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Life & Times Transcript
5/17/07 Val Zavala>> Tonight on Life and Times -- A wide swath of Griffith Park was destroyed by fire. How do they even begin to restore it? Tom Labonge>> It is important that we take the right steps and take it as an opportunity. Laurie Kaufman>> It's not as simple as just going in and dropping seeds or planting seedlings. We really need to bring in the best science and the best urban forestry, and we have it. Val Zavala>> And then, our critics tip us off on what films to see while everyone else waits in line for "Spidey" and "Shrek". It's all straight ahead on tonight's Life and Times. Announcer>> Life and Times is made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education. And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg. Val Zavala>> Eight hundred acres of Griffith Park is now black, charred, burned to the ground, but already park planners are talking about recovery, helping nature come back. But how long will that take and what does it mean for the Griffith Park Master Plan? Hena Cuevas has our story. [Film Clip] Hena Cuevas>> These were the images broadcast all over southern California, fire raging through the middle of the largest urban park in the nation, flames coming dangerously close to the newly restored observatory. >> "Mandatory evacuation! You need to leave the area! Hena Cuevas>> And threatening homes in the Los Feliz neighborhood. Within two days, the Griffith Park blaze was out. No structures were lost, but more than eight hundred acres were charred, almost a fifth of the park. [Film Clip] Hena Cuevas>> This is what's left behind. Albert Torres>> The landscape looks like what my image of what the moon might look like sometimes. All my memories of the park over the years, all the patrols that I've been in, all the off-duty hikes, all the events in the park. Hena Cuevas>> For the past thirty years, Chief Ranger Albert Torres has patrolled these trails. Albert Torres>> "Well, there's one that I saw. See that right there? See the smoldering over there? That's one." Hena Cuevas>> He helped put out the few remaining hot spots in the area. Along with his memories of what was lost is a reassuring view of what will come. Albert Torres>> What we see are barren trees, falling trees. We see the ash on areas that were pristine, you know. This is something I won't belabor over. I've seen these areas recover and it's going to be nice to see that recovery. Hena Cuevas>> This is the park's third fire since it was founded in 1896. The land was donated to the city by a Welsh mining tycoon, Colonel Griffith J. Griffith. The first and deadliest blaze happened in 1933. Only fifty acres burned, but twenty-nine men lost their lives. Thirty years later in 1961, more than eight hundred acres were lost. Today the city is larger. Thousands more people use the park each year and more homes surround it. All this will put pressure on restoring what's been lost quickly. Just days after the fire, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger visited the park. Arnold Schwarzenegger>> "And we will work with the city officials, with the city of Los Angeles and the people of Los Angeles to find resources from our recently passed bonds and other sources to prevent flooding, re-vegetate the hillside and restore this great, great nursery." Hena Cuevas>> The initial amount for restoration? Fifty million dollars. Joining the governor was Los Angeles City Councilman Tom Labonge. Griffith Park is in his district. Tom Labonge>> In the subsequent days that I've been up and around the park to check out what is going to be done, I see there's an opportunity here to hopefully do the right thing for future lovers of this park. Laurie Kaufman>> Native species are adapted to the climate and the soil. Hena Cuevas>> Laurie Kaufman is with the nonprofit group, Tree People. The organization has worked with the state to restore areas hit by wildfires. Laurie Kaufman>> It's not as simple as just going in and dropping seeds or planting seedlings. We really need to bring in the best science and the best urban forestry, and we have it. Hena Cuevas>> First they must assess what potential lies in the black ground. There is often more than meets the eye. It will be similar to what these forest rangers did right after the 2003 fire in the San Bernardino Mountains. Laurie Kaufman>> And the millions of seeds, tree seeds and shrub seeds and grass seeds that are lying dormant in the soil, some of them may have just gotten cooked beyond germination. So we need to determine where those areas are and then go in and give nature a hand. Hena Cuevas>> She also says that Griffith Park contains a mix of native and non-native plants. This fire, she says, offers a valuable blank slate. Laurie Kaufman>> Some of the species were brought in by government agencies, by city workers. They were part of the park plan many years ago that included non-native species. Now we have an opportunity to say, "Well, what's the right tree or the right shrub in the right place?" Hena Cuevas>> Eventually, nature will take over. Pretty soon, plants will start sprouting and, in about three to four years, the entire burned area will be covered again. However, the question becomes what to do about erosion