51 Birch Street is a documentary that delves into the question of how much you really want to know your parents. Documentary film maker, Doug Block turns the camera on his only family secrets in an attempt to answer that question on his own. Doug is an independent filmmaker who occasionally delves in wedding filming and usually handles his own family filmmaking on holidays and during important events.
Doug’s parents, Mike and Mina, are the focus of this film. The couple, who were married for 54 years had what appeared to be a flawless marriage. This in itself is worth watching, considering the rarity of wedded bliss after that many years. Marriage period after that long is a pretty rare thing. Needless to say, the family was a happy one. Then one day, Mina passed away due to a bad case of pneumonia.
After the death of his mother, Doug and his siblings end up learning much more than they bargained for when it comes to their parents. Two months after the death of Mina, Mike marries Kitty. Kitty was his secretary 35 years prior to Mina’s death. As if this news was not enough for the kids, Mike throws another curve ball to the children when they find out that he and Kitty plan to sell the family home and begin a new life together in Florida.
Being a good son, Doug helps clean out the family home and when he does he is lead to a shocking revelation by his mother. Mina had left diaries behind that she kept for years before her passing. The diaries show that life was not as happy as Doug and the siblings guessed that it was. In fact, it appears that she may not have been happy in her marriage at all.
51 Birch Street gives you a nice hard look at family life and marriage from a perspective that is not always looked at. Rather than looking at the surface (which is often fake), you are taken into the depths of a family and a marriage to go where few people see the truth. The results are an emotional experience to say the least.
Considering the fact that most people view their parents as superhuman beings that gave them life rather than regular people, which every parent essentially is, 51 Birch Street forces you to take off those glasses and consider seeing your parents for who they are, flaws and all.
If you love documentaries, this film is a must see movie. The brutal honesty and the sheer emotion are amazing and definitely make this a movie worth watching. You may not want to know about the lives of your own parents, but this could give you an idea of what you may face when you go looking for the truth.
51 Birch Street appears to be a lower budget film in quality, but due to the nature of the film and the fact that it’s a documentary that is completely understandable. The quality of the film does not take away from the documentary at all, as it is good enough to watch it comfortably. The audio comes in the form of Dolby Digital 2.0 so you won’t have any problems hearing or understanding what is said. There are also some bonus features that have been added to the disc. Bonus features included are a music video, the original theatrical trailer, and a featurette, “Who Knew, The Block Family Reacts to 51 Birch Street.”
Documentary lovers will eat this film up, as well as anyone looking for something interesting, candid, and ultimately different than the mainstream. It is definitely worth watching and comes highly recommended.
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Technorati Tags: Doug Block, Mike Block, Mina Block, Kitty, 51 Birch Street, Documentary, Filmmaker, Low Budget Film, Parents, Marriage, DVD, Movie Review
