Truly Dreadful Film

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

The acting in this movie is really good.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Jacqueline Gallapo UPP101 Project 3.Detropia is a unique film. It takes the issues of Detroit's decaying city but then mixes it with the creative prosperities and caring nature of the city's residents. The opening starts with a mix of Detroit's opera and images of the city, as well as, citizens' voices demonstrating in the background. These few minutes truly capture the beautiful sounds the city could have in comparison to the economic landscape Detroit currently offers.To set the background of the status of Detroit the film shows a news reporter, reporting on the demolition of a home. From that news report we learn the severity of the decaying urban sprawl in Detroit. In Detroit, 10,000 homes are set to be demolished in the next 4 years. There are 90,000 more homes ready to go. Every 20 minutes another family moves out of Detroit due to the declining economic opportunities. Following the news report, the film highlights how Detroit was fastest growing city in 1930. This surge in Detroit was due to the industrial revolution and creation of the automotive industry. The automotive plants created an infrastructure that supported thousands of jobs. As competition overseas rose, the numbers of jobs in Detroit began to decline. George McGregor, the president of United Auto Workers union Local 22, notes the decline in jobs in the automotive industry.When George McGregor is introduced he is driving past the Cadillac plant he received his first job at. But now it's not the same plant it was when he was young. Instead it's a smaller scaled plant. This is because part of the processing of the Cadillac left Detroit, thus taking jobs with it. McGregor does a great job of highlighting how the unions are being bullied into lower pay in order to compete with foreign car factories. A prime example of the jobs leaving Detroit is with American Axle moving to Mexico, thus outsourcing more than 2,000 jobs. American Axles last plant in Detroit wanted to cut workers pay significantly. After negotiations with the UAW, American Axles decided that they weren't willing to bargain and instead left Detroit completely. This outsourcing for corporate greed is part of the issue the automotive industry left such a striving city to decay. McGregor says that when the jobs left Detroit, then the neighborhood left leaving the urban sprawl as its remnants. Crystal Starr is a video blogger in Detroit. She explains to the audience that history is meant to be documented. That's why she feels the need to explore and contribute to Detroit's history. While showing a high-rise building she imagines what it may have looked like in its peak. Starr's curiosity and intuition help to shape the film into a piece that focuses on the current conditions of decay that would not otherwise be shown. This young woman holds such optimism and hope as she shows a decaying city. Starr also does a fantastic job of documenting city hall meetings and the chaos that ensues at them. The meetings allow those outside of the city to see from the perspective of a Detroit citizen, what is happening and how the city is dealing with such issues. She is a great leader for the youth of Detroit. Starr's and other young citizens should be considered when higher city officials work on issues in Detroit.Despite the bad economy Detriotians find relief at places like the Raven Lounge. Owner Tommy Stephens says that the city was always vibrant when the automotive plants were there. Workers would flock to his lounge after work and enjoy the music and chicken wings. Then the recession hit Detroit hard, but "It will come back, I do believe" Stephens says. His optimism, like Crystal Starr's, is what all citizens in Detroit need to aspire to be like. Despite the bad, good will come and the city can thrive if you believe in hard work to change the landscape. Towards the end of the film we are introduced to a couple of artists who moved to Detroit to explore the urban landscape, while having the ability to create new artwork. The duo is first shown in the film standing alongside a busy street. They are dressed in blazers, thus looking somewhat like a professional with gold science goggles air mask and glove accessories. The couple holds a sign reading "Give us your money $". This art installment that they are trying to create makes the people in cars passing by think. One woman looks angered and if you read her lips carefully she says an expletive. Later in the film the man explains that they moved to Detroit because the price of living was affordable. Plus the artists had space to work and create large-scale installations without the fear of failure that would be seen in other major cities. Their creativity and openness in moving to Detroit despite the cities flaws are worthy of mention. Citizens like these artists' help to drive the economy.According to the film, the 2010 U.S. Census showed that the population had decreased to 713,000. Despite this decrease there is a 59 percent increase of young adults moving to the center of Detroit. This increase may be what Detroit is looking for. If the youth can continue to come into the city and revive the urban space, Detroit may rebound like Tommy Stephens hope for. Detropia sheds hope upon Detroit with the music and the imagery of a thriving arts program. In the end of the film a silver lining for Detroit is established, autoworkers have had more jobs created. The possibility of a better tomorrow is on the horizon. And with that there still is the cloud of economic troubles and the warning of what could potentially happen to other U.S. cities if their industries leave. Works Cited Detropia. Dir. Heidi E. Ewing. Perf. George McGregor, Crystal Starr, Tommy Stephens. New Video, 2012. Film.

