Tells the history and importance of The National Film Registry, a roll call of American cinema treasures that reflects the diversity of film, and indeed the American experience itself.This is more far left wing political propaganda than it is anything else. Don't be fooled. A movie is a movie. These are self absorbed people pushing an agenda. What a bore

For many people, motion pictures are not "just" an entertainment medium. Instead, they are not unlike any other form of artistic expression, filled with the realities (good or bad, perceived or real) of the time period in which they were made. In essence, films can be considered to be kind of a "time capsule" for the human condition, told in the form of scripted tales. As such, many such works of art deserved to be saved, which is exactly what this documentary focuses on.For a basic plot summary, "These Shadows" describes how certain films (voted on by a panel of motion picture luminaries) are currently being preserved in the Library of Congress (or our "national library") for future posterity. However, problems often exist in restoring the original negatives of even such classic pictures as "Gone With The Wind" or "The Wizard of Oz"."These Shadows" takes very much of a "big picture" look at film preservation. While it could have spent hours on the fascinating topic of the physical restoration process itself, the filmmakers instead give an overview of the entire Library of Congress process, from its beginning (aka finding the funding) to which movies are selected and finally to how the overall scheme of things will proceed into the future. Any one of these areas could have been focused on in their own documentaries, but here they are condensed into the overall narrative of the project.Overall, then, this is a fun little documentary that introduces us to the very concept of preserving motion pictures as we would other works of art or historic culture. Anyone who enjoys the film arts will likely agree that its place in our own national culture is very deserving.

I understand the need to preserve great old movies, and the national registry seems like a great thing for doing this. Will help us remember the way people dressed, and their mannerisms... to see old cars, and street views...for that these old movies are priceless...But then.... this documentary goes into how movies will remind us of our past history... What?.... wrong! Nice try Hollywood, but, anyone with half a brain should understand that movies are movies... Fake, false.... even the ones that say they are based on fact are not factual, or as Hollywood would put it in the credits, "this film was enhanced for dramatic effect".Then it gets worse... this documentary tries to say that because someone made movies exploiting women, that was the culture of our time. Because someone made a movie that was blatantly racist, that was the culture of our time...it falls to diversification for the sake of diversification. No longer able to base it's own judgment on good vs bad, but more on what's good for specific minority groups.For example, they have an American Indian man they are interviewing that is appalled at the way Indians were depicted in the movies of the 50's and 60's... Well I have news for him, read your history books, because American Indians were a lot worse than the movies depict. They scalped people... kept the scalps as trophies. You don't hear anything like that today that isn't related to some serial killer. Sorry we took your land, but, check your history books for something in this world called "conquered people". You'll find your weren't the first, and weren't the last either.If you want to find out what history was like, take a course, read a book, or watch a documentary blessed by a good historian. Don't ever look to Hollywood movies for more than anything but a way to waste a couple hours, you'll never get back.

These Amazing Shadows (2011) *** 1/2 (out of 4) Wonderfully entertaining documentary taking a look at the National Film Registry, its history and what the group hopes to happen going forward. A brief history is given at the start of the movie but basically in the 1980s Ted Turner bought the MGM library and immediately started colorizing movies. Various Hollywood types including Woody Allen and James Stewart went to Congress to talk about the importance of movies and in 1989 this registry was formed so that we can save future generations movies. The only real negative thing that can be said about this film is that it's way too short even at 92-minutes. I think the most fascinating stuff happens early on when we see the history of the registry and we even get to hear how the twenty-five movies are selected each year. I think this here is the greatest part of the movie because we get to see what type of movies they're looking for and what it takes to get in. There's also an interesting topic going over preservation and why this here is so important and especially when you consider that 80% of silent movies are now lost. Rob Reiner, Christopher Nolan, John Waters, George Takei and Tim Roth are just a few of the famous faces on hand talking about preservation. Many others including people on the board are also interviewed and they talk about some of their favorite films as well as films that they got into the registry. We also have a section devoted to some of the controversial movies including THE BIRTH OF A NATION and THE SEARCHERS. Overall, this is a very entertaining documentary that film buffs are going to love and if you're new to classic cinema this will be a very good place to get some great recommendations.