Reflections From a Murky Pond

American Dumpling is an independently produced feature length (81 minute run time) documentary written, directed and narrated by Eileen Nelson.  It is not a documentary about food per se, nor does American Dumpling contain much in the way of useful cooking tips and/or techniques. It is, in fact, a series of informal dialogues with several American families from a variety of immigrant cultures that uses the commonality of the dumpling as comfort food as a starting point for conversation.

American Dumpling
A Simple Story of Flour, Water, and Salt

American Dumpling is a film about families more than food – but food and family go together, else why would all cultures that I know of believe that the hearth is the center of the home?

Before I go further, let me be clear on one thing – It is unusual to the point of uniqueness for me to review or critique films of any sort, much less independent documentaries. Bear with me.

In point of fact, I actively avoid reviewing media offerings, and if the film’s Score Co-Producer, Kelly Mahan Jaramillo, wasn’t one of the few liberal types that I respect in the blogsphere, I wouldn’t have even seen the film much less reviewed it here.

American Dumpling – Review / Critique

Synopsis

In a nutshell the film is a montage of anecdotes from a small number of families and individuals who either are immigrants or are still actively maintaining at least some of the cultures of the peoples they descended from.

The melting pot of America is the melting pot of the dumpling, and although each cook has their own unique little spin they put in the recipe, it still boils down to three ingredients that are absolutely necessary – flour, water, and salt.

In walking out of this film, you get the feeling that you have known all of the characters for years.

– American Dumpling

The dumpling – flour, water, and salt – may be the glue that binds the narratives together, but the anecdotes are wide ranging and speak more of people and history than they do of ingredients.

Because people let their guard down when they’re in the kitchen – after all only friends and family are allowed near the hearth – American Dumpling provides a rare sort of glimpse into the lives, families, and histories of the people in the movie.

Review / Critique

Let me start with saying that I greatly enjoyed American Dumpling and found the film, not just enjoyable overall, but also quite engrossing. The glimpses the film gives into the lives of the people and families in it is a rare gift, and the glimpses of America’s and world’s history - including parts of it that are rarely spoken of – is even more so.

It is, however, not a polished production being filmed with a single camera / single microphone technique and being quite free-form in nature. While I liked the immediacy and intimacy this technique created, others might find less pleasing. This is not to say that the film is reminiscent of The Blair Witch Project, just that it is less polished and less cinematic than some documentaries have been.

The Good – Or, At Least, What I Especially Liked

• The intimacy the film had with both the people in it and with its creator & narrator, Eileen Nelson. American Dumpling, especially Eileen’s narrative interjections, is rather “flow of consciousness” in style, but that lets the viewer get a good sense of the people and the filmmaker.
• The audio track and the scoring worked surprisingly well. This is especially rare in documentaries that take place in noise-filled environment and that were filmed using a single microphone. It was a definite concern of of the Kelly Mahan Jaramillo and the other audio folks in the crew.

The Bad – Or, At Least, What I’d Rework

• While I liked Eileen’s narration of the film and the sense of herself she brought to it, she is at times a bit disjointed and wanders off-topic a bit. That can be a bit distracting and slightly jarring.
• American Dumpling was admittedly and obviously meant to be a different and shorter work and some of the editing didn’t take the best advantage of the final longer cut. Some of the cutaways and jumps between people in the film seem to cutoff the speakers and are a bit frustrating.

All in all though, it’s an engrossing and impressive film, especially one by an independent production group operating on a tiny budget. I think it could benefit from some rework and editing, but it is more than worth going to see if it makes it to a film festival near you, and well worth buying on DVD or Direct Download if it becomes available via those formats.

American Dumpling – Credits & Specs

PRODUCER: Eileen Nelson
CO-PRODUCER: Darrell Hanzalik
COMPOSER: Tomás Hradcky
SCORE CO-PRODUCER: Kelly Mahan Jaramillo
EDITING: Eileen Nelson
SOUND SUPERVISOR: Darrell Hanzalik
SOUND MIXER: Dave West

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LENGTH / RUN-TIME: 81 Minutes
FORMAT: DVD Video NTSC
AVAILABILITY: To Be Determined

One thing that American Dumpling really shows is that, to a large extent, people are people. The good, the bad, the ugly, the noble, and the base – people project these things onto different and wildly disparate targets but, underneath it all, it’s the same sentiments.

It seems that Several Hispanic groups – most likely groups favoring a reconquista of large swaths of America and a rebuilding of Aztlan – have formally complained to Target Corp. and other American retailers about their selling an “illegal alien” hallowing costume on its website. Target, fearing various forms of reprisal, has surrendered and pulled the costume from it’s holiday offerings.

He Didn’t  Just Cross a Border, He Crossed a Galaxy

Some days I don’t know which is worse, the obsidian knives and rampant human sacrifice of their not-too-distant ancestors or the PACs, paper terrorism, and complicit media of the current generation of Hispanics who seek to supplant America and its vibrant culture with their own way of existence. Either  way though, it’s a crime against America, Liberty, and Humanity as a whole to ever give in to such creatures.

