This documentary was part of the PBS Series "American Masters". It focuses on the life and career of the acclaimed photographer Dorothea Lange, who passed away in 1965 at the age of 70. The documentary was written, directed, and narrated by Lange's granddaughter Dyanna Taylor.
Lange clearly had a most remarkably keen eye in capturing the human condition and surrounding circumstances. Her black and white photos are most powerful and often heart rending.
For me, two themes of Lange's stood out, those photos of the Great Depression, in the 1930's, subsequent Dust Bowl and the huge population migration from America's heartland to the West, mostly California. The desolation and despair of the American families is clearly captured by Lange's work. However, she also records, in the people's own words, their determination and hope to start anew.
Some of these photographs have become world famous, such as Migrant Mother (1936) and White Angel Bread Line (1933).
The other theme of Lange's which struck me deeply was her work at the Manzahar Internment Camp, established after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, in December 1941. It seems rather incomprehensible in today's times but a type of "hysteria" swept across the West Coast then, and Japanese-American citizens began to be rounded up and sent to various internment camps.
They would lose their homes, businesses, and daily lives, despite the fact that thousands of Japanese-Americans were fighting for the U.S. in the Armed Forces. Lange was deeply affected by these events, and her photos of the stoic Japanese-Americans leaving everything to go to these guarded camps are extraordinary. As a matter of fact, when the military saw her photos they confiscated them all and they didn't come to light till years later. It was quite a sad chapter in American history, I would say.
Overall, this film could probably have used some better editing, as it ran rather long at nearly 2 hours. However, for me, the power of the photos and their rich history were well worth it for me and I became quite interested in the movie and it's contents.
Lange clearly had a most remarkably keen eye in capturing the human condition and surrounding circumstances. Her black and white photos are most powerful and often heart rending.
For me, two themes of Lange's stood out, those photos of the Great Depression, in the 1930's, subsequent Dust Bowl and the huge population migration from America's heartland to the West, mostly California. The desolation and despair of the American families is clearly captured by Lange's work. However, she also records, in the people's own words, their determination and hope to start anew.
Some of these photographs have become world famous, such as Migrant Mother (1936) and White Angel Bread Line (1933).
The other theme of Lange's which struck me deeply was her work at the Manzahar Internment Camp, established after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, in December 1941. It seems rather incomprehensible in today's times but a type of "hysteria" swept across the West Coast then, and Japanese-American citizens began to be rounded up and sent to various internment camps.
They would lose their homes, businesses, and daily lives, despite the fact that thousands of Japanese-Americans were fighting for the U.S. in the Armed Forces. Lange was deeply affected by these events, and her photos of the stoic Japanese-Americans leaving everything to go to these guarded camps are extraordinary. As a matter of fact, when the military saw her photos they confiscated them all and they didn't come to light till years later. It was quite a sad chapter in American history, I would say.
Overall, this film could probably have used some better editing, as it ran rather long at nearly 2 hours. However, for me, the power of the photos and their rich history were well worth it for me and I became quite interested in the movie and it's contents.
