Medium Cool

I'm not sure if this is a satirical take on news crews or not. Either way, it is Medium Cool.

In the lead up to the 1968 Democratic National Convention, we follow a news crew as they capture the voice of the people. Which involves going out and getting footage, and chasing away kids from their cars. Fortunately, that one kid has a mother that the news cameraman finds interesting, and slowly they form a relationship. When the kid goes missing, she looks for the cameraman to get help (after looking for the kid herself), and they get caught up in the protest outside the convention.

Are news crews divorced from reality? Are they only interested in the shot, regardless of what the shot actually is? If someone is hurt, then they are there for the shot, not there to help. That's what this movie is on about, and contrasts this with the news cameraman actually getting into a relationship. And once that happens, he moves to the other side of the camera...

I'm not sure I got the point of this. It was part document, part drama, and it wasn't entirely clear to me what it was trying for. And yet this seems popular, so clearly I'm missing something.

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