Captured

I just watched this documentary, Captured, by Clayton Patterson tonight and it did not disappoint. I've heard about this doc for awhile and it filmed randomly here or there (which I never managed to catch) but now its on itunes and I was able to rent it. (did Anthology or IFC ever screen this? if so why not?) My point being this film deserves distribution. I'll watch anything and everything that features footage of nyc. I've always been like that, and its a contributing factor to my moving here, so of course this was no exception. Patterson has been able to preserve a nice slice of nostalgia focused on the Lower East Side. The main climax occurs during footage of the 1988 Tompkins Square Park Riots (which is in the East Village, were they all melded together then?) We are able to see that with his previous experience blending in, developing street creed, and learning to film action, it all culminated into being able to obtain this historical footage. Shit is off the hook. (although seemingly not as violent as more recent cop brutality footage ie. Rodney King, Hurricane Katrina, cops tasering people inappropriately etc.) This is in an era before cellphone cameras and twitter. That said, I can't imagine something like this happening today. It was bureaucracy vs the people. Not only did cops have a showdown at the park, but they took over the ENTIRE freakin neighborhood. And this is some raw, grassroots footage (no wonder he got jailed for it). The situation got out of control and the mayor, Koch, was off in the Hamptons for the wkend! How fitting. Its hard to form an opinion on all this as I wasn't around at that time and don't know what it was like, but all of it is unfathomable to me today. Patterson also has street footage of 9/11 which gave me goosebumps, his wife is on the tape saying "I want to get out of here, I want to get out of here". Towards the end he pines for the good ol'days of the LES. I understand his feeling of displacement, but I also think the city is vastly nicer to live in these days. I also understand the queasiness of the rampant gentrification thats been going on (which has slowed alittle in this economy). Hell, LES has changed dramatically since I moved here 7 yrs ago. I hardly even go down there anymore and it used to be one of my favorite neighborhoods. Now there's a lower, Lower East Side which I'm sure is creeping more and more onto the radar. I digress. This film is worth viewing if you live here, are curious about nyc, or like watching movies about nyc like I do.