middle-Eastern figure, created by an old restricted, whites-only social organization of wealthy and powerful St. Louis “old family” elites, a club that dated back to at least the 19th century. The role of the Veiled Prophet was played by a top-ranking member of this segregated club, whose identity was kept secret, and in that role, presided over a parade and then a debutantes ball. Green didn’t do the un-veiling but he organized that action, which drew attention to this segregated organization.

The documentary personalizes the stories as it tells them, and recounts Civil Rights history, and Percy Green’s history, that should be much better known, not just in St. Louis. The documentary highlights the efforts of the FBI under J. Edgar Hoover to attack Green and ACTION, and leaves us with a feeling of uplift and inspiration to see a good man who could not be kept down, and who gave so much to the Civil Rights movement and this country.

Do not must this stirring documentary about a local Civil Rights hero, but if you do, hopefully it will become available through PBS’s Passport streaming service.

RATING: 4 out of 4 stars

*Percy Green in PERCY GREEN: MAN OF ACTION*

NAKED AMBITION (2025) – Review

Here’s a terrific new release that dispels that old, certainly now outdated, thought that watching a documntary was “homework”. This one’s a brisk, breezy romp through the fringes of pop culture that makes a sharp turn into an exploration of the changing attitudes towards the societal roles of women. So, yes, sex does play a big part. Mainly, it’s a portrait of an artist (that label may have irked and offended the intellectual elite then, but few would question it now). That artist in question is a photographer named Bunny (born Linnea) Yeagar who actually went from being a model in front of the camera to staging and snapping pics of, sometimes referred to as, “pin-up queens”. These ladies were usually clad in bikinis (which Bunny popularized), exotic attire, and sometimes in the “all together,” which gives a multiple meaning to this doc’s title, NAKED AMBITION.

The locale for Bunny’s life story quickly shifts from her birth in a chilly Pittsburgh suburb to sun-kissed Miami in the late 1940s. After winning several beauty pageants, she became a very busy photo model for several magazines and newspapers originating from Florida. That “ambition” started early as she embraced the big swimsuit sensation, the bikini, and enhanced them with her own design (one was comprised of plastic daisies). A new career opened up when she took a night class in photography at a vocational school. Bunny began taking pics of herself (perhaps these are the earliest “selfies”), then directed her BFF Maria Stinger (now there’s a great model moniker) in some very popular “men’s Magazine” spreads before expanding her “roster”. Seems that women were more comfortable with her behind the lens, rather than the leering men who formed “camera clubs”. Then, in 1954, through her photo mentor Irving Claw (another great name), Bunny met her muse, the bubbly brunette with the “bangs”, Bettie Page. These pics of Ms. Page, especially those taken at a wild animal “safari” park, became staples of pop culture when she was “rediscovered” through the Dave Stevens art of the Rocketeer graphic novels. Those shots attracted Hugh Hefner, and soon Bunny was a staple of his fledgling Playboy magazine. In the doc, we’re introduced to Bunny’s first husband, Arthur, a former cop, who becomes her business partner and the father of their two daughters, Cherilu and Lisa. We learn how Bunny took side “gigs” in the movies (with Sinatra) and later crooned as a lounge singer. But with the huge cultural shift in the late 60s, the public passed up the camp “cheesecake” for pornography (even parting ways with Playboy) and Bunny was adrift until a new appreciation in the late 1990s that led to new hardcover book collections and several gallery shows (at the Warhol). In the film’s epilogue, we’re told that Bunny shot on film right up until her passing at age 85 in 2014.

