Weighing The Facts: America the Beautiful film

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America The Beautiful
Katherine Lee Bates

O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!

America! America!
God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassion'd stress
A thorough fare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness.

America! America!
God mend thine ev'ry flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law.

O beautiful for heroes prov'd
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved,
And mercy more than life.

America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness,
And ev'ry gain divine.

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears.

America! America!
God shed his grace on thee,

Publish Post

And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea.

picture source:http://www.flickr.com/photos/thomashawk/23654438/

The brain child of director Darryl Roberts, the documentary "America The Beautiful" is about the value of physical beauty placed on people in the US. Spurred by an article Roberts read online about a man who killed a model who refused to date him; "She was really attractive,' Roberts said. 'And he wanted to date her, but she wouldn't date him. So he said, if he couldn't have her, nobody could and so he killed her,"Roberts researched the subject, logging over 500 hours of film in the process. Armed with a set of questions, Darryl Roberts first interviewed 200 women. One of the questions he asked was "Do you feel attractive? Do you feel beautiful?" Sadly, only 2 women answered yes.

Traveling the country he set out to uncover why so many feel so bad about themselves. Speaking with those in the fashion industry, experts, plastic surgeons, and ordinary people Roberts collected the honest and sometimes confused views of those he interviewed. He calls the amount of women and girls with eating disorders and "epidemic." One model in the film, six feet tall and 130 pounds who was told she needed to lose weight said, "Health doesn't become an option in this business. If you want to worry about your health, go to college."

In an interview by Euan Kerr of Minnesota public radio, Roberts said, "You have all these multi-national corporations that are making billions and billions of dollars off of people feeling bad about themselves. We are just entering a further and further state of moral decay."

When asked what his goal was Roberts answered, "basically my purpose in doing the film was to put forth the message that we're all beautiful the way that we are ... so that we can recollect our self-esteem and just kind of take it back from the advertisers ..."

"...One of the most important documentary films of this decade.
Absolutely critical viewing." Samantha Urban

"America the Beautiful is funny, shocking, and enlightening and is important enough to merit as many people seeing it as possible." Samantha Urban

"...the shock will keep your eyes glued to the screen for the rest of the film."
Anton S

Viewers said:

"Powerful. Thank you Darryl..."

"Amazing, amazing film."

"Very insightful."

"So poignant. So right on point with his perspective."

"...amazing."

America the Beautiful will be released in theaters this fall.

sources:
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/06/19/americathebeautiful/
http://www.americathebeautifuldoc.com/
http://youtube.com/watch?v=0GXTooMa4go : interview by thebigfanboy.com

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