Ordinary Miracles: The Photo League’s New York (2012)

The Worst Film Ever

One of my all time favorites.

A Masterpiece!

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

As a documentary this is a fairly straightforward, even dry at times, telling of the history of The Photo League. It was a photography center and school in New York that fostered and help train some of America's greatest photographers in the 1930s, 40s and 50s, especially (but not only) those who worked in a documentary style capturing the humanity, struggles and dignity of the poor and working class in the depression, through World War II and beyond. It's an interesting, sometimes moving story of artists fighting to change the world, and inspire others.But its real strength lies in the images themselves. The bulk of the film is spent looking at the works of these photographers which are overflowing with emotion, beautiful aesthetic qualities and the reminder that photography is a special and magical art that can capture a moment in time, and allow us to really take it in -- to feel that we are there -- like no other. Whether funny, sad, horrifying or inspiring you realize that the people in these photos may no longer be with us, but that moment – that kiss, that loss while watching a burning building that holds your children, that moment of kids playing together on the streets of New York has been preserved through a talented eye that picked just the right moment, just the right light and framing to let you feel a sense of presence and understanding in a way that the fast pace of life too rarely allows.

If you love photography, you must watch this film. The quality of the photographs is enormous. To hear the photographers speak of their making of these images under the direction of great teachers associated with the Photo League is even more enriching. The views of New York in this documentary style is a soul shaking reminder of how far America has come and how much further it needs to go. The sadness of this film is the anti-communist witch hunt of the early fifties that shattered the group. Even if you are not a photographer, or even interested in documentary photography and social justice, you will find that this a great film about people, their youth, their energy and spirit, and how many of them found true soulful focus from their work with The Photo League.