Director Dennis Scholl and Kareem Tabsch are two talented cinema “tour guides” for this chronicling of a remarkable life. Yes, there are the usual “talking heads”, but those interviewed offer some great insight into Bunny’s technique, including several working photogs, historians, and the modern “glamour gal” icon Dita Von Teese. And there’s some archival interview, though Larry King’s “chestnut” tale of a fan encounter doesn’t add much, ditto for the recollections of Hef. However, the audio-only stories from the real Page are quite engaging, as are the contrasting views of Bunny’s daughters (Lisa embraces her mom’s legacy while the more conservative Cherilu is somewhat embarrassed). The best parts of the docs are the incredible collages of the campy cheesecake pics that somehow still resonate a sweet innocence since most of the models are smiling, some even in “mid-laff”, conveying the high spirits of those optimistic days nearly 70 years ago. The filmmakers also address the big societal changes, first with Bunny’s friendship with a famous photo “buff”, Sammy Davis, Jr, who had to hide in the back seat when the two cruised around Miami before a “model shoot”. And later Bunny tries to get more “provocative” with the free-spirited “hippie chicks” in the late 60s. Plus, we get to view some grainy, faded home movie footage (I imagined the film disintegrating right after the digital transfer) and some adorably stiff and awkward films of an “actual photo session”. Scholl and Tabsch don’t shy away from the “tough times” as we learn of the demise of Bunny’s depressed hubby and their trumped-up obscenity bust. Luckily, the story ends on a triumphant note, despite the clash between the daughters and some estate problems, as Bunny gets her well-earned praise and appreciation from her peers. Her story, as told in the engaging NAKED AMBITION, is pretty close to “picture perfect”.

3 out of 4

NAKED AMBITION is now playing in select theatres

DEAF PRESIDENT NOW – Review

*(L-R) Tim Rarus, Bridgetta Bourne-Firl, Greg Hlibok, and Jerry Covell, the leaders of the Gallaudet protest, in DEAF PRESIDENT NOW. Courtesy of Apple TV+*

The biggest student protest you never heard of took place in 1988, when the Deaf students of Gallaudet University rose up to demand that a Deaf person be chosen as President of the world’s only university for the Deaf, for the first time in 124 years. The powerful documentary DEAF PRESIDENT NOW tells the story of that game-changing eight-day protest, which took place before the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act and did so much to change how other people saw Deaf people. It marked a major turning point in the drive for equal rights for Deaf and others classified as disabled by society.

And the Gallaudet students had reason to hope for a Deaf president this time, as the university’s governing Board of Directors was considering three candidates, two of which were Deaf. But they chose the one hearing person, and the outraged students poured out in protest, eventually taking over Gallaudet’s Washington, D.C. campus, carrying signs and banners demanding “Deaf President Now.” After waiting 124 years since Gallaudet’s founding. it finally was time for a Deaf president.

The documentary capitalizes Deaf throughout, and this review follows that lead. DEAF PRESIDENT NOW revisits this monumental moment for deaf people and for human rights, through contemporary interviews with the four student leaders of this rebellion, Greg Hlibok, then the newly-elected student body president, charismatic, fiery leader Jerry Covell, energetic feminist Bridgetta Bourne-Firl and committed, steady force Tim Rarus. The contemporary interviews are supplemented by stills and archival footage of the events, before and after the students took over the college campus. There are also interviews with one of the deaf candidates for president of Gallaudet, a popular professor on campus, Prof. I. King Jordan. The documentary, which debuted at Sundance this year, was co-directed by Davis Guggenheim and Nyle DiMarco.

This rebellion of Deaf students took place in 1988, before the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act, but near the end of a century that saw numerous groups stand up and demand their rights. At the beginning of the twentieth century, women demanded the right to vote, and got it in 1920. In the 1950s, after the end of WWII, the Civil Rights Era began, as Black people demanded their rights. In the 1960s, woman demanded equality and almost got the Equal Right Amendment passed despite extra restrictions placed on it. In the 1970s, gay people spoke up and fought back to demand their rights, and at the end of the 1970s, older people and those with disabilities began to demand their rights too. The 1980s saw this trend toward rights stall, but didn’t kill the fight for rights for the disabled.