The only ones who’d have reason to be bothered are criminals and people who harbor and/or support them. They should all be treated as such by the law or by the People if the law fails.

For anyone interested in supporting America and free enterprise – or just sticking it to these Latino “hate groups” – by buying the costume, it is still on sale at buycostumes.com and buyseasons.com.

It should be really quite simple. Stay where you came from and try to fix the problems you and your kind created for yourselves or immigrate to America legally. If you choose to criminally come here, be ready to accept the consequences and earn the piece of America you so richly deserve - a prison cell or a shallow grave.

Whether we wanted to or not, just about everyone in America knows that Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) called out President Obama during the POTUS’ recent speech on Health Insurance Reconstruction before a joint session of Congress. President Obama tried to convince people that illegal immigrants wouldn’t be covered and Rep. Wilson bellowed, “You Lie!”

Now the Liberals who’re running the US House of Representatives want to pass a Resolution of Disapproval against Wilson.

OK, to sane people this is a near criminal waste of Congress’ time. A Resolution of Disapproval is utterly meaningless and carries no penalties whatsoever; the victim doesn’t even have to be in attendance to here it, unlike the more serious Resolution to Censure where the victim does have to stand before the House and here the resolution read aloud. It serves little or no purpose except to distract from the real issues at hand.

On the other hand, the grievance-mongers in the inherently racist Congressional Black Caucus are demanding that such a waste of time be committed. They seem to believe in what passes for their minds that the KKK will rise again and burn them all out if Rep. Wilson isn’t rebuked.

I guess we’ll probably have folks putting on white hoods and white uniforms again and riding through the countryside, intimidating people,” he said. “That’s the logical conclusion if this kind of attitude is not rebuked.

– Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA)
Congressional Black Caucus

Of course people in America have to learn to expect such things from the Congressional Black Caucus. They’re the sort of Blacks who can’t here a sentence come out of a White’s mouth with out believing that it contains a sub-vocalized or unspoken “Boy” or “Nigger” in it somewhere.

But they’ll get their way in this, at least so far as having the resolution debated and voted upon. Whether or not it’s passed is slightly open to debate since not all Democrats want to go down that road. It sets a precedence that they don’t want to later be on the wrong side of.

The GOP’s Amnesiac Response

House Republicans are obviously dead set against such a resolution of disapproval against Rep. Joe Wilson. They can be expected to vote en mass against it, not that they can balk it, or anything,  if the Dems decide to force it through. That’s expected in these partisan days. What’s not quite so expected is the GOP’s very public outrage.

If we are going to march Members down to the well of the House to apologize, Joe Wilson is going to have to get in line behind Nancy Pelosi, who attacked the intelligence community who protects us, Charlie Rangel who cheated on his taxes, Jack Murtha – a walking scandal, and we all know how the Democratic leadership tried to protect William Jefferson.

Democrats don’t want an apology. They want a side show – something to shift the focus away from their government-run experiment on health care.

– RNC Chairman Michael Steele

I sympathize with Mr. Steele’s position. I very much feel the same way and feel that the previous behavior of the Dems v. President Bush abrogated any right to outrage or offense they might have once had. But I also remember Pete Stark (D-CA) on October 18, 2007 and the GOP’s response to his lack of decorum and any vestige of respect for President Bush.

Rep. Stark hated President Bush and was not shy about saying so or degrading the POTUS and the US Military before Congress, though he, unlike Wilson, did not do so directly to the Presidents face.

First of all, I’m just amazed that they can’t figure out– the Republicans are worried that we can’t pay for insuring an additional ten million children. They sure don’t care about finding $200 billion to fight the illegal war in Iraq. Where are you gonna get that money? You gonna tell us lies, like you’re telling us today? Is that how you’re going to fund the war? You don’t have the money to fund the war or children, but you’re going to spend it to blow up innocent people, if we could get enough kids to grow old enough for you to send to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the President’s amusement.

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But, President Bush’s statements about children’s health shouldn’t be taken any more seriously than his lies about the war in Iraq. The truth is that Bush just likes to blow things up… in Iraq, in the United States, and in Congress.

I urge my colleagues to vote to override his veto

– Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA)
Failed override vote of Pres. Bush’s veto of S-Chip

Back then in 2007 the Republicans were overwhelmingly outraged by Stark’s statement. They felt that the statement was both vile and a blatant violation the rules of the House. The Republicans did not, however, settle for a Resolution of Disapproval; they forced a Resolution to Censure, a more serious penalty, which the House Democrats voted down.

If it was wrong then, then it is wrong now. If it was right then, it is right now. Gods, I have had it with these motherfucking idiots in my motherfucking Congress!

This is a case where I believe that the Democrats and the Republicans both need to just move on. Their ridiculous, bipartisan hypocrisy is disrespectful to the People who employ them to perform a job, not to whinge, whine, and rail at each other to no purpose.

Gods above and below! It’s so bad that the only one who’s been consistent is Speaker Nancy Pelosi; she disapproved of both Stark’s and Wilson’s outbursts but didn’t want to bother formally reprimanding either one of them.