By Lu Schilling

Inside Job will be screened February 21 at 4:30 pm at the Fellowship. The film exposes the shocking truth behind the economic meltdown of 2008, at a cost of over $20 trillion, resulted in millions of people losing their homes and jobs. Through extensive research and interviews with major financial insiders, politicians, and journalists, Inside Job traces the rise of a rogue industry and unveils the corrosive relationships that have corrupted politics, regulation, and academia.

Filmmaker Charles Ferguson gives an unflinching look at some deep-rooted deceptions and shines a light where our focus is needed for enlightenment.  Narrated by Matt Damon, Ferguson begins and ends in Iceland, a flourishing country that gave American-style banking a try–and paid the price. Then he looks at the spectacular rise and cataclysmic fall of deregulation in the United States.  Ferguson builds his narrative around dozens of players, interviewing authors, bank managers, government ministers, and even a psychotherapist, who speaks to a culture that encourages “greed-is-good” behavior. The number of those who declined to comment, like Alan Greenspan, is even larger. Though the director isn’t as combative as Michael Moore, he asks tough questions and elicits squirms from several participants, notably former Treasury secretary David McCormick and Columbia dean Glenn Hubbard, George W. Bush’s economic adviser. Their reactions are understandable, since the borders between Wall Street, Washington, and the Ivy League dissolved years ago; it’s hard to know whom to trust when conflict-of-interest runs rampant. If Ferguson takes Reagan and Bush to task for tax cuts that benefit the wealthy, he criticizes Clinton for encouraging derivatives and Obama for failing to deliver on the promise of reform.

By Lu Schilling

January 17 at 4:30 pm the documentary Forks Over Knives will be screened and followed by a discussion.

In symbols, this logo means food choices tops surgical stopgaps.

Focusing on the research of two food scientists, this documentary reveals that despite broad advances in medical technology, the popularity of modern processed foods has led to epidemic rates of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer and simultaneously  harms the environment. Caldwell Esselstyn of Cleveland Clinic, Colin Campbell nutrition scientist and former USDA whistle-blower, Neal Barnard, M.D. of Physicians for Responsible Medicine, Gene Baur from Farm Sanctuary, and Mac Danzig, body builder and Ultimate Fighter Champion are featured.

We are dealing with more than just food addiction. Advertising makes us think unnaturally about food products. Chronic degenerative disease can be prevented and reversed by eating whole, unadulterated foods, primarily plants.

This movie covers the basics and is really great at pointing out the tremendous flaws in the USDA food pyramid as well as the American Dietician Association’s guidelines for healthy eating.  I hope all dieticians and physicians will see this documentary.

By Lu Schilling

For the Holiday Season MTM will suspend the chatter and enjoy extraordinary visuals of our world on December 20 at 4:30 pm. Described as cerebral and mind-bending, Baraka will engage you.

Shot in 24 countries on 70mm film, this mesmerizing visual study conveys the relationship between humans and the environment, with images ranging from the daily devotions of Tibetan monks to time-lapse views of the Hong Kong skyline. Accompanied by diverse world music — without narration or dialogue — the scenes capture nature’s glory as well as its destruction, all expertly photographed by director and cinematographer Ron Fricke.

Visually compelling, intelligent, moving, awe-inspiring — the images alone make this no-dialogue film one of the few you’ll talk about, recommend to friends you care about, and continue to replay in your mind months after you’ve seen it. Global thinkers, naturalists, humanists alike will be thankful that they stumbled upon this informative and emotionally disturbing gem.  There are several scenes in this film that made me believe again that I haven’t seen it all yet! Don’t miss this one.  Highly recommended.

By Lu Schilling

“Fixing the Future“, a PBS documentary of hopeful people taking positive actions to pull together in the wake of 2008′s financial meltdown, will be screened November 15 at 4:30 pm. From Maine to Washington State, stories of regular Americans reinventing their way out of the Great Recession, including leaders of banking cooperatives, entrepreneurs, and activists committed to buying and hiring locally. Nobel Prize winners and economists also offer reflections on this new era’s challenges.  This is a really inspiring look at stories of people reinventing their economies in a way that benefits everyone. I love it when Stephen Beckett says “Community is more like something that we are remembering, than something we are creating all over again.” So true!  Join us for learning and discussing solutions.  Free and casual.

Movies That Matter tackles topics of substance at the  UU Fellowship of Door County every 3rd Tuesday, 4:30 pm.