The documentary does not go into this historical context but it is important that audiences keep it in mind while witnessing the degree of condescension with which the students are treated, first by the imperious wealthy woman, Mrs. Spilman, who is the board’s president, and then by the hearing woman the board selected, Dr. Zinzer, a nurse with no experience dealing with the deaf community, as the best candidate for president of the world’s only university for the deaf. Neither woman knew sign language and both spoke to students in soothing tones as if they were small children while failing to address their very valid concerns.

DEAF PRESIDENT NOW toggles back and forth between the contemporary interviews and archival images and footage, some in black-and-white and some in color, detailing the events of each of the eight days of the protest, all of which is marked with a title card. The archival footage includes some of broadcast interviews with the university’s Board President, Mrs Spilman.

An interesting aspect of this moving film is its sound design. Periodically, the directors just drop out the sound, so we “hear” what the students hear, which is silence. It is a striking effect, because it comes and goes, and constantly reminds us their world. The four leaders of the protest, and deaf professor I. King Jordan, all speak some on their experiences growing up, either in a deaf family or in one more mixed. There is discussion of degrees of hearing loss, differences between people who grew up deaf and those who became deaf later, and about deaf culture itself.

This well-made, eye-opening documentary is both an inspiring and moving film about an important, unjustly forgotten historical event and an intriguing glimpse into deaf culture, with a chance to meet some real heroes who changed the world for the better.

DEAF PRESIDENT NOW debuts streaming on Apple TV+ on Friday, May 16.

RATING: 3.5 out of 4 stars

PIECE BY PIECE – Review

Here’s a challenge for even the most respected and revered documentarians: how do you make your film different than the usual profile/biography? Mind you, there have already been some exceptional showbiz docs this year with SUPER/MAN and FAYE. Not to mention the two-part four-hour look at Steve Martin made by this film’s director, Morgan Neville. Is there a fresh way to present the “talking heads” interviews, the “reanactments”, and the archival footage? How about animation, much like the recently lauded FLEE? That’s a start, but should it be standard hand-drawn 2-D, or the molded CGI? Yes to the latter, but do it in the Lego brick style since Warner’s let their license lapse. This gives the title a double meaning as Neville examines the life and career of Pharrell Williams, step by step, or rather PIECE BY PIECE.

After a brief opening sequence of the film’s subject playing with his wife and children, Williams is whisked away to a section of his home where Neville and his crew are setting up for an interview shoot. Neville is stunned when Williams shares his epiphany that his life should be “Lego-animated”. The story then shifts several decades in the past, as we see Pharrell as a fun-loving boy growing up in a housing project in Virginia Beach, VA. With the ocean nearby and a big Posiedon statue towering over it, and living in the Atlantis apartments, Williams believes that there was “something in the water”. Perhaps that’s why he saw colors when looking into the speakers of his “boom box”. Ditto when he enjoyed the church choir with her adored grandmother. It seemed inevitable he’d form a band with some of his pals. Williams and BFF Chad Hugo were the driving force behind the Neptunes (another water riff). Their hopes rose when a big music producer opened a big recording studio. After being spotted at the local school’s talent show, the Neptunes became part of the studio crew, going from errand work (getting coffee, etc.) to making music suggestions. From there they tried getting the NYC labels interested. Eventually, they got some airplay near their hometown and were soon collaborating with Pusha-T, N.O.R.E., Snoop Dogg, Gwen Stefani, Timbaland, and Busta Rhymes. Soon he and Chad were major producers garnering awards and working with the best of the biz including Justin Timberlake, Daft Punk, and Jay-Z. After marrying and starting a family, Williams yearns to express his only musical voice. And with the “Happy” help of Gru and his Minions, it all “clicks”…

