Back in 1963, “The Great Escape” was a smash hit with audiences around the world. It was a hit because of the major acting talent that director John Sturges brought together for the film. Tough manly guys like Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, Charles Bronson, James Coburn, David McCallum plus many others played the roles of prisoners in a German POW camp. Their only goal was to escape.

Based on true events, the movie was a dramatic reenactment of the meticulous planning that went into the escape. The movie was filmed in Germany, and many scenes were shot in small villages and towns in Bavaria. Hollywood stars and local German townsfolk, farmers and villagers would meet and become friends. Now there is a documentary that shows the lengths to which the movie production went for an accurate and scenic movie.

Christophe Espenan has put together an extensive (if short – it runs about an hour long) listing of iconic scenes from the movie. Then he revisits that same area today, over fifty years later, to show that the movie locations are still around. There are some major differences, of course. The POW camp was placed just north of a studio sound stage. There was an agreement with the German government that the production company could tear down a section of trees to construct a camp for the movie. But when they were finished, they were required to plant two trees for each single tree that they removed.

Many places and streets in and around the small Bavarian town of Füssen are compared to the original movie. Many scenes match up today, even after a generation has passed. They find the place where a majority of the actors stayed during the six weeks of filming. They interview many local people, or sons and daughters of local people who remembered the making of “The Great Escape”. The plot of the movie is that all the prisoners will break out of the POW camp and escape into the nearby town. That takes the action right here, into the countryside.

Back when the main stars were the biggest names in Hollywood, this movie became known as ‘The Greatest Guy Movie Ever’. Getting Steve McQueen to ride a motorcycle and jump a barbwire fence was very exciting. Perhaps his stunt double Bud Ekins should be famous for performing the jump. But McQueen did a huge amount of riding on the bike, and he even dressed up as a German soldier so he could ride again and chase himself!

Lawrence Montaigne narrates the documentary, and he actually had a part in the move, so many years ago. Even though his role was not a major part in the movie, he still says that just being part of that movie had opened up many doors for him.

“The Great Escape” was a film based on a true event. It also did not gloss over the fact that after the men escaped from the POW camp, almost all of them were recaptured. All but a few of the men were soon killed, for trying to escape. Only three men made it out to freedom. But since this documentary is only about an hour log, it does not attempt to get into any depth as to what the film actually accomplished.

From filmmaker and film historian Chris Espenan comes The Coolest Guy Movie Ever — a fascinating forensic documentary about the making of the classic World War II adventure film The Great Escape — to DVD and digital HD from Virgil Films on August 21, 2018, after a special screening earlier this year at Marché du film in Cannes.

“Far from the Tree” is a documentary based on a widely praised book by Andrew Solomon. His book, and now this movie, documents several families where there have been difficult circumstances – specifically when a child is not entirely like the parents. That is, when the apple falls ‘far from the tree’.  In these cases, it shows that patience, acceptance and love will bring all the members back into the fold.

Solomon first explains that his own childhood was unique and he felt different. He realized that the ‘normal; life of his parents would not work for him, because he was gay. This devastated his mother and his father was not at all impressed. But the story from Andrew Solomon is nothing compared to the other families that are investigated.

Jason Kingsley is a Down’s syndrome child, who was even featured on early episodes of Sesame Street when he was a kid. He never lacked the love and support from his mother, and now in his early 40’s Jason lives a full life. He lives with two other roommates (who share his condition). He has a job and he loves his friends and his family. But he has difficulty knowing that Disney’s “Frozen” is really just a movie. He has a major crush on Elsa, and he cannot ‘Let It Go’…

Another person we meet is Jack, who was a normal little boy – until he wasn’t. About age 2 years old he stopped communicating, and he seems to be in his own world. He had a severe case of autism, and his parents tried again and again to get some help. One thing they tried finally had some success. Jack was soon able to use a device to select letters, and then he created full sentences. With a voice-box, he was able ask and answer questions. He is now able to live as a functioning high-school student.

Then the journey takes you to the Little People of America conference. These folks who have dwarfism can lead quite normal lives. They just do it a little closer to ground level. A couple named Leah and Joe are married and are planning on having a child. Joe’s parents are ‘normal-sized’ people, and all of them think is nothing unusual to have a family with various sizes. Joe is not worried or depressed about his condition, so he takes it all in stride. Again, there is that theme of acceptance and love. It is really the cement that holds these stories together.

The one other family situation that gets reviewed is the story of Trevor. He was a nice kid, with wonderful parents, and had a trouble-free childhood. But, when Trevor was 13, he killed an eight-year old child in the neighborhood. There was no warning and no foreshadowing. He still says that he does not know why he did it. Obviously, this has taken his family, parents and a bother and sister, and given them a brutal situation to deal with. They have no easy way to explain anything to anyone. The parents still love their son, but they know that he will never be a free man.

Overall, “Far from the Tree” takes a look at some unusual family circumstances and shows that it does not need to be the end of the family. All of the different ways that some people might consider ‘disabled’, these people and these families prove that they can be-able, just in a unique way. It is done in a consistent manner, and moves along with great ease.

Some family situations are more intense than others. But they all show that it does not matter if you are near to the tree, or far from the tree. It only matters that the tree has some really deep roots…

In Phoenix, playing exclusively at Harkins Shea in Scottsdale