The style and flair of the film detracts from the impact it wants to give, especially now when the footage has little context without having lived through these events. But i must say once the reality of the images hit me i felt stirred, from everything we see and hear today things haven't changed all that much from this short.
A documentary short about racism in the United States. It's a series of video clips and photographs set to music by Lena Horne. Aspiring to be a call to action to make changes "Now!", but with it's in your face delivery it loses it's impact. The images are stirring, but arranged in this way doesn't add much.
"Using morgue photos, newsreel footage, and an amazing (if slightly over-arranged) recording by Lena Horne, Cuban filmmaker Santiago Alvarez fired off 'Now!', one of the most powerful bursts of propaganda rendered in the 1960s. Not intended as a work of great subtlety, Alvarez wields other people's images with perhaps more artistry than those who created them, and builds a remarkable piece of rhetorical cinema in the process. It's target -- the then-current racial conflagration in the United States -- is an easy one. But it is perhaps this very fact that most fuels the scorn and rage in the marrow of this film. If there was any room for nuance, he might have gone a little easier.
'Now!' is strident, yes; but breathtaking."
//Tom Sutpen on YouTube
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Comments 1 - 6 of 6
Minkin
Available here with audio (unlike Youtube versions)https://vimeo.com/33134193
moontopmountain
The style and flair of the film detracts from the impact it wants to give, especially now when the footage has little context without having lived through these events. But i must say once the reality of the images hit me i felt stirred, from everything we see and hear today things haven't changed all that much from this short.ClassicLady
I grew up with this violence. No comment.the3rdman
Interesting to see this old footage, but I agree with BlueVoid.BlueVoid
A documentary short about racism in the United States. It's a series of video clips and photographs set to music by Lena Horne. Aspiring to be a call to action to make changes "Now!", but with it's in your face delivery it loses it's impact. The images are stirring, but arranged in this way doesn't add much.Emiam
"Using morgue photos, newsreel footage, and an amazing (if slightly over-arranged) recording by Lena Horne, Cuban filmmaker Santiago Alvarez fired off 'Now!', one of the most powerful bursts of propaganda rendered in the 1960s. Not intended as a work of great subtlety, Alvarez wields other people's images with perhaps more artistry than those who created them, and builds a remarkable piece of rhetorical cinema in the process. It's target -- the then-current racial conflagration in the United States -- is an easy one. But it is perhaps this very fact that most fuels the scorn and rage in the marrow of this film. If there was any room for nuance, he might have gone a little easier.'Now!' is strident, yes; but breathtaking."
//Tom Sutpen on YouTube
5/10
Soundtrack is great! Lena Horne's "Now".