So yes, it does give a new energy and sparkle to the old documentary tropes. There’s a playful quality to everything, particularly in the sequences set in the old Virginia Beach hometown as people frolic (on foot, bikes, and skateboards) in the bright sun as the Blue Angels fly overhead. A satiric element is added in the later scenes involving other music superstars, especially Snoop Dogg as they’re surrounded by mist emitting from a spray bottle labeled “PG haze”. It’s also fun to see the Lego logo in the ocean foam as a fish breaks the surface. I had seen a CBS Sunday Morning profile of Williams a few days ago, so I was a bit surprised that the story stopped short of his recent foray into fashion, which might have inspired more clever brick recreations. The colors are dazzling and the visuals are inventive (drops of water and chicken nuggets are plastic smooth hoops), but the story’s throughline feels a tad rote (I did this which led to this and this and…). It offers some good life lessons for kids, with a great montage of Williams literally bouncing off the walls of the offices of stunned studio execs, but older folks may be confused by some similar design choices and the constant music biz “name drops”. This radical mesh of movie styles is a noble experiment, which could yield moviegoers a new slate of biopics that build on the cinematic potential shown in PIECE BY PIECE.

2.5 Out of 4

PIECE BY PIECE is now playing in theatres everywhere

FRIDA – Review

One of Frida Kahlo’s paintings featured in the documentary FRIDA. © 2024 Banco de México Diego Rivera & Frida Kahlo Museums Trust. Av. 5 de Mayo No. 20, col. Centro, alc. Cuauhtémoc, c.p. 06000, Mexico City. Courtesy of Amazon Prime Video

Frida Kahlo remains endlessly intriguing, in part because the Mexican artist’s colorful paintings remain striking, mysterious and even slightly disturbing and partly because of her bold, dramatic, sometimes tragic life. The artist has been the subject of several films, both narrative and documentary, and Kahlo has been played beautifully by actresses Salma Hayek and Ofelia Medina among others. But in director/writer Carla Gutierrez’s new biographical documentary FRIDA, Frida Kahlo plays herself.

Gutierrez’s FRIDA brings fresh insights into Frida Kahlo’s life and work, by putting that life into her own words for the first time, words exclusively drawn from her letters, interviews and her illustrated diary. We also hear the words of those who knew her, including husband and fellow painter Diego Rivera. The documentary is Carla Gutierrez’s directorial debut but Gutierrez is an acclaimed editor whose films include the Ruth Bader Ginsberg documentary RBG. FRIDA is excellent, both engrossing in its narrative and visually appealing, as it covers about 40 years of the artist’s life. The writer/director had unrestricted access to materials about the artist and the film includes materials never before revealed to the public.

We feel we are getting a true sense of the artist personally by hear her words. As we hear those words read by various actors, they are illustrated by Frida’s colorful, biographical paintings and by charming animations, often animating the paintings themselves. Kahlo’s color-drenched canvases are so animated anyway, that adding movement to them seems entirely natural.

The animated paintings and the voice-over readings are accompanied by a plethora of black-and-white photos and film footage, often with their own added animated splashes of vibrant color.

Frida Kahlo began life as the feisty, independent, creative child of a professional artist. Originally she planned to become a doctor, and at college she fell in with a group of pranksters. As the only woman in the group, Kahlo often dressed as a man, a cutting-edge fashion choice in the 1920s, and she participated in the pranks and had a budding romance with one of the group. Her life was suddenly changed forever by a serious traffic accident, which left her with life-long physical problems with her spine and pelvis and in pain.

While in recovery, confined to bed, she was given paints, canvas and a mirror, and thus began her habit of self-portraits, portraits that reflected her feelings and experiences in symbolic, surrealist form. Her paintings have been described as surrealist, magical realism and native for their immersion in Mexican culture, but she developed her own unique style, entirely apart from other artist movements.

The documentary covers her romance with the older artist Diego Rivera, their open marriage, and her adoption of dressing in a Mexican folk style, to express her proud Mexican identity. The film follows the couple’s travels to the U.S., their shared communist beliefs, and the couple offer of refuge to Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky when he was exiled by Stalin, among other moments in her life.

One of the most striking things about hearing Frida Kahlo’s own words is how much they reveal her personality. Her writings are sharp and witty, but also sometimes biting and even salty, which feels a bit unexpected. We hear her thoughts on wealthy Americans she met in New York and European artists she met in Paris, like Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso, both generally negative but with a pointed humor too.

