The Battered Bastards Of Baseball

The Battered Bastards Of Baseball is simply, a fun documentary. If you are a baseball fan, you will love this movie. It takes us to a time when sports was simpler. No huge contracts, just the willingness to play ball for the love of the game.

The movie itself is sort of a time travel to Portland Oregon back in the 1the Portland Mavericks. Typical of Portland, the city takes a chance on an independent team. What happens after the decision to host a "not so typical" franchise is what makes the movie so fascinating.

Because the movie is so unique, I do not want to give too much away. However there is a strange twist in the ownership that would surprise many watching the movie. The owner's son is a future Hollywood celebrity. The movie provides insight why this celebrity comes across so genuine. It is fascinating to have such insight into a person's life.

The Mavericks were literally the Bad News Bears of adult professional baseball. Rich in humor and diversity, you feel like you missed a part of baseball history. I found myself wanting to be a part of the time period.  Intriguing to watch, as we may never see a future franchise with such colorful characters, I highly recommend you watch this documentary.

Making a Murderer - Social Inequalties On Trial

Making a Murderer is a documentary on Netflix. An intriguing examination into a complicated murder case in Wisconsin. The documentary focused on the false imprisonment of Stephen Avery that sent an innocent man to jail for 18 years. Once he won his freedom, he was accused of a murder charge shortly before an 18 million dollar verdict was going to trial. The evidence suggest that the County Sheriff was quick to draw to conclusions without due process procedures being followed.

While the false imprisonment is the central theme, there is another underlying theme to this documentary that I feel carries more weight. This documentary demonstrates that our judicial system, like most systems in our society benefits the rich. The poor have a much higher likelihood of social injustice.

Spoiler Alert - (If you have not watched the documentary, you may want to skip this paragraph)
A key part of the documentary is the settlement. Due to the second arrest,  Mr. Avery settles for 400.000 dollars so that he can afford a defense team. He would have a multi-million dollar settlement, however his arrest forced his hand to settle for less.

Without the settlement, Mr. Avery would have been given little attention from the media. His connection to the innocence project helped to bolster attention to both projects. While watching things unfold, one has to wonder, how many people do not get the benefit of the doubt that money gave Mr. Avery. Most of our citizenry has to rely on a public defender, which the documentary shows is practically worthless.

The documentary provides an interesting examination of Public Defenders. The problem for public defenders is quite simple. Public defenders do not have the resources that the prosecution team will be able to access. This leaves the client of a public defender vulnerable. In fact, some public defenders may have conversations with the DA without their client knowing that a plea bargain is in the works. A very dangerous precedent for people in poverty. You get the feeling this happens more often than people realize.

Money makes all the difference. When you do have money, you can analyze the evidence and mount an argument for your defense. The documentary clearly demonstrates this by allowing you insight into multiple trials. The trial of the 16 year old was very telling. The lawyers that were public defenders were outplayed by the judicial system. The young man never had a chance, because the public defender had very little to rely on to proved the innocence of their client.

Making a Murderer provides an interesting look into the inequities of our judicial system. A system that needs reforming and a return to Constitutional principles that a man/woman is presumed innocent and it is up to the prosecutor to prove without a shadow of a doubt that someone is guilty. There is a blurred line between prosecuting the right person versus who the state thinks did the crime.

Slingshot

Have you ever heard of inventor Dean Kamen? If you have not, I highly recommend the movie Slingshot. Slingshot is a movie about Kamen's work to solve the world's water crisis. Kamen has previous inventions. His most noted is the Segway. A technological flop that was going to revolutionize walking.  What you soon learn about Kamen is that he is much more than the Segway. His inventions help people in need and his goal is to lessen suffering. He wants to live in a world that our passion for inventing surpasses the culture of learning that exists in our nation. He wants our children to live in a world that celebrates learning as much as it celebrates sports.

Kamen inspired making learning fun by bringing a sports like environment to Science and Technology. If your child has been a part of a local Legos competition, you will soon learn who inspired the FLL league.

Ultimately,  Slingshot is a study and a look at Kamen's vapor compression distiller from its earliest development through recent trials in rural Ghana and beyond. As I watched the movie, I wondered what is holding back his technological advance for clean water. It would save hundreds of thousands of lives. The technology would also have a dramatic impact on health and wellness around the world.

Children should strongly be encouraged to watch this movie. The movie espouses many characteristics of learning that benefit the world they live in. It opens up the mind to possibilities that children need to ponder, including empathy for the world they live in today. Slingshot is a great movie for families to watch together and can inspire the young inventor that lives inside all of us.

Spotlight - It Takes A Village To Abuse A Child

Spotlight is a movie about the Catholic Church abuse scandal that was covered up in Boston for many years from the 1960s to 2001. The movie is powerful, and immerses the viewer into the cover ups discovered by the investigation by the newspaper, the Boston Globe. The team of investigators from the newspaper uncover a trail of shame and fear that existed in Boston for generations.

The most important part of the movie can be summed up in one line, "It Takes A Village To Abuse A Child." This movie shows how children are vulnerable to abuse when there are systemic problems. It not only calls out the Catholic Church, it also calls into question the system that is supposed to protect children from abusive priests.

When you think about it, how did so many priests violate over a thousand children without anyone be prosecuted? Why did child protective services, family courts, and the media fail to bring attention to he repeated abuse by priests?  Every safety net played a role in neglect. In fact, the movie acknowledges that the same paper that exposed the scandal was guilty of covering up the stories in the past.

