Bisbee '17

THE ACT OF DEPORTING by way of LONE STAR.

Closely observed documentary presents a chilling recreation of the labour dispute at its heart, as well as providing a finely etched, understated overview of the Bisbee community, now and then. The mashing and melding of the townspeople and their historical dopplegangers make for an unexpectedly powerful and moving drama; a sharp rebuke to many modern societies wishing to leave unpleasant history in the past.

Camp and pantomime in service of a fucking Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

(COPPER RULES EVERYTHING AROUND ME)

Alternate title: The Act of Killing comes to America. Greene's doc is helpful not just as a portrayal of an historic event, but in that it brings the current residents of Bisbee into the century-old historical moment. This film is on the whole an act of empathy. Where Oppenheimer's film was more pointed toward justice for wrongdoers, this movie brings two groups not guilty of the original crime together in the hopes of engendering understanding, compassion, and reconciliation.

A documentary of a inhumane deportation of 1,200 immigrant workers in the mining town Bisbee, near the Mexican border, in 1917. It informs us about the never-spoken-about incident, but it doesn't educate us about it. In a clumsy way it shows us ignorance is bliss and that the town lived happily ever after (or at least as long as the mining business was booming) by removing the striking trouble makers. Doubt that was the intention.