in the meantime? With no roots to hold back the soil, there are fears that mudslides could become a serious problem. Landslides are a potential threat to the homes just below the park, so there's an immediate need to stabilize the hillsides. Tom Labonge>> It is important that we take the right steps and take it as an opportunity. I don't want to rush. I want to do the right things, but I want to make sure we're prepared to. Because on the other side of the coin, too, if we don't do anything and we let's say get an el nino and it rains, all this soil here will be rushing down Vermont and Hillhurst. Laurie Kaufman>> And in the parts of the park that are adjacent to the Los Angeles River, that soil could get into the river and then you have water quality issues. So it's safety for those homeowners and it's also safety for our public health and the waterways. Hena Cuevas>> The rains are about six months away. One concern is that planting season is almost over, so new seedlings may not survive the hot summer months. Laurie Kaufman>> So we may need to go in with sandbags now instead of when the first rains come in. There's a lot of things we're looking at. Water quality, water control, water pollution and, of course, the impact on the local residents as well as residents region-wide who come and use the park. Hena Cuevas>> And hikers along the trails are also facing various safety issues. Tom Labonge>> Before the fire, if you were walking on these trails and you slipped, well, you could grab onto a branch. Now there's no branch and you go straight down in the canyon. We need to make the trails safe because, taking away all the brush, there's no place to grab onto if you slip. It did give a little bit of a gauntlet, if you will, when you'd hike Hogback or down through the bird sanctuary. Albert Torres>> One of the concerns is rocks, unstable rocks in areas that are nearby, because what happened was that the heat of the fire expanded the rocks and got them loose and they are falling. So we think about that. The other concern is trees. There are many trees that are weakened that are still standing. The large branches will fall. Hena Cuevas>> The best thing that hikers can do? Albert Torres>> Do not hike in these areas. Stay on the trail. Let the area recover with time. Hena Cuevas>> Kaufman says that people are already calling and wanting to know what they can do to help. Laurie Kaufman>> We have a lot of volunteers and neighbors and community members who want to step in. So we're just saying, "Hold on. We have to determine and decide the best course of action." Hena Cuevas>> In the meantime, Tree People has posted a section on its website where volunteers can sign up. Laurie Kaufman>> We strongly suggest that folks wait to speak or hear from Recreation and Parks to see what and how they want folks to proceed. That soil is very tender. It's vulnerable and the last thing we should be doing is going in and stepping on that soil. Hena Cuevas>> So far, there are no specific plans for long-term restoration. Some temporary options include placing bales of hay on the hillsides and installing fencing. For now, officials will continue to study the best way to help the park heal. They'll have to decide whether it's better to intervene to speed things along or simply wait for nature to take its course. I'm Hena Cuevas for Life and Times. Announcer>> Kcet.org is the place to look for the very latest on Life and Times. You'll find previews of upcoming stories, plus transcripts and audio of past episodes and links to some of our most interesting features. Just go to kcet.org, scroll down the page and click on "Life and Times". Val Zavala>> He was a United States Marine for four and a half years and had been on numerous missions in combat zones around the world, but it's when he left the Marines that Brian Steidle saw how cruel and brutal human beings could be. He was a witness to the genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan and now he's brought back pictures. A word of warning. Some of you may find some of them disturbing. These are pictures that the Sudanese government does not want you to see. [Film Clip] Val Zavala>> The Sudanese government made up of Arabs wants to rid of the country of Africans. They have enlisted the destructive force of marauding Arab militias who burn and plunder villages and murder men, women and children. Brian Steidle was there, monitoring what was supposed to be a truce. Brian Steidle>> In 2004, I became an unarmed military observer with the African Union in Darfur, Sudan. I was totally unprepared for what I'd see. [Film Clip] Val Zavala>> He put his experiences and some of the photographs he took in a book called "The Devil Came on Horseback". That's because the attackers drove cars, but also rode camels and horses. Brian is now in Los Angeles. I talked with him about what he saw and why it's happening. Brian Steidle>> Our job was every day to go witness genocide. It was attacks on villages where, you know, villages of twenty thousand where the government and the Janjaweed militias would burn them completely to the ground killing hundreds of people in brutal ways. I mean, to them it didn't matter who they were, women, children, men, it didn't matter. They would castrate the men if they could catch