Linbeymusol Wonderful character development!
Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.
Grimossfer Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to of the 1%
Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.
Marek Rybakiewicz Detropia takes a look at the current state of Detroit, the prime example of a remnant of the industrial revolution that has gone awry. Once the center of the automotive industrial upsurge, the film presents a shell of a city that is being torn apart from the innards, allusory towards the infrastructure of Detroit along with the well being and morale of the citizenry. The audience is provided with case studies from similar walks of life that establish the framework for the city itself and the film. To entertain some initial conceptions that the American populace has of Detroit, we are presented with Crystal Starr, a local personal documenter, as she ventures through a wreckage, describing the beauty within and posing the question of how could all of the destruction and abandonment happen, which becomes the focus behind the film. Since the city is known for its automotive industry, the audience is then introduced to George McGregor, head of the local Automotive Workers union, which claims to have to some extent built Detroit. A drive throughout the city with him showcases the idea of past prestige and reputation of sprawling automotive factories, while the camera presents the complete juxtaposition, with abandonment and rust-laden fences lining the former compounds. With no industry to provide a backbone, the film makes Detroit seem destined for failure.The only istrative action shown in the film proves that even the bureaucracy knows that Detroit is crumbling, with lower populations leading to even less job availability, and those with a semblance of higher income moving away as quickly as possible. The potential plans for the future are met with strict ridicule and disdain by the residents, and the film seems to almost highlight ignorance on behalf of the population as an underlying problem, with residents using loud voices and jokes, all in the midst of distedness and no organization. To provide a heightened perspective, another local named Tommy Stephans, a jazz club owner, becomes a focal point of the documentary with insights into how the Detroit issue is simply a microcosm of what will most likely happen to America. Now that automotive workers are far and apart, his club has seen a relative downturn in business activity. He believes that workers follow the jobs, and while, for the time being, companies have moved out of Detroit, soon the case will be similar for the country. Purporting that America cannot survive without a strong middle class to buffer between the rich and the poor, the disparity only increases and due to lack of innovation and our desire for a higher quality of life, other countries such as China will dominate the United States in the long run. While there is factual data laced among vivid speculation, the artistic direction of the film seems to be the dominant focus. An elegance and style in decay is shown in the buildings, allowing an introspection on behalf of the viewer, forcing us to revel in the former beauty that the film projects. To energize this beauty, interwoven throughout are scenes of the opera, presumably taking place at the Detroit Opera House, which, along with the factories, was a staple in the vibrant city of the past. These scenes are paired with relative desertion that can now be seen on the streets and buildings, as well as sentimentally in the citizens, creating a contrast between the past and present, and adding depth to the emotional appeal that the visuals as well as the case study reports provide. Towards the finalé of the film there is a fusion of these two themes, as an opera vocalist sings inside of the ruins of a sizable building, showcasing an allegorical longing for the past that all of the citizens seem to make very evident. Apart from all of the emotion of Detroit's story, opposing arguments are virtually absent from the plot line, possibly due to the heavy reliance of the film on the personal viewpoints of a select few, but also as a probable result of the director's obvious bias and artistic strategy. Opening and closing the film with the Crystal Starr's investigative reporting, the audience is dragged into an opinion of Detroit, rather than being allowed to form their own based on data sets, although they are presented throughout, albeit to a much less pronounced extent. It is up to the viewer to decide whether the artistic direction of the film should be allowed to undermine the real world issue at hand, in a film where presentation of a broad picture of the crumbling Detroit is only second to the personal stories of job loss and the foreign market scare.All of this critique is overshadowed, therefore, by the heavy reliance upon appeals to emotion and opinion that are prevalent in the older generation of workers and citizens as present in the film. No form of a long term solution is proposed to this problem, and the glimpse of urban planning solutions we get do not substantiate what should be at least mentioned in the film itself. Even if no solution is ordained or on the horizon, it is my opinion that mentioning the actual state of affairs should have been a key focal point, although there is merit in the artistry and evocation of emotion, as those could potentially breed a sense of activism. Detropia paints a picture of a city that has been through an economic collapse and is dependent solely upon the citizenry to allow for a fresh start, rather than writing an analysis of how to achieve this revitalization. Focusing on emotional appeals and a few stories intertwined with facts, the film adds character and humanity to an issue that needs multiple aspects and perspectives in order to achieve some sort of conclusion, in order to possibly restore Detroit, and ultimately the American economic dream.
flinched An opera singer calmly walks thru a large room inside a beautiful piece of architecture, a deserted and dilapidated building being devoured by nature. His beautiful song bounces off walls littered with graffiti. Broken windows, piles of rubble, lost jobs, a city in decay, nowhere to go but up, welcome to Detropia.This movie briefly takes us around Detroit and into the hearts & minds of its sparse population. We see that the only thing surviving and thriving is the indomitable spirit of its citizens. Most documentaries take the approach of inundating us with information. Don't expect to talk to economic experts or politicians, we talk to the ordinary citizen. We watch them live with their difficult day to day existence as they watch the city decay around them, all the while trying to understand complex causes to a complex problem. Solutions seems so distant all they can hope for is a miracle.Detropia shows the viewer a microcosm of the human condition through conversations with ordinary folks amidst a sea of ruins. The lovely cinematography continuously compares and contrasts beauty with ugliness, despair with hope. We see small flowers growing among the rubble, a bird rests upon a heap of garbage, people smiling and clinging to what little joy they have as they struggle to make ends meet.This is a wonderful and calm film that will require the viewer to have patience and be in a sombre mood. Expect sadness tinged with brief glimpses of hope and the answer to the question of whether your cup is half full or empty. I'm left with the feeling that the spirit may be strong in Detroit's citizens, but the realities of the world are slowly crushing them. Let us hope the spirit conquers all.
ultradave-1 This movie is phenomenal for all the wrong reasons. Upon watching this film, I found myself laughing at idiocracy of the residents. They constantly miss the point. The UAW bosses, workers, the citizens of Detroit, and the mayor they elect are just classic showings of people who simply do not understand. The opening scene of the movie sums it up. They won't close the plant down on us, we need to be paid a fair living wage above $13.00 an hour. The basic understanding of supply and demand economics are simply lost, and that is what truly makes the film great. I am sure the director did not intentionally do this, but it becomes clear immediately the disconnect. $13 an hour in Detroit is a living wage. Compare that to China for $2-$3 an hour, the Chinese will soon be able to demand $9 an hour, which will make you middle-class to upper middle-class in China. The citizens do not understand they are the ones driving away the jobs. GM needs to make profit, and they haven't in years. Even now, as they are doing a little better, we all know it is just another recession, another crappy brown sedan, before they are bankrupt once again. The best part of was the mayor, as he was watching his redistricting plan, and then denied any tax incentives or tax cuts as a way to stimulate job growth. The citizens simply demand things, and then blame it on everyone but themselves. The best part was when one of the citizens in the film begged for more government services, not realizing that in order to provide those services they need revenue.This film is hilarious to anyone that knows the basic fundamentals of the economy. "Please, please don't take our transportation away". Sums up their just misunderstanding for the basics of business. This movie is able to highlight this on all levels, and is only for the truly intellectual to come to that conclusion. Everyone else will continue the tradition of mediocrity. Don't expect a statement from the film either way, all it takes is common sense.
R H All I ask for out of a documentary is that it teaches me something and makes me feel. Although Detropia doesn't belong in the trash heap, it did not live up to these simple expectations I have put in place. Detroit definitely has an interesting story; in the 1930's it was one of the most populated states in the country, certainly the easiest place to find a good job. Slowly (with the ing of NAFTA in the late 90's- thanks Clinton) jobs left, followed by people. Detroit has seen the largest mass exodus in the country. The film informs us that almost 10,000 houses per month are torn down because they have been abandoned. The city is in ruins. I thought this would make for a good documentary.First of all, why is the city going through such problems. I think the directors blame the North American Free Trade Agreement, which is fine because it's probably true. However, they assume that the viewer knows all about NAFTA and exactly how it effected the Detroit auto industry. All they explain is that NAFTA happened and CEO's moved their jobs to Mexico, which caused factories to shut down. I would have appreciated a little more depth into NAFTA; maybe a 90 explanation of why NAFTA meant that companies could move down south, why it ed, who was for it, who was against it? Maybe an interview with a proponent and an opponent. Maybe try to get in touch with spokespeople from these companies. Instead we are left having to pause the movie and do our own research.As a drifter in his early 30's, I'm interested in cities like Detroit. I think places like this are where the revolution is gaining steam. The documentary spends a few minutes describing what is happening. Very briefly they say that there is a plan in the works to move people who live on the outskirts into the city, in order to create more density. Then, they would convert the outlying area to potentially urban gardens. This is a fascinating idea, revolutionary even, yet that's pretty much all we hear about it. We are shown clips of what appears to be a town hall meeting about the proposal, and then we hear three elementary school dropouts saying, "they be playing gardens? That's dumb yo. People be shooting each other over tomatoes." That's it. That's all we're told about the future of Detroit.Finally, I understand that a city that poor obviously has a pretty dismal education system (although that doesn't explain why the older people, who lived most of their lives during the boom, are also dumb as cow poop), but surely they could have found someone to interview who had the ability to put together intelligent sentences. The main characters are a video blogger (the closest of the bunch to an average IQ), a burned out owner of what appears to be a Blue's club, and a union leader/pimp. Are there no professors? Are there no community groups? Talk about lazy; it seems like the directors had a few friends in the area and interviewed them. Or maybe they just found the first few people they saw, and mic'd them up. Regardless, the documentary sucked. The only positive is that I'll now to more research on the city.