There is much to learn from Spotlight. You can apply this to any system of care that has abuse. Up to 10 percent of our population can experience sexual abuse during a lifetime. The scandal with the Catholic Church is not a singular issue. Hopefully Spotlight will inspire many to ask questions of all our services within a community to ask tough questions, and protect our children from future abuse.

I was haunted by a part of the movie that portrayed the local church leadership as indifferent to the scandal. Hinting that in some cases, it was not the priests faults. Fast forward 15 years and similar testimony was uncovered by the bishop in our diocese. Here is the link below:
Syracuse Bishop Blames Victim's For Abuse

The Man In The High Castle

A story that transports people to an alternate reality usually challenges us to examine our own behaviors. Alternate universes are also important for us to understand our reality. Sometimes, we live in a box whether we want to admit it or not. We allow ourselves to believe we live in a reality that was shaped by our own choices, without realizing that realities can be shaped by events and environmental influences.  Rod Serling proved how effective the could be almost 60 years ago. He created a 5th dimension that transported people to a world that could talk about prejudice without impunity. And his show helped Americans realize we are not as tolerant as we would like to think we are. In fact, much was wrong with America and it's claim to being a democratic nation.

Amazon has decided to test that reality by releasing a series known as "The Man In The High Castle." The series is based very loosely on the book of the same title. (Fans of the book will most likely be disappointed) The series is based on an alternate universe whereas a series of events led to the United States losing WWII. The setting is early 1960s, and the United States is divided into 3 sections. The west is the Pacific Coast States under control of Japan. The east is controlled by Germany and the Rocky Mountain states are a neutral zone.

The two superpowers are Japan and Germany, not the US and USSR. As with our reality, the Japanese and Germans want to control the rest of the world. The intrigue develops with this very tense relationship among the superpowers. What makes the series so unique is that it breaks down the alternate universe intimately by an intriguing analysis of the main characters. There are plenty of twists and turns how we got to 1960. And the parallel universe of the real United States lurks in the background. The main weapon are missing film clips, that both sides want to hide from the general population.

There are so many levels to this series that are worth talking about. It challenges us to examine our policies of our past and present in the current United States of America. The revisionist nature of series allows for clever plot twists based on our own knowledge of history. While the story strays from the book, I actually like the writing as it provides a contemporary look at history from a lens of a totally different world. It gives the viewer a sense of good, bad, and indifference to how we see the world. This is the best part of the series. It surely encourages many to examine their own perception of history.

Why The Pope Needs To See St. Vincent

St. Vincent is a story of hope and humor that many will enjoy. However, I was intrigued how the movie used the Catholic church as a backdrop to the story. In fact, I hope the Pope watches this movie to understand why it is important for the church to move forward in the 21st century. There is a disassociation with the church due to the moral crisis that has been neglected for decades by the church leadership. This void has allowed many to forget was is great about the Catholic church.

To understand the moral consequences of the Catholic church failing the flock, we have to travel back to the 20th Century. For many, this century was guided by many Catholic communities in our country, especially in the northeast. People were guided by churches and Catholic schools that had young vibrant priests. Contrary to popular belief, many children grew up with a positive experience from growing up Catholic. Unfortunately, the church crisis of the last 20 years has caused a vacuum in our country. The current and past Popes failed their parishes  and refused to acknowledge the crisis that existed with priests. The Pope lost the confidence of many parishes by sacrificing trust for the protection of deviant priests who committed heinous crimes against humanity. By doing this, the Catholic Church has virtually wiped away the positive aspects of healthy parishes and scared away a generation of Catholic families to their Protestant counterparts. All that is left for many are churches led by men in their 70s, 80s, and 90s.

St. Vincent provides the current Pope a reminder how a healthy parish and school can be a connection to positive Catholic values and teachings. St. Vincent is a modern day Bells of St. Mary's. It connects us to children, learning that the world is not perfect allows them to have empathy. The priest/teacher is a backdrop to help children to the disconnects of our world.

The background of the movie is what makes a Saint. The idea of a "saint" being moral while alive is not absolute. Many saints in fact came from humble roots and rose to the calling of compassion and empathy by examples through a series of tests that life provided them. A calling to God has many roads for saints to travel. In an odd way, the movie explains the very "human" road to saint hood. And, that we have many saints that exist without getting recognition from the church.

The lessons from St. Vincent will be lost by our next generation of children growing up today if the Pope does not reform the church. Hopefully, Pope Francis will realize that St. Vincent is a core value of the church that the Vatican should strive to work towards at the local level. To regain that trust again, many changes will need to happen in the current priesthood that requires hard choices by this Pope. Hopefully, he will realize the value of everyday saints are far more important than the protection of priests that had no business being clergy.

A Very Murray Christmas

Do you love Bill Murray? Do you miss the Bill Murray of early SNL and Stripes? Netflix has a holiday treat for you. A very Murray Christmas is the best television special regarding Christmas that has come along in many years.

My only complaint is the beginning. Tolerate it for about 15-20 minutes. After the introduction, Bill Murray and his ensemble cast bring an amazing blend of powerful moments and comedic performances that will surprise many. In fact, the special leaves you wanting more than the one hour it gives us. It reminds the viewer, yes, television can be this good again!

I won't give away any spoilers. once this special gets going, every minute is a joy to watch. For all of my Cerebral Cinema readers all I can say is, "Have a very Murray Christmas."