them. They gang-raped the women. They smashed little kids' faces in, tossed babies in the air and catch them on bayonets. I mean, horrific, horrific things. Val Zavala>> One of the first things he saw was a one year old girl who had been shot in the back. The bullet entered here and exited below. So for years and years, black Africans had lived relatively peacefully with Arabs in Sudan? What changed? Brian Steidle>> The Arab populations and the African populations have always lived side by side and shared the land. There's a lot of factors that have made that more difficult. The Sahara moving further to the south and more competition over land resources. These Arab populations have always raided these black African populations for slaves and now the government has said, "Okay, well, we want these guys off our land. We have marginalized them." These African populations formed into rebel groups to try to fight back against the government and then government then took these Arab militias, these Janjaweed, and basically unleashed them like an attack on other people. [Film Clip] Brian Steidle>> The way an attack first happens is the cell phone systems are shut down so that the people in and around the towns cannot warn the people out in the village that an attack is coming. The government controls all of this. Then they march their helicopter gunships and aircraft to go bomb and strafe these villages and then the Janjaweed and the military government of Sudan will go in on foot, horseback and camel and basically try to kill everybody they possibly can. The people that escape end up in refugee camps or IDPs, Internally Displaced Persons camps. You're really not a refugee unless you cross an international border. Val Zavala>> Oh, I see. Brian Steidle>> So within Sudan, they're called IDPs, Internally Displaced Persons. Right now, there's around two and a half to three million people that are displaced from their homes out of a population of seven million. Val Zavala>> The militias that were doing this, did they have a personal hatred against the black Sudanese or was it something they were just -- I can't understand what the motivation is to be so cruel. Brian Steidle>> It's a little bit hard to try to understand the motivation of this situation. There is a level of hatred within these Arab tribes, but furthermore, the government themselves have incited this hatred by paying them, by telling them that they're better -- Val Zavala>> Oh, they're paid? Brian Steidle>> Absolutely. They're paid not only in salaries, but they're also allowed to loot and keep everything that they loot from these individuals. So they have instilled this hatred in them. They have worked side by side for many years trading different goods with each other, but then the government came in and convinced these individuals that they were better than these African populations, so they have this level of hatred. I would sit down and talk to them and they tell me that they try not to shoot the donkeys because the donkeys are valuable to them, but the people are not. They say that they're a lesser race. They say that they shouldn't exist, that they want to wipe them out. This is what they do and it is definitely a level of hatred, something that I don't really ever want to understand. Val Zavala>> Brian's job was to monitor the situation. He wasn't allowed to intervene and he could have been killed if he did. Brian Steidle>> If I had intervened, if I had stopped something from happening, I wouldn't be here to tell the story. Val Zavala>> Really? Brian Steidle>> Most definitely. So for me, it's more important that I am able to bring these stories back to tell people about them, to tell people what I've seen, to share my stories with them so then we can stop this overall. Val Zavala>> That must have been really hard, though. I mean, can you describe a situation where you were really torn? Where you had to choose? Brian Steidle>> I mean, there are numerous situations. Standing next to a Sudanese general who's burning a village of twenty thousand, you know, and saying, "Hey, why are you doing this thing? You got to stop your troops from doing this stuff." He's like, "Ah, they're not my guys out there in the village." We didn't have the capability to stop it. Hundreds and thousands of armed troops versus us with a camera and a pen. [Film Clip] Brian Steidle>> And now the Sudanese government has moved into stage two of their operations. After burning ninety percent of the villages, they are now working on denying the aid organizations from providing relief to these individuals. They can't get the food in. They can't get the medical support in. So these people are slowly starving to death now. Their goal is to wipe out all of the African populations from Darfur, to drive them out of the region of Darfur or to kill them. Val Zavala>> Permanently forever. Brian Steidle>> Forever. They don't want them there anymore. So basically, they are killing them, driving them out of villages and now pushing them into these IDP and refugee camps outside of the country and within the country, and now denying these aid organizations from getting food to them so that they're going to starve to death. They're going to die from simple diseases like dysentery, yellow fever, typhoid, hepatitis, all things that are treatable here. But in a situation like that in a camp, they run rampant and thousands of people will die. [Film Clip] Brian Steidle>> I was a witness to this and basically my job was to document this genocide that's going on in Darfur. After six months of serving there, I decided that, you know, I can't just stand by anymore, so I quit my job. I came back to the United States and met up with Nicholas Kristof with The New York Times. He released some photographs and my story and, since then, I have just been involved in advocacy and trying to raise awareness about this issue, trying to empower individuals and then give them the tools to try to stop this genocide. Val Zavala>> Well, thank you very much for your hard work in bringing a very disturbing situation to light and hopefully we can do something about it. Brian Steidle>> Thank you. Val Zavala>> If you'd like to help, you can do several things. First, tomorrow night, Friday, at the top of Los Angeles City Hall is an art exhibit and benefit. For details, you can go to their website at hopeartists.org. For other ways to help, you can call 1-800-GENOCIDE. Announcer>> To send a comment or a question to our program, you can reach us by mail at this address: Life and Times 4401 Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, California 90027 You can also call our viewer comment line (323) 953-5555) or contact us the fast way by e-mail at kcet.org. Larry Mantle>> Welcome to FilmWeek on Life and Times. I'm Larry Mantle of 89.3 KPCC. First up this week is "Shrek The Third". It reunites the previous "Shrek" stars. Eddie Murphy is back as Donkey, Mike Myers starring as the Ogre. We'll also hear the voices of Cameron Diaz and more. "Shrek The Third". [Film Clip] Larry Mantle>> I'm joined this week by critics Jean Oppenheimer of Village Voice Media and we're delighted to have joining us for the first time, Claudia Puig of USA Today. Jean, I know you're such a huge fan of "Shrek One" and "Shrek Two". You must have been eagerly awaiting this. Jean Oppenheimer>> I was. I was so fanatical about the first two Shreks and I found this one such a bitter disappointment. I say that with a very heavy heart, however. I thought that the animation and the voice talent was delightful as always and I actually thought they came up with a really workable story line. But it was the more specific dialogue and individual scenes that I found really disappointing, completely lacking the wit of the first two films. For example, there are these various storybook heroines, you know, Cinderella and Snow White, and they're presented as Valley Girls going, "Well, like, yeah." You know, I wonder if Disney was specifically targeting teenagers because, in the first film, probably most of the audience was really young and maybe they were going for that demographic, but that didn't work for me. Larry Mantle>> All right. Claudia, what did you think of "Shrek The Third"? Claudia Puig>> I think they may be targeting teenagers. They have Justin Timberlake in it, so that would make sense. I was not as disappointed as Jean was. I actually think that it lends itself nicely to a sequel and I think that there were some funny scenes in it. There was a scene where they were in high school. They were going to find Arthur, who is Justin Timberlake, in order for him to replace the existing king. I won't give too much away (laughter). Anyway, there are some very funny scenes at the high school where they kind of take high school behavior, so I do think perhaps they were trying to target the slightly older audience. But I think it worked a little. It was not as good as the first two, clearly, but I think it worked to a certain degree. I think expectations are high, but I think it was entertaining. Larry Mantle>> All right. And was the cookie there who was my favorite character (laughter)? Claudia Puig>> Gingerbread Man, yes. Actually, there is a very funny scene with the Gingerbread Man where his life flashes before his eyes, which is very cute. That's one of the better scenes. Larry Mantle>> Next up is the coming of age film which takes us to 1980s Brooklyn. "Brooklyn Rules" is written by Terence Winter who's written a number of "The Sopranos" episodes. He's also directed on the series. Freddie Prinze, Jr. stars. [Film Clip] Larry Mantle>> "Brooklyn Rules", Jean? Jean Oppenheimer>> Well, this story has been told, you know, many times before, but I felt that this little film had a lot going for it. There were things about it that made it really work for me. I think part of it is the writing, part of it is directing and part of it was the acting. Freddie Prinze, Jr. actually does a wonderful job as one of these three best friends who have grown up together in Brooklyn. Scott Caan plays another one and will really remind you of his father, James Caan, in this. The third one is played by an actor named Jerry Ferrara who, to me, was the most endearing of the three. He plays sort of a sweet, not very bright guy. Both the writer and director are from Brooklyn. The writer, Terence Winter, who has written for "The Sopranos" for the last three years, and the director, Michael Corrente, who had done "Federal Hill" and "Outside Providence", I think they deserve a lot of the credit also for making this whole film