Barbara Kopple Movies

Amid the post-9/11 malaise of early 2000s Manhattan, New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg faced a daunting challenge in the form of ailing and struggling inner city high schools - particularly those in boroughs such as the Bronx, with a massive adolescent dropout rate. As a bold sociological experiment, Bloomberg opted to improve conditions by establishing more compact, "theme-based" schools; the approach not only alleviated numerous social problems but served as a harbinger for a sweeping process of reform that reshaped the educational systems in numerous American cities and communities. The Bronx's High School for the Contemporary Arts marked one of the first such institutions erected by Bloomberg. A secondary school that caters to the creatively-inclined by offering classes in theater, musical performance, painting and other forms of expression, the HSCA opened its doors in 2003, in the notorious 'Gun Hill' district of the Bronx. Sensing wondrous things afoot, acclaimed documentarians Barbara Kopple (Harlan County, USA) and David Becker traveled to the location and observed the unfolding changes - cameras rolling. The result - the PBS documentary Small Steps: Creating the High School for Contemporary Arts - observes students and faculty over the course of one year. The film places strongest emphasis on two young and gifted learners with great potential - Nnamdi Amenechi and Jamal McLelland - but also observes their parents and instructors, shedding a multifaceted light on the dreams, hopes, challenges and obstacles faced and countered by each of these individuals as the teens travel through the educational system. In the process, Kopple and Becker create a telling, "inside" portrait of how the institution managed to reinvent the educational process - scoring a stunning 70% graduation rate in its first year alone. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

A pair of naïve young girls learn that even the most insignificant actions can have lasting consequences in this music-driven take on teen culture starring Anne Hathaway and Bijou Phillips and directed by two-time Oscar-winning filmmaker Barbara Kopple. Influenced by the hip-hop thug lifestyle and seeking to explore life outside of their insulated, culturally homogenized suburb, pretty young teenagers Allison (Hathaway) and Emily (Phillips) set their sights on East L.A. to experience the "gangsta" lifestyle firsthand. By the time the pair meet some true-life Latino gang-bangers and realize just how far out of their element they really are, it may already be too late to turn back. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Self-described "news dissector" Danny Schechter, who has worked as a producer for a number of major broadcast media outlets (including CNN and ABC News), examines news coverage of the war in Iraq in this activist documentary. In WMD: Weapons of Mass Deception, Schechter explores how the U.S. military and George W. Bush's advisors "stage managed" the Iraq war in order to win a favorable opinion from the public and keep the media's eyes away from issues and situations they found problematic, from using savvy psychology to convince citizens that Iraq possessed certain weapons it never actually had, to "embedding" journalists with companies of troops to produce reports sympathetic to the ground forces. WMD: Weapons of Mass Deception was named Best Documentary in Texas at the 2004 Austin Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Kristi Jacobson's American Standoff gives the viewer a behind-the-scenes look at a modern labor strike. The tale of three Teamsters and how their lives are affected by the union's strike against Overnite Transportation make up the dramatic heart of this film, which was produced by acclaimed documentarian Barbara Kopple who has always shown a sharp eye for recording the day-to-day existence of working people (Harlan County, USA, American Dream). A comparison of former Teamster president Jimmy Hoffa and his son, the current Teamster leader, James P. Hoffa round out this film that was screened at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

Al Giardello (Yaphet Kotto) is fed up with the liberties taken by the homicide squad's FBI liaison -- never mind that his own son Mike (Giancarlo Esposito) is himself an FBI agent. Elsewhere, the detectives resent the preferential treatment afforded ADA Eleanor Burke (Haviland Morris), who intends to use Battered Spouse Syndrome to defend herself against charges of murdering her husband. Ballard (Callie Thorne) shames Lewis (Clark Johnson) into teaming with her to solve a barroom stabbing. And waitress Billie Lou (Ellen McElduff) receives an unexpected -- and very inebriated -- wedding proposal. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The department swings into action when an old man is apparently killed by his grandson's three pit bulls -- who are now on the loose. Kellerman (Reed Diamond) smells something fishy when the judge presiding over Georgia Rae Mahoney's wrongful-death suit insists that the case go before a jury. And with all of this occurring, the detectives still find time to go to the Watefront Bar to swap "stupid criminal" stories. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The highlight of the homicide unit's New Year's party is the unreeling of "Back Page News," a documentary produced by the unit's in-house video photographer Brodie (Max Perlich). Some of the events covered by Brodie's camera prove to be embarrassing, especially when the identity of the infamous "lunch bandit" is revealed. And some of them are most amusing, notably the sequence in which Kellerman (Reed Diamond) and Lewis (Clark Johnson) chase a suspect right onto the set of a TV series titled "Homicide: Life on the Street," much to the consternation of director Barry Levinson (playing himself). Former series regular Isabella Hoffman makes a cameo appearance as Megan Russert. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This documentary takes a look at the continuing work of feminists to establish reproductive rights for women. The issue of the right to control one's own body is presented as one that is crucial to the welfare of women. The fight for birth control began in America at the time of the great wave of immigration during the Industrial Revolution. Women and men were working in dangerous and substandard conditions to raise their children. Many wanted fewer, not more, children. Deaths of mothers during childbirth and infant mortality were shockingly high. The battle for women and children's health continues to the present. The film looks at the decision of Roe vs. Wade and the efforts to overturn it. ~ Rose of Sharon Winter, All Movie Guide

Narrated by CBS journalist Ike Pappas, Beyond JFK: The Question of Conspiracy is an investigative historical documentary based on the tragic events of November 22, 1963. The 90-minute film, a companion to Oliver Stone's fictional production JFK, explores the controversy between eye-witness accounts of Kennedy's assassination and the findings of the Warren Commission. Highlights of the program include archival news footage, discussions of the investigation, conspiracy theories, and interviews with Kevin Costner and Gary Oldman. ~ Kathleen Wildasin, All Movie Guide

Director Barbara Kopple's look at a 13-month coal miners' strike that took place between 1973 and 1974 in Harlan County, KY, is one of the great films about labor troubles, though not for a sense of objectivity. Kopple lived among the miners and their families off and on during the four years the entire story played out, and it's clear in every frame of the film that her sympathies lie with the miners and not their bosses at Eastover Mining, owned by Duke Power Company. Kopple's camera focuses on the desperate plight of people still living in shacks with no indoor plumbing and working dangerous jobs with little security and few safety rules. The miners are determined to join the United Mine Workers, and the company is determined to break the strike with scabs, who are even more desperate than the men with jobs. The miners eventually win a new contract, though it turns out that some of the benefits they had fought for were not included in the final deal. The filmmaker's strong identification with one side of a labor struggle doesn't make for a balanced historical record, but it did provide the right stuff for a powerfully dramatic film. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide