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Running Head: B13 MOVIE REVIEW

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B13 Movie Review: Invisible City

Student’s Name:
Institution:

B13 MOVIE REVIEW

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Movie Review: Invisible City
Introduction

Invisible City is a documentary film directed by Hubert Davis in 2009
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It revolves around two black Canadian youngsters, “Kendell” and “Mikey” who are
students at the Nelson Mandela Park Public School
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The two
boys are growing up in a public housing project that is being torn and reconstructed around them
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growing up in this environment is rather
confusing, and often involves participating and witnessing illegal activities which could turn out
to be dangerous
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Ainsworth Morgan, their former teacher, is also featured in the
documentary where he acts as their father figure as he reflects on his position in the society
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It comprises 70 acres of land that
provide housing to approximately 2000 families
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In the film, the residents are struggling with the
issue of loss of the community which they will experience once their homes are brought down
and the displacement that they will experience
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The documentary has brought out this by articulately depicting the lives of the
young men continuously for three years with no much change to the types of lives they live
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They lack the positive
influence that comes with the presence of older male role models
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Despite the fact that the lives they lead and hope to lead are
positive focused lies, the movie vividly depicts their awareness at the lack of guidance
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The director has employed a cool, almost leisurely mode in capturing the events
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This, in
conjunction with the gentle probing brings out the inner most emotions, views and thoughts of
the protagonists
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Since time immemorial, Regent Park has
been under deplorable conditions, housing a community known for its poverty, crime ridden, and
deplorable conditions of living
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As much as this does not augur well with the community
who are afraid of losing their homes and being displaced, the revitalization is for a good cause

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and there is hope that Regent Park shall be a better place after all this
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They are living difficult, maybe deplorable lives at the moment
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In summary, times change and all conditions in life are dynamic, nothing
stays in its current condition
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Ainsworth Morgan, the former teacher to the duo, is used to bring out the purpose of the movie
by exposing the manner in which the Regent Park community tends to glorify negative
achievements as opposed to positive achievements
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What The Movie Has Left Out?

Invisible City has failed to offer solutions to the issues at hand being experienced by the
boys, their mothers and the community in general
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Kendell's and Mikey's
respective paths are marked by ambiguity and impulsiveness
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Mikey is one individual
who is particularly vulnerable to the allure of his peers as well as the streets
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He claims that the thuggish pose makes him more sensitive about his current
situation
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Whether the young men shall have a diverse variety of options in
the revitalized Regent Park could be a subject worth being explored in a future documentary
film
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It is interesting how the
filming of the film coincided with Sharon Kelly’s The New Normal: The Figure of the Condo
Owner in Toronto’s Regent Park
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The film
however adds depth to the viewer’s understanding of the ‘social mixing’ concept’ which occurs
as a result of the revitalization process
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Thorsten Sellin’s sociological theory of cultural conflict argues that when the values, norms and
beliefs of two diverse cultures collide, there is bound to be some kind of conflict
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This
creates a “take-over” situation where the dominant group infringes onto the other culture’s
territory
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As it is, the revitalization hopes to turn the current housing project into mixedincome, mixed-use community that is zoned for residential and retail purposes
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In turn, this leaves the viewer questioning it just as much
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The documentary also fails in its persistent inability to bring out the true emotions of its
characters
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Davis nails the desolation and self-hate, but the viewer is in dire need of some form
of positive action or symbol of hope to guide them somewhere
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In view of the fact that
this is a story, it requires some degree of hope to the audience, and there needs to be an end goal
to achieve
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However, there is a conspicuous lack of acknowledgement and representation of Black teenage
girls or Black women in the entire film
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Black women encounter just as
many stereotypes as their male counterparts
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I
believe that the film should have a share of the female experiences
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The most
outstanding was when I was younger, growing up in a mixed society
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Their jobs were well
paying and we lived in a middle class neighborhood, attended good schools and our lives were

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generally good in normal standards
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He was hospitalized for a long time and
this ate into the family finances since he stopped working and all the savings were spent on
hospital bills
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My father was paralyzed from the waist down
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With an ailing
parent and living under deplorable conditions, life was difficult and the neighbors did not make it
better
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The living conditions
and the situations were as bad as those depicted by Invisible City
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Luckily for us, my father was able to find work as a doctor in mission
hospital and our lives got better again, after which we moved out of the housing project
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Poverty shall be “deconcentrated” in line
with the policy trend of the project which is also aimed at eradiating other forms of
disadvantages by engineering more socially and economically mixed residential environments
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However, the big question remains as to whether the revitalization will have a positive
impact on the existing community and the new community that shall come into Regent Park
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From the story, it would be possible to find out whether the project was a success or a

B13 MOVIE REVIEW
total failure
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Retrieved on 15th November 2014 from http://tvo

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