Experimenter
In 1961, Yale psychology professor Stanley Milgram conducted an experiment in which most participants willingly inflicted pain on strangers in obedience to instructions. In Michael Almereyda’s fascinating recreation, Milgram (Peter Sarsgaard) is the child of Holocaust survivors testing how easily conscience can be suspended. Milgram addresses the camera in this meta staging, often from surreal settings. His experiment was castigated as unethical but his findings continue to resonate. Winona Ryder co-stars as Milgram’s wife.
Jimi Hendrix Experience, Electric Church: Atlanta Pop Festival, July 4, 1970
Two months before his death, Jimi Hendrix headlined the Atlanta Pop Festival, a rock fest bigger (and many say better) than that overrated event in upstate New York, Woodstock. This documentary culls from previously unseen concert footage and includes interviews with participants, organizers, members of Hendrix’s band and other contemporaries. Electric Church sets Hendrix’s appearance and rainbow-colored cultural vision against the backdrop of Georgia’s governor at the time, the vicious, ax-wielding racist Lester Maddox.
Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of the Grateful Dead
One fan came 1,000 miles without a ticket. Another just left his hospital bed in time for the Grateful Dead’s final hurrah, July 3-5, 2015, at Chicago’s Soldier Field. The stadium was packed for the shows, documented in various packages, including a two-Blu-ray, three-CD set. The four surviving band members, augmented by Bruce Hornsby, Trey Anastasio and Jeff Chimenti, maintained a mellow vibe. No one asked the obvious question: The Dead after Jerry’s death?
Jerusalem
Jerusalem is a place whose stones were touched by the prophets, where sacred shrines of rival religions abut each other. The National Geographic documentary focuses on Jerusalem’s walled Old City, split into the Muslim, Christian, Jewish and Armenian quarters. This moving picture postcard gives little evidence of conflict except for one off-hand remark by a resident of the Old City: “Although we live in the same area, we don’t know a lot about each other.”