Important figures from Frida’s too-short life also weigh in, including Diego Rivera, friends, fellow artists, and relatives, which helps FRIDA paint a well-rounded portrait that brings you closer to this remarkable woman artist like never before.

Hearing others who actually knew her speaking about Frida helps us realize things about her, such as how small and fragile she was, with many describing her as bird-like. That delicateness is not something revealed in her forceful paintings or even in the many photos of the artist, who often looks out at us boldly with a confident or challenging stare.

Overall, FRIDA is a fascinating, thoroughly enjoyable film about a great artist who truly painted from her heart. It is a worthy, even essential, addition to the many films about Frida Kahlo, offering the most deeply personal insights on the artist herself.

FRIDA debuts streaming on Thursday, Mar. 14, on Amazon Prime.

RATING: 3.5 out of 4 stars

Win Passes To The St. Louis Advance Screening Of FRIDA

Streaming exclusively on Prime Video on Thursday, March 14th is Amazon MGM Studios documentary FRIDA.

An intimately raw and magical journey through the life, mind, and heart of iconic artist Frida Kahlo. Told through her own words for the very first time — drawn from her diary, revealing letters, essays, and print interviews — and brought vividly to life by lyrical animation inspired by her unforgettable artwork.

The feature film directorial debut of acclaimed editor Carla Gutiérrez (RBG, La Corona), FRIDA posits a striking context as to why the artist – and her art — remains as powerful as ever.

The St. Louis advance screening is Wednesday, March 13th, 7pm at the Hi-Pointe Theatre.

Please arrive early as seating is not guaranteed.

Enter at the link: https://amazonscreenings.com/WAMGfrida

Photo by Lucienne Bloch, Courtesy Old Stage Studios

Covering more than 40 years of her life, the filmmakers received unrestricted access to research materials, much never shown to the general public before. What is extraordinary about Kahlo’s life and art is how her images would galvanize multiple generations of admirers worldwide, doing more than solidifying her status as a modern artist of timeless import.

An intensive journey spanning two years, Gutiérrez and her formidable team of artisans, most of whom are women and proudly Latine, gathered together to craft a singular cinematic experience that could be no ordinary art history lesson. A living portrait emboldened by the magical realism befitting Kahlo’s remarkable life emerges. Yet, her voice ultimately stands supreme, a complex and powerful sound of a multitude of Fridas: fearless, seductive, defiant, vulnerable, raucous, and wonderfully alive.

Copyright: Amazon MGM Studios

PLAN C – SLIFF Review

PLAN C is a timely documentary spotlighting a pro-choice non-profit organization called Plan C, which is dedicated to providing information, to anyone who wants to know, on the options for an unwanted pregnancy, and particularly about the medical abortion pill. The Plan C organization careful notes they are information providers, not abortion providers, but they do tell women facing an unwanted pregnancy how to contact doctors who will provide medical abortion pills, even by mail. When the organization was founded, abortion was legal in all states, under Roe v Wade, and medical abortion pills had been approved by the FDA. Post Roe, the landscape in which these activists – mostly women – do their work is completely different.

The women in this organization find themselves in the difficult position of providing information, to anyone who requests it, on an once-legal procedure in the drastically changed landscape after the overturning of Roe. Director Tracy Droz Tragos’ documentary takes a look at these activists and the doctors with whom they work, who find themselves in this difficult position. They must decide how far they are willing to go into legally murky territory to provide information to women with a crisis pregnancy who want to know.

Americans are sharply divided on this subject but the great majority favored keeping abortion in the first trimester safe and legal, particularly in the case of rape or incest. Yet since the U. S. Supreme Court overturned Roe, leaving the decision about abortion rights up to the states, a number of states have activated severely restrictive laws or even resurrected old bans on abortion from earlier eras. Among the states imposing restrictions now is Texas, which is where Plan C is based.

