Review of Brother, Can You Spare a Dollar? (2012) by Bugie — 25 Jun 2013

I found this documentary a breath of fresh air. It was not 'heavy handed' in the way that some of these documentaries are, where the interviewees are so predictable that you could fill in the dialog yourself.

Yes we know; "it was cold, so cold, in the winter, hot, in the Summer, floods, dust bowls, bonus riots, and the only thing we had to eat was bread, thin soup and apples for five cents but no one had a nickel!" Phooey! This was on a more personal note.

It went beyond privation, but to what we had, as a nation, then, that we do not have now. We have 'social media' and hundreds of 'virtual friends'. They knew who their neighbors were and they actually spoke to them in 'real time'.

We are rushed today in a way that the 'depression kids' find nightmarish. I grew up in the early 60's and have some of that feeling myself. I kind of like to freak out kids, who seem shocked that there were only about 10 TV stations, including UHF (do they even have UHF today?) and, if you missed something, you had to wait until summer re-runs to see it.

That clown from the New York Times said the film had a 'get off my lawn' feeling. What an 'elitist twit'! That condo dwelling Chablis-swilling twerp wouldn't know what to do with a lawn if he tripped over one.

The had less, lost more and still maintained their humanity and that's what got them through.