Peter Murmann

Timothy Treadwell lived for 13 summers with grizzly bears as if they were tame and loving creates before he was killed by one them. Treadwell created in total 100 hours of film footage that Werner Herzog has woven into an arresting documentary. The film is the most original piece of work that I have seen [Read More]

In high school biology classes I watched many films about animal and plant life. The one I recall most vividly is Konrad Lorenz tricking little geese into believing that he was their parent during a particular phase in their young life.  These films were produced on relatively modest budgets. In the hearts and minds of [Read More]

As a biography of a major writer of the 20th century America Capote is an artistic failure. The film covers only a short period in Capote’s life when he researched and wrote In Cold Blood. The script utterly lacked a central requirement of a good biography: make us understand the person better. All we learn [Read More]

Robert McNamara was a cold warrior with a soft heart. He led the Pentagon under John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson until the disagreements between Johnson and McNamara over Vietnam became too large. This film is one long interview with McNamara. The subtitle of the documentary is “Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. [Read More]

PBS broadcasted today for the first time a documentary on the painter Frida Kahlo. If you have not seen the Hollywood motion picture Frida with Selma Hayek in the role of Frida, you will find the documentary very stimulating. But if you have seen Selma Hayek’s marvelous Frida, you realize just how accurately the Hollywood [Read More]

My expectations were only moderately high after having been disappointed by Moore’s under-researched Fahrenheit 9/11. Already during the first couple of minutes, you get the sense that Bowling for Columbine is a superbly crafted film. The symbol of guns is so deeply embedded in the American psyche and the facts about gun violence in America [Read More]

Anyone who expects a documentary in the style of Ken Burns will be disappointed. There is no true analysis of why almost half of the electorate still seems to supporting Bush a few days before the election.  Michael Moore has copied the methods of the Bush Whitehouse and engages in his own kind of propaganda. [Read More]

Watching the life of a child molester and the disintegratation of his family is probably not the kind of story most people consider seeing when they wish to have a good night at the movies. But this documentary is such a spectacular piece of work that even a difficult subject cannot get in the way [Read More]