The documentary puts us on the cutting edge of this most politically-heated of issues. It also delves into the history, of Roe v Wade and the approval of the medical abortion pill in 2007. Approval of medical abortion gave women hope for greater privacy in this very personal decision, including an end to women having to walk a gauntlet of anti-abortion protesters to reach a clinic. With the reversal of Roe, and now attacks on the FDA’s approval of one of the drugs used in medical abortion, this group now faces greater challenges in their efforts to provide women with the information they seek.

PLAN C offers interviews with various members of Plan C and the doctors with whom they work. The organization is based in Texas but has outreach across the country. Free speech issues are discussed as shifting landscape in many states.

There could not be a more timely documentary, and PLAN C’s profile of this informational group offers insights beyond the headlines and a human, ground-level look at the subject that has raised so many questions about women’s rights and free speech.

PLAN C was shown Nov. 13 as part of SLIFF and it is available to stream starting Nov. 17, 2023.

RATING: 2.5 out of 4 stars

KING COAL – SLIFF Review

KING COAL is a hauntingly-beautiful, poetic documentary that immerses us in the stunning wilderness of Appalachia and opens a gateway to into the oft-misunderstood culture of the people who live in and love that natural world, along with their complex love-hate relationship with coal. The award-winning KING COAL is one of the free screenings at the St. Louis International Film Festival, and one the year’s best documentary films.

The title KING COAL is a bit misleading, as this haunting documentary is really a meditative, exquisitely lyrical cinematic celebration of the uniquely American culture and people of Appalachia. Because they are from Appalachia, director/writer Elaine Million Sheldon and cinematographer Curran Sheldon the husband and wife team behind this film, give us remarkable access into understanding the people and folkways that are among the most deeply rooted in this country, and their complicated relationship with an extractive industry of their natural resources that has brought both economic benefit and devastating human and environmental costs. In short, “King Coal.”

Like the subjects of a medieval king, the people of Appalachia have complicated and fraught feelings about coal. The industry has been a bringer of jobs, of economic life in a mountain landscape that is beautiful but where farming is a hard-scrabble life. But that economic benefit has come at a high cost in human life, from mine collapses to the black-lung, and in the destruction of the very mountain landscape they love.

In an immersive, lyrical mix of personal memoir and documentary, director Elaine McMillion Sheldon narrates this portrait of Appalachian life and culture, and the people’s relationship to coal.

Stunningly beautiful imagery suffuses this film, wrapping us in the wild, dreamy natural beauty of the Appalachian mountains, valleys and waterways where generations have lived, but it also shows us images of traditional celebrations and folkways. On the other hand, there are events that illustrate the pervasive presence of coal, such as community events commemorating lives lost in the mines or an annual race where participants, even children, are sprinkled with coal dust to remind them of the “king.”

The documentary is meditative, inviting us to look closely and to contemplate both the natural beauty and the culture those mountains embrace. The gorgeous, sweeping, often-aerial photography of that natural world is breathtaking and hypnotic.

Yet, KING COAL does not shy away from the costs that coal has extracted from the landscape and the people of Appalachia but by presenting those costs from an insider’s view, thanks to the filmmakers deep connections to the place, it gives us deep insights into the complicated perspective of the people most affected.

Overall, KING COAL is a remarkable immersive documentary that offers a gateway into an oft-misunderstood culture deeply-rooted in a stunning natural world, and how both have been both shaped, for good or ill, by coal.

KING COAL will be shown free as part of the 2023 St. Louis International Film Festival on Sunday, Nov. 19, at 4pm at Washington University’s Brown Auditorium.

RATING: 4 out of 4 stars

THE PIGEON TUNNEL – Review

If it is true that to be a great writer, you need an unusual childhood, then the great spy novelist John LeCarre may be Exhibit A. Or so it seems in this fascinating documentary by Errol Morris, THE PIGEON TUNNEL.

