61 Bullets
Beneath the top headline of a newspaper, ink faded from time, lies a small subtitle: “Baton Rougean evidently was possessed of hallucination.” It’s an article about the funeral proceedings for one Dr. Carl Weiss, whom readers may recognize as the man who assassinated Senator Huey Long. A sentence like the one quoted above, I imagine, could not have been written with a straight face or an in check code of proper journalism. Was it a Hearst outlet? Long Family controlled?At the start of 61 Bullets, a class of young students are guided through the halls of the Louisiana State Capitol Building, where the supposed assassination took place. “Has everyone gotten a chance to touch the bullet holes?” a guide asks aloud. How demented. While the kids are investigating the walls, our guide whispers to the camera that it’s all for show, but it helps them learn. How truly demented.
The perception of the events on the evening of September 8th, 1935 are quite divided. In the film, the few people who were alive during The Great Depression are questioned about Governor / Senator Long. Some revere him as a champion of the people, others as a bully who needed to be stopped. At the very least, I think it’s safe to say that Huey is greatly missed in today’s political arena. Thick southern accents are mixed with such heavy memories of the man, almost as if his legacy is both a boon and a burden that all state citizens share.
This can be most clearly said for the Weiss family, who had to relocate (within the state) in order to try and escape the stigma of Carl’s alleged actions. His son spends the duration of the documentary as a quiet, stoic figure, someone who’d rather talk about the future and not the past. It’s a shame he carries, despite the questions of his father’s innocence, and it’s sad to see him walk around with such a weight.
Did Dr. Weiss do the deed? 61 Bullets doesn’t know, but does know that we can’t know for certain, and that uncertainty should be written in the history books. It’s fascinating that such an important historical event can lack so much evidence. Contrast that with today, when you can’t step out of your house without being instagrammed. Possible hallucinations? Hiding behind a pillar? Shot to pieces? That’s the stuff legends are made of. Odd that the legend became the official story immediately. Curious…
3.5 / 5 *s
Big Charity
I have yet to sign up for an Affordable Care Act health insurance plan, but not a day goes by that I don’t think on it. Right now, I frequent the Jefferson Parish Human Services Authority for health assistance, something that I’m absolutely thankful exists. Between budget cuts and privatization, it’s almost a miracle that the program still stands.
Yes, miracles do happen. Even in Louisiana.
The first portion of the documentary Big Charity covers the history of and events during Hurricane Katrina for Charity Hospital in New Orleans, LA. For decades, it had been managed by Nuns, whose only goal was to help *shock* help people, regardless of economic status. Even after a managerial shift to the LSU system, the doctors and nurses still stuck to the code. When Katrina hit, workers were left alone for days, having to go back to basic medicine practices to serve patients. At one point, a nurse described that she was breathing a man by hand, when she was suddenly asked to help elsewhere. Looking back, the man waved her away, and began pumping air into himself. Incredible.
Sometimes, no matter how incredible, miracles just aren’t recognized.
The second, and largest, portion of the movie exposes a conspiracy — a grand swindle — to deceive the government and the people of the state in order to use storm related funds to build a new hospital, something which was being developed prior to Katrina. For me, I could only go back to how the Bush Administration orchestrated going to war with Iraq, using 9/11 to do it. Big Charity makes no such comparisons, but it doesn’t really have to, as all sides are, amazingly, covered. We see interviews with rogue doctors, who claim sabotage at the abandoned Charity — a place that could’ve easily been renovated. We see interviews with slimy administrators and almost apathetic politicians, who claim that what was done was for “progress”. The fix was in, and it was dirty. Charity still stands, stained and lonely, representing a time gone by and a modern status of where the priorities of some of us lie.
Perhaps I shouldn’t have been as shocked as I was by the end — after all, it IS about Louisiana politics — but Big Charity hits a raw nerve. It uncovers the heroism of many, the greed of a few, and the trickle down effect it all had on a city, good and bad. It’s a story that is probably more familiar than not all across the country, and needs to be seen and talked about.
The Obamacare Enrollment Period is about to start up again. So much red tape to cut and hoops to jump through. Why can’t it all just be a given? Why can’t doctors just… help?
5 / 5 *s