May contain spoilers: It has some interesting images,anecdotes and stories but for the most part it is nothing but ruin porn. I didn't hate the movie but it really did not go too far in depth about the complex nature of the cities decline. These things include racial tensions, mismanagement, population declines, real estate practices, recessions,public schools, politics, crime and outsourcing. I know they covered some of these things but they barely scratched the surface on many of these issues. I think if you really would like to know some of these issues in a more intimate matter than your better off researching it and watching a show like The Wire. I think that show does a great job of examining many issues that the big cities face and to a lesser extent many cities.

This film is interesting to watch, especially the tour through the ruins of Detroit, a fascinating graphic representation of the collapse of a major American city. The haunted landscape with its empty houses and buildings (often very large buildings) evokes emotions of loss and decline, both sad and romantic at the same time. I was thoroughly entertained while I was watching those scenes. This documentary also interviews some of the residents of those devastated areas, and while those survivors are likable and interesting in themselves, they seem to have little insight into what's going on around them or why. This video provides a paucity of information about what brought about those alarming conditions, instead focusing on allowing the pictures to tell the story. There are a couple of major omissions that are quite glaring, as if the videographers just had to avert their eyes from the truth because of ideology or just a personal aversion. First is the alarming crime rate. Only about 21% of the homicides are solved. There is no indication here about how dangerous Detroit has become. Another omission is the abysmal condition of the public schools. Without decent schools there is literally no hope for the kids still having to live in the Detroit area. My understanding is that it is not due to lack of money because Detroit schools receive more per pupil than the national average. Only 25% of high school students graduate. A young student is more likely to wind up in prison than in college. A third glaring omission is the fact that the city has been ruled by Democratic politicians for 50 years. The city's problems are to a large extent the result of bad politics, misspent money and cronyism. Without a viable opposition who was there to keep the politicians honest? I don't mind that much if the documentary was just meant to show the wasteland that was once Detroit as a series of visual images for their own sake. However there seems to be something under the surface that is hinted at but never developed. Why did Detroit take such a nosedive in the last decades? I would have preferred a more in-depth analysis. Why couldn't Detroit adapt to changes in the global market? Auto plants in other parts of the US are doing okay. Did the unions kill the auto industry in Detroit? This is a question that is never asked in "Detropia." Perhaps because the filmmakers didn't want to face the answer.

All I ask for out of a documentary is that it teaches me something and makes me feel. Although Detropia doesn't belong in the trash heap, it did not live up to these simple expectations I have put in place. Detroit definitely has an interesting story; in the 1930's it was one of the most populated states in the country, certainly the easiest place to find a good job. Slowly (with the passing of NAFTA in the late 90's- thanks Clinton) jobs left, followed by people. Detroit has seen the largest mass exodus in the country. The film informs us that almost 10,000 houses per month are torn down because they have been abandoned. The city is in ruins. I thought this would make for a good documentary.First of all, why is the city going through such problems. I think the directors blame the North American Free Trade Agreement, which is fine because it's probably true. However, they assume that the viewer knows all about NAFTA and exactly how it effected the Detroit auto industry. All they explain is that NAFTA happened and CEO's moved their jobs to Mexico, which caused factories to shut down. I would have appreciated a little more depth into NAFTA; maybe a 90 explanation of why NAFTA meant that companies could move down south, why it passed, who was for it, who was against it? Maybe an interview with a proponent and an opponent. Maybe try to get in touch with spokespeople from these companies. Instead we are left having to pause the movie and do our own research.As a drifter in his early 30's, I'm interested in cities like Detroit. I think places like this are where the revolution is gaining steam. The documentary spends a few minutes describing what is happening. Very briefly they say that there is a plan in the works to move people who live on the outskirts into the city, in order to create more density. Then, they would convert the outlying area to potentially urban gardens. This is a fascinating idea, revolutionary even, yet that's pretty much all we hear about it. We are shown clips of what appears to be a town hall meeting about the proposal, and then we hear three elementary school dropouts saying, "they be playing gardens? That's dumb yo. People be shooting each other over tomatoes." That's it. That's all we're told about the future of Detroit.Finally, I understand that a city that poor obviously has a pretty dismal education system (although that doesn't explain why the older people, who lived most of their lives during the boom, are also dumb as cow poop), but surely they could have found someone to interview who had the ability to put together intelligent sentences. The main characters are a video blogger (the closest of the bunch to an average IQ), a burned out owner of what appears to be a Blue's club, and a union leader/pimp. Are there no professors? Are there no community groups? Talk about lazy; it seems like the directors had a few friends in the area and interviewed them. Or maybe they just found the first few people they saw, and mic'd them up. Regardless, the documentary sucked. The only positive is that I'll now to more research on the city.