A groundbreaking documentary that provides an engaging and inspiring look at public education in the United States and has helped launch a movement to achieve a real and lasting change will be screened at the UU on Tuesday, October 18 at 4:30 pm.

Waiting for “Superman” is a 2010 documentary film from director Davis Guggenheim (Academy Award-Winning Director of An Inconvenient Truth) and producer Lesley Chilcott. The film analyzes the failures of American public education by following several students such as Emily, a Silicon Valley eighth-grader who is afraid of being labeled as unfit for college and Francisco, a Bronx first-grader whose mom will do anything to give him a shot at a better life.The film received the Audience Award for best documentary at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. The film also received the Best Documentary Feature at the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards.

The film has earned both praise and criticism from commentators, reformers, and educators. One criticism of note: “The film dismisses with a side comment the inconvenient truth that our schools are criminally underfunded. Money’s not the answer, it glibly declares. Nor does it suggest that students would have better outcomes if their communities had jobs, health care, decent housing, and a living wage. Particularly dishonest is the fact that Guggenheim never mentions the tens of millions of dollars of private money that has poured into the Harlem Children’s Zone, the model and superman we are relentlessly instructed to aspire to.” – Rick Ayers, Adjunct Professor in Education at the University of San Francisco.

You will be invited to voice your opinion in a post-screening discussion.

A compelling documentary illuminating the dangers and harsh conditions endured by people attempting to improve their lives by escaping to the United States will be screened at the UU on Tuesday, September 20 at 4:30 pm.

For close to two decades, thousands of Central American migrants have lost their dreams, limbs and even their lives trying to cross Mexico to the United States. The nightmare begins the moment they step onto Mexican soil, and continues as they must jump onto a cargo train known simply as “la bestia” or “the beast.” In order to film this documentary the filmmakers rode alongside these Central American migrants for two weeks, braving the journey with those fighting for a better life.

In filming the testimonies of some Central American migrants, filmmaker Pedro Ultreras exposes more than the dangers they face. If La Bestia shows the brutality of Mexico’s southern border, it also offers the compassion found in shelters for migrants and the bonds that develop among the men and women who share the same ride and misfortune.

The film will be followed by a discussion about the issues raised in the documentary.

What’s that in the sky? It’s a contrail*…No… It’s a CHEMTRAIL!

Some of us have noticed crisscrossing streaks of white clouds, stretching from horizon to horizon, eventually turning the skies to a murky haze.  Most people don’t question the sky more than “will it rain on our barbeque,” but some are asking: WHO is doing this and WHY.  

Here is the story of a rapidly developing industry called geo-engineering. Driven by scientists, corporations, and governments intent on changing global climate, controlling the weather – all supposedly for the betterment of mankind – while altering the chemical composition of soil and water.  Although officials insist that these programs are only in the discussion phase, evidence is abundant that they have been underway since about 1990 – and the effect has its drawbacks.

We are honored to have Dr. Linda Steiner, author of the Peninsula Pulse column “Why Is It?” to lead the discussion.  With a Ph.D. in Applied Social Psychology, Linda has worked as a university educator over the last few decades.  She is passionate, direct and grounded in real world application.  Linda’s focus has expanded to include the scope of “community education” where she conducts seminars and presentations on social justice, global unity and the importance of independent and critical thought.

Come learn, share knowledge and wisdom for free at the next Movies That Matter on Tuesday, August 16, 4:30 pm.

*condensation from jet engines

Social systems and functions are best illustrated by stories that are not documentaries. What defines a lie?  “No, that doesn’t make you look fat.” Is truth always the best choice?  ”Your baby is so ugly it’s like a little rat.”

Frequent UU speaker, Rev. Joan Shiels, recommends this fictional film to convey the very real social construct of lying.

Ricky Gervais co-writes and co-directs this original comedy that co-stars Rob Lowe. In a world where no one fibs, fiction doesn’t exists, and people take each other at their literal word, this film shows an unsuccessful screenwriter, Mark (Gervais) who gains fame and fortune — and maybe the girl of his dreams (Jennifer Garner) — by saying things that are not true.

Is lying sometimes right? Free to talk about it at the next Movies That Matter on Tuesday, July 19 at 4:30pm at the UU Fellowship 10341 Hwy. 42, Ephraim. This 2009 film, rated PG13, is free and open to the public. For more information, call (920) 854-7559.