SFF, day 1: two docs

The Savannah Film Festival is finally here!
This is its 18th year, believe it or not.
Every year is a different experience and I'm sure this one will be, too.
I'm ready for it!
I picked up my Savannah Pass this morning, just before the first film of the festival. Woohoo! My thanks to my biggest little brother for giving me the $75 for the pass! That gets me in to all the daytime screenings, which means all the 'shorts' I want!
The night-time films, for the most part, are going to be on the silver screen in the next few months, so there is no compelling reason to see them now. Indeed, I've already seen one of the films and two others have already been in the multiplexes.
Let's get on to the shows, shall we?
Yes, let's!
Believe it or not, I went to a documentary about politics.
Then I went to a documentary about societal constructs.
Why would I do such an atypical activity for me?
Well, on the advice of Jim Reed, I had opted to view these two first-day offerings of the SFF.
I'm glad I did.

"Best of Enemies" was set in 1968, during the televised coverage wars of the Republican and Democratic national conventions.
For the sole purpose of gaining ratings, Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley, Jr., were pitted against each other in what was meant to be a sparring of intellectuals.

Instead, it was a war of wills between two elitists of different stripe.
For several sessions, Vidal came prepared to do battle with his opponent.
At last, Buckley retaliated, voicing threats of physical violence as Vidal calmly held his ground and his seat.
The black-and-white film of that telecast is all that remains with those words of hate.
Very intense.

The documentary covered a lot of background material, including the events in the nation in general and in the convention locales (Miami, Chicago) in particular. But the central theme, the raison d'être of the film, was the clash between these titans.
I recalled none of these antics. I was only ten at the time, with no interest in politics or televised coverage of such things. I do recall reading with delight the national editorials William F. Buckley, Jr., wrote. The local newspaper carried his column and I reveled in his use of the English language. Sometimes, I even found myself dragging out the dictionary to decipher new words! His columns were very much a treat. Seeing him lose his temper in this film saddened me, but did not detract from my admiration of his intellect.
I would have liked to talk about this one with Grandpa. I'll be seeing the physicist soon, so I'll bring it up to him. He's certainly not old enough to have been aware of that controversy at the time, but he's good for batting ideas around!

As for "The Wolfpack", let me just say this: the young woman who spent four and a half years making this one didn't learn anything.
She found these six brothers walking together on the street and thought to herself: I bet there's a story here.
Then she set about creating one.
As a scientist, I found her process of little worth. The film is supposedly an indictment against the boys' parents for keeping them sequestered in an apartment for most of their lives.
Bah! If the parents had truly wanted to keep their children from the world around them, they most certainly would not have had a television and hundreds of movies available to them.
Seriously.
But that is not the worst crime of the filmmaker. No, her most egregious failure was continually inserting herself into their lives and then not acknowledging that her presence was precipitating a change in those lives. That was quite irresponsible.

Jim Reed was present for both films and was even selected to proffer a well-considered and thoughtful query during each of the Question and Answer sessions which followed the two films.
Nice!
I even met his mom, Maddie, a recently retired teacher. She is specifically taking in the SFF as her vacation. Excellent! I used to save one of my weeks of vacation every year for this film festival!
Now, I must fly!
The bfe and I are going to a BYOP party in Georgetown!
See y'all tomorrow!