More Republican party ugliness and destruction, as Reuben Atlas and Samuel D. Pollard's ACORN AND THE FIRESTORM hits DVD

I suspect most of us will remember one of the big news stories of 2009, in which the nationwide community organizing group, ACORN, was beset by a major scandal involving an "undercover" operation in which a young man and woman, purporting to be a pimp and his whore, went into an ACORN office and talked its workers into supposedly helping the pair get a loan on a house they would then use as a brothel.

Yes, this seemed on the face of it to be utterly ludicrous, but there it was, captured on videotape for the whole country to see. See it, we did. Fox News, of course, made an ongoing meal of it, and much of the mainstream media did, too -- without doing a lick of the required investigation into the video's veracity.

One of the great strengths of the new documentary, ACORN AND THE FIRESTORM, by filmmakers Reuben Atlas shown at right) and Samuel D. Pollard (below), is that, after introducing us to a

few ACORN workers and giving a short history of the organization -- designed to help the working class and poor by helping them help themselves -- as well showing us the pair of shysters determined to "expose" ACORN, the movie tells its tale of a sham and scam that somehow looks "real" in pretty much the same manner that this story originally unfolded. The filmmakers refuse to give away their hand too early. This allows the viewer to better understand how something so unfair and dishonest could have taken place here in "democratic" America. Sure enough, as the documentary rolls along, we're caught up once again in how stupid and thoughtless these ACORN workers seemed -- before at last we are shown and told, with all the requisite proof, what really happened.

By the end of the film, sadness and disappointment have turned to shock and anger. Yes, the head of ACORN made some mistakes regarding family, transparency, and moving the power structure of the organization from local to national. But these pale in significance to the shoddy and actually unlawful scam perpetrated against ACORN.

We meet the perpetrators, abetted by that late, anything-but-great sleazebag Andrew Breitbart (what a shame his heart attack did not take place a few years earlier), and watch our anti-heroine, Hannah Giles (above) practicing self-defense in a video that looks every bit as unbelievable and unconvincing (with those very slow moves against an assailant, she'll be dead in no time) as does her later and more famous video (the unedited version I mean) with co-conspirator James O'Keefe.

TrustMovies does not want to spoil the surprise and more delivered by the twists and turns this documentary takes as its tale unfolds. You'll come away from it with enormous respect and appreciation for the film's true heroine, a woman named Bertha Lewis, below, who led ACORN during its latter days. The filmmakers arrange a meeting between Ms Lewis and Ms Giles to end their film, and the restraint Lewis shows toward the not merely naive but really stupid Giles is exemplary. When Giles, who behaves like an entitled piece of trash, declares, "I don't ____!" as though this were a badge of honor (you'll have to view the doc to learn what it is she does not do), you'll suddenly realize what jaw-droppingly dumb actually looks like.

Who stood up for ACORN and its proud, 40-year history or demanded a real investigation of what went on here? Nobody. Not even our crass and cowardly Democrats like Chuck Schumer, Al Franken or even a certain President Obama, who gladly signed the bill into law that defunded the organization. And, as ever, the post-event and more truthful news took a decided back-seat to the fake "event" news that preceded it. ACORN and the Firestorm is a sad, anger-making commentary on truth and fact in the USA -- which of course has only grown worse over the past two years of Trumpiana.

Pictured above is the fellow who opens the documentary by unfurling a Confederate Flag and then telling us, "This is 'heritage not hate'," even as he also explains how he came to connect with ACORN and how the organization helped save his and his wife's home from foreclosure during the 2008 financial crisis. He's a most interesting choice to provide entryway into this fine documentary, which I suspect will be on my list of "best films," come the end of the year.

From First Run Features, via iTVS, the documentary, running a swift 83 minutes, opened in a very limited theatrical run the beginning of this month and will hit DVD come Tuesday, May 15. 

Reuben Atlas' BROTHERS HYPNOTIC tells of a literal "band" of brothers, its history and music

How to be "indepen-dent"? That's a tricky one, and it's a question that the new docu-mentary, BROTHERS HYPNOTIC, addresses in ways that are both obvious and discreet. After playing festivals -- Los Angeles to SxSW, Hot Docs to Urbanworld -- this popular audience favorite via first-time filmmaker Reuben Atlas (shown below) is having its worldwide theatrical premiere this coming week, here in New York City at Maysles Cinema.

The first thing you may notice about the film is how quickly you're captured by the "sound" these brothers make. It's original, beautiful and, yes -- a little "hypnotic." And when, very soon, someone makes the point, "Anything that's worth anything lasts long!" you'll realize why you're listening perhaps a bit more keenly than usual. There are things worth hearing and considering here.

We're introduced to the "brothers" early on (a few of them are shown below), with a total of maybe seven in all. That count keeps climbing as the movie meanders forward. Finally, all told, there seem to be 16 boys, seven girls, three moms and a dad -- Philip Cohran, an old-time liberal, anti-establishment fellow possessing both musical talent and the sort of school-of-life-and-hard-knocks bona fides that have earned him permanent respect, from his family and much of the world-at-large. Phil's love for and talent at music, as well as his having to live and work as a Black American before, during and after the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, has given the man a distinct lack of trust of any-thing remotely "establishment."

All of this Phil Cohran has managed to instill pretty heavily into his sons, too, and so Mr. Atlas -- over four years time and traveling with the brothers across four different countries -- shows us this troupe at work and in performance (on the streets, in concerts), amassing a large following that includes the likes of Mos Def, Prince, and Earth Wind & Fire, and trying to come to terms with the possibility of success.

The big question of the film is whether or not that success will be on the Hypnotic Brothers' own terms (and those of their dad, shown above) or more the terms of the establishment. What is clear, from the beginning and all the way through the film, is that these guys have immense talent and willpower. As well as, to some extent, needs and ambitions perhaps somewhat different from those of their dad -- who always insisted that the kids' primary result of their music should be given back to the Black community from which they all sprang.

Mr. Atlas seems to hone to the fly-on-the-wall aspect of documentary film-making, keeping himself out of the picture as much as possible. He also prefers to show rather than tell. The result has both accomplishments and drawbacks. Consequently, though we get the sense that all is not super-crispy in terms of the family's needs and desires, we are generally left out of any discussions of any depth (if these even occur; it's hard to tell).

At one point, the group fires its long-time agent and goes with a new fellow. Why? How did this happen? Was there heavy disagreement? We never know. We hear quite a bit about (and a little bit from) Dad, the three moms takes turns speaking, and some of the brothers are clearly more talkative than others (or maybe were given permission to be).

The sisters don't figure much here, it seems. Feminism -- as some of us know it, at least -- does not appear applicable. (Also, chances are that, out of the 27 people in this family, one or two of them might by gay or lesbian. But of course that never surfaces, either.)

At one point, the brothers are offered a contract with Atlantic Records. In most music documentaries, this moment would be the climax of that long road traveled toward success. Not with this family. And yet, even this opportunity, which comes knocking yet again, is hardly lost. (I suspect that the talent level here is so immense that the Hypnotic Brothers can get away with stuff that other groups wouldn't think of trying.)

Toward the end of this consistently interesting, occasionally frustrating film, one of the moms explains that what she gets from the boys is "a message of unity." I got that, too, but I'd call it somewhat "enforced" unity. Though I'm not quite sure who the enforcer(s) is (or are).

Brothers Hypnotic begins its week-long theatrical run at Maysles Cinema, as part of the popular Documentary in Bloom series, this coming Monday, March 24, through Sunday, March 30. Special note: Director Reuben Atlas and members of the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble will participate in post-film Q&As following the sscreening on Friday, March 28 and Saturday, March 29.