Errol Morris, one of the most creative, compelling documentarians ever, turns his camera on perhaps the greatest spy novelist ever, John LeCarre, in the documentary THE PIGEON TUNNEL. The British writer and former spy who uses the pen name John LeCarre, but whose real name was David Cornwell, has turned out a remarkable string of spy novels, nearly all of which became bestsellers. From The Spy Who Came Into The Cold onward, John LeCarre has thrilled readers with spy novels that have the intriguing ring of real spy craft to them, unlike the James Bond adventurer type, transforming the genre of espionage novels.

“The Pigeon Tunnel” is the name of John LeCarre’s (aka David Cornwell’s) 2016 autobiography but it is also the place-holder name he used for his spy novels before they had their final titles. Near the beginning of the Errol Morris’ excellent documentary THE PIGEON TUNNEL, LeCarre related a rather chilling story about the origin of that phrase, a tale in which privileged guests at a grand Monaco hotel use a seaside-facing balcony to shoot at pigeons as they emerged from a tunnel, an entertainment arranged by the hotel, something young Cornwell says he witnessed while staying at the hotel with his free-spending gambler father Ronald “Ronnie” Cornwell, and one that illustrates a certain sense of cold entitlement and his lack of feeling.

Documentarian Errol Morris spoke with John LeCarre in an interview that ranged over four days in 2019. LeCarre is charming, cordial, erudite and often smiling, as he talks about his books and his work in secret intelligence, and most especially about his father Ronnie Cornwell, a charming swindler and gambler who was always in debt and sometimes in trouble with the law. LeCarre’s mother abandoned the family when he was five, leaving him and his older brother with his unreliable, philandering father. Growing up with such a father, truth was a stranger in their lives and his father involved his sons in his cons. When not in trouble with the law, Ronnie rubbed elbows with the upper crust and spent freely. There was little affection. It was a childhood that could not have been more unusual.

While LeCarre recounts his tales, Errol Morris works his signature magic, with actors re-enacting some parts of LeCarre’s life, particularly his youth and young adulthood, sequences so good you are drawn into them like drama and a bit surprised when you come back to the white-haired man in the room. We also get archival stills and shots of newspaper clippings, often headlines about Ronnie’s arrests or financial scandals. There are extended clips from films based on LeCarre’s books, primarily THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD and the British TV adaptation of the Smiley series of novels, starting with TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY.

While Errol Morris weaves his magic with archival materials, John LeCarre is filmed in ways that suit the spy tales or stories of growing up as the son of a conman. The shot is often cocked, a Dutch angle, and shooting into a room through a doorway or with eerie green light adds a sense of mystery. LeCarre never loses his temper, never raises his voice and only rarely looks even uncomfortable. With a few exceptions, like when he talks about his own father’s attempt to con him out of money, LeCarre is calm and collected, personable and polite – a charmer to the last.

But LeCarre begins the interview with a touch of wariness, quizzing director/interviewer Errol Morris about his “intentions” for the interview and asking how he should regard him – friend, adversary? When Morris replies that he honestly doesn’t know, and repeats it, LeCarre seems to relax as it satisfied with the vague answer. It sets a strange tone for all that follows, with us always wondering what is going on in his head,. behind the congenial smile. About recruiting spies, LeCarre describes how the British secret intelligence service looked for “boys who were a little bit bad but who were loyal,” those who had separated from family early by going to boarding school and has an early Independence – all of which he acknowledged described him perfectly.

As the two talk, the background sometimes shifts, from a library to a room with a large table and vertical windows. We see only LeCarre, although we sometimes hear Morris, as LeCarre talks about his books, his work in secret intelligence and especially about his childhood and his relationship with this unreliable father.

The one thing he seems to have done right, was seeing that his sons had good educations at public schools and went on to Oxford. The plan was for young David to be a lawyer but instead he studied modern languages, with the support of his tutor Vivian Green. Then MI5 came calling and espionage entered the picture.

John LeCarre’s spy novels were strikingly different from the James Bond adventure tales, with the feel of real spy craft and cerebral, coolly calculating cat-and-mouse games between adversaries on opposite sides of the Cold War. It was a revelation that transformed espionage novels. and led to a string of bestsellers and movies based on them.

