Grab a Hunk of Lightning is Dyanna Taylor’s documentary of the life of her grandmother and famous photojournalist, Dorothea Lange.  

It reveals Lange’s challenging childhood (abandonment of her family by her father and contracting polio at age seven); her dream as a young woman (to leave her hometown of Hoboken, NJ and travel the world); and her unconquerable willpower to never give up.  

For example, her dream was sundered when she and her friend were robbed of all their money in San Francisco, CA.

To get out of the situation, Lange got a job at a photography studio in San Francisco and not long after, opened her own portrait studio in the same city.  

Her first marriage in 1920 was to western painter Maynard Dixon.  He had a daughter and together they had two sons.  A major challenge of this marriage was Dixon leaving the three of them for months at a time to paint in the southwest.  In 1935, Lange divorced Dixon and married economist Paul Taylor.  

And it is with the deep love of Taylor and her own adventuresome spirit that Lange matures into the photojournalist we know today.   
Her iconic “Migrant Mother” (shown above) is one of her many heart-wrenching photographs that documented the struggles of migrant workers during the Great Depression.  

Other work that is just as moving and which only became known later in her life are her photographs of the relocation and internment of Japanese-Americans.  At the time, the US military impounded these photographs as they were considered too critical and disparaging of the US government’s decision.  

Throughout her life, Lange struggled with the demands of being a wife and mother; her passion to be a photographer; and health issues such as bleeding ulcers and post-polio syndrome. 

Yet, through it all, her indomitable spirit is palatable—from her choice of husbands; to her critical eye and gifted hand that takes us to the depths of injustice and also reveals the hidden beauty and power of individuals; to her courage and unwillingness to let her ill health stop her from her passion of photography; to her love of huge, bold jewelry.

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Author and artist, Kathryn V. White loves well-conceived documentaries and life-affirming films.  Her most recent book, Rumble Tumble Joy: A Journey for Healing, Inspiration, and Wholeness, is a finalist in the 2014 Wishing Shelf Book Awards.  Find out more at: www.kathrynVwhite.com.

Bloodied feet, constantly hungry, frequently in pain, these young dancers are disciplined and passionate about achieving their dreams.  Their family backgrounds include wealth, poverty, the American military, and adoption from an African war zone.  

As you watch their awe-inspiring performances, you’ll be rooting for each of them to win one of the elite scholarships and contracts that can help ensure their entry into the professional world of ballet.

Click on the DVD cover to watch Bess Kargman’s award-winning, box office hit documentary.  (Affiliate link)

Rough and smooth textures, globs and thin varnishes of paint, as well as individual brush strokes are clearly visible. 

The painting is no longer a scene of wholeness—you see it in fragments.  You move back and forth between close up viewing and standing farther away.  Each position is important in understanding what it took to create the art and take in the art.

And so it is with the documentary, Waste Land.  Internationally renowned artist, Vik Muniz travels from his home base in Brooklyn, NY to his native Brazil and to the world’s largest garbage dump—Jardim Gramacho.

His mission is to make art from the garbage and somehow use this same art to help the catadores—the people that people turn away from in disgust and ignorance.  These are the people who are the self-designated pickers of recyclable materials.  To earn a living and support their families, they scale the smelly mountains of tons of refuse dumped from trucks each day.    

Vik looks at the entire dump site from aerial photos and then he moves in closer by walking throughout the dump and talking with the catadores.  Out of the many, he ends up working with seven of them in a collaboration of art-making.  He decides to create photographic portraits of the catadores in positions reflecting iconic images of art. 

These images become the basis of huge renditions of the photographs through creating them with the recyclables gathered and placed by the catadores.  And then he photographs these renditions and blows them up into huge photographs that are then sold at an auction house in London.  Each of the participating catadores receives some of the proceeds and some of it goes to fund the programs the catadores' union is working to develop.

Vik works in layers and layers of art-making process just as the garbage dump contains layers and layers of human refuse and history.

The documentary is fascinating and heart-filling.  It sweeps away ignorance, prejudice, and generalizations.  You see the struggle, the bad luck, and the achievements that can be wrested from poverty.  You'll cry, cheer, and be inspired by the power of the human spirit to transcend insurmountable challenges.  You'll be amazed at the power of art to transform how people see themselves and then their lives. You’ll want others to watch this film.

Don’t wait.  Click on the DVD cover and learn more.  (Affiliate link)

He uses this real-life story as the framework to explore the damaging impacts on all our lives of media brainwashing on what is beautiful.

Body image, self-esteem, and beauty are further explored through statistics and interviews covering cosmetics, cosmetic surgery, eating disorders, and other body-image issues.

Enlightening, engrossing, and often shocking, this film shows how much we are conditioned to viewing distorted, unattainable beauty images as the yardstick of female perfection and how much we all lose by uncritically accepting this perspective.  

Click on the above DVD cover to find out more. (Affiliate Link)

I recently had the fortunate experience of watching Simon Schama's Power of Art.  If you are ready to watch something provocative, entertaining, and intelligent, get this DVD series. 

Simon and his masterful team use narration, storytelling, dramatic reconstruction, photography, lighting, and acting to full effect.  The series focuses on Caravaggio, Bernini, Rembrandt, David, Turner, Van Gogh, Picasso, and Rothko.

Each historically based segment is engaging and brings humanity and a deeper understanding of the lives and creations of each of these artists. It is hard not to watch the entire series in one sitting. 

The actors used in all the segments were superb, especially  Andy Serkis as Van Gogh. I was bought to tears watching the Van Gogh and Rothko segments. 

Be sure to watch the commentaries as well, they deepen your appreciation of the hard work and skill required to create such a quality series and reveal a more humorous and approachable side to Simon as he can be somewhat intimidating in his full narrative eloquence!

So if you are looking for something that engages as well as enlightens, take a look at this amazing series.

And Simon, if you read this blog, I (and I'm sure many of your fans) enthusiastically vote for more!