"Very Candid Camera"
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What You Need To Know:
Some of the students in CHAIN CAMERA are quite endearing. For instance, one awkward student tells how he eventually got picked to be a Homecoming Prince and his mom shows off the crown they gave him. There is also, however, some strong foul language and frank, sometimes crudely funny, discussion about sex. Also, two of the students featured are homosexual and there is hardly any mention of religion. Thus, CHAIN CAMERA is an interesting anthropological study, but it fails to be truly enlightening or edifying.
Content:
(PaPa, HoHo, So, C, LLL, V, SS, AA, DD, M) Pagan worldview featuring eclectic array of viewpoints including defense of homosexuality as being normal, two teenagers mention their socialistic attitudes or political activism, & one family prays together before a meal; 69 mostly strong obscenities & 2 mild profanities such as “I swear to God”; no violence; simulated oral sex, a couple of teenagers dirty dance at prom & some discussion about sex by sexually active & non sexually active teenagers; no nudity; no alcohol use, but student says his mother’s an alcoholic & shows alcoholic mother lying in bed sleeping, but movie says mother gave up drinking later; smoking, marijuana use & teenager mentions doing other drugs; and, miscellaneous immorality such as racism, parent swears in front of child & parent makes light of being a virgin.
More Detail:
CHAIN CAMERA is a documentary shot by 16 students at a large high school in Los Angeles, Calif., where 41 ethnic groups get a government education. In 1999-2000, 10 video cameras were passed around to students for one week at a time. When the week was up, the cameras were given to 10 new students, and so on. The 16 students in the final movie come from different walks of life and different ethnic groups at John Marshall High School. The scenes in the final movie are varied and include discussions about their families, other people, some school activities, and, of course, their sex lives. The movie culminates with scenes from the prom and graduation ceremonies.
Some of the students are quite endearing. For instance, one awkward student tells how he eventually got picked to be a Homecoming Prince and his mom shows off the crown that they gave him. There is also, however, some strong foul language and frank, sometimes crudely funny, discussion about sex. Two of the students featured in CHAIN CAMERA are homosexual, and one of them, a lesbian, brings her “girlfriend” to the prom and makes a plea for “gay pride.”
CHAIN CAMERA is an enlightening look at the lost lives of some teenagers. The movie proudly states at the end, however, that 85 percent of the graduating class at the high school are going on to higher education. Regrettably, though, the movie ends with a crude sexual joke from one of the students who, before that scene, did not say anything remotely dirty. Thus, CHAIN CAMERA is an interesting anthropological study, but it fails to be truly enlightening or edifying. In fact, there is hardly any mention of religion at all – one Christian family is shown praying before a meal and that’s it. Hence, God and Christianity have not only been banned from this public school in Los Angeles, they’ve also been banned from this documentary as well.