All this adds up to a fascinating tour of the world of John LeCarre, his strange childhood, his days at Oxford where he studied modern languages and was recruited to spy for MI5, and his time with MI5 (British domestic security) and MI6 (international) during the Cold War that he wrote about so well. Blended with the excellent recreations and the archival footage and stills, and we feel completely immersed in John LeCarre’s world, fictional and not, always with the little hint of secrets still kept.

It is a world that LeCarre fans, like this writer, won’t want to leave. But leave we must, as the film comes to an end and we are left with the knowledge that is was LeCarre’s last interview before his death in 2020. But is was fascinating while it lasted, much like LeCarre’s always smart and nuanced spy novels.

PIGEON TUNNEL is available streaming only on Apple+ starting Friday, Oct. 20.

RATING: 4 out of 4 stars

SILVER DOLLAR ROAD – Review

As the year-end holidays start to become everyone’s main focus here’s a documentary feature that zeros in on the desired destination of travelers…home. But what if it’s denied you? Is it worth fighting for, even risking imprisonment? That’s the focus of this film, the value of the home, and most importantly the land. Sounds a bit similar to the epic docudrama arriving today from Martin Scorsese, eh? Now, that’s set one hundred years ago with murder stemming from a lust for oil-rich land. This doc concerns the lust for water, rather than oil. It’s a valued beachfront property. Plus it all happened in the last dozen or so years. Despite all the nefarious plans of developers, could anyone possibly displace the families on SILVER DOLLAR ROAD?

Oh, and unlike the other big film this weekend, we’re not talking about a tribe, but another minority. The family at this story’s core descended from slavery in North Carolina. A son of a slave, Mitchell Reels, bought 65 marshy wooded acres that led right to the shore of the ocean inlet. Rather than selling off the property, Reeves kept it in the family with each new generation setting up homes on that trail that ended at the shore, which was dubbed Silver Dollar Road. The modest homes were a paradise to the distant relatives who would go there for Summer vacations. But recently the development groups turned their attention to that valuable area, as neighboring towns were transformed into getaway mansions complete with docks for yachts and speedboats, all for the wealthy folks from the northern states. Finally, the Adams Creek reps made their move with a sold deed from a distant relative giving them ownership of land owned by two brothers, Licurtis Reels and Melvin Davis. The duo were charged with trespassing, found guilty In Carteret, and sent to jail rather than paying the hefty fine. The family tried to hire new legal teams with no luck and left with big legal fees. As the years pass the family begins to lose any hope of bringing the brothers home and keeping the corporations from grabbing their inherited land.

Veteran documentary filmmaker Raoul Peck has crafted a compelling emotional family saga from the ProPublica investigation by Lizzie Pressler. To illustrate the complex family tree Peck makes creative use of animation graphics for the ever-expanding branches and later renders family portraits in a warm pastel/chalk style along with the long incarceration of the brothers. In the engaging first half, we see a wondrous mix of old 8mm home movies and fading polaroids. The film’s strength is gleaned from the one-on-one interviews with the expressive family members themselves. Most memorable may be the woman we meet in the opening moments as Gertrude Reels is celebrating her 90+ birthday (she even takes a hike in the woods to lay out the family property for us). There are even a few moments of vintage 1970s video of the TV show “Soul Train” as Licurtis recalls the good times at his nightclub/dancehall “Fantasy Island”. But the funky tunes fade as the outsiders swoop in and the doc’s tone echos the frustration and outrage as justice is thwarted. Nearly a decade for trespassing in this day and age is almost brutal in its cruelty (the men wore shackles ala their slave forefathers). Almost as infuriating are the tales of greedy unethical lawyers who lined their pockets with the family’s meager savings. It’s a fascinating story that may raise your blood pressure a bit (or a lot). This is terrific film journalism and a rousing cry for legal reform and just compensation for the unbroken defiant families of SILVER DOLLAR ROAD.

3 Out of 4

SILVER DOLLAR ROAD streams exclusively on Amazon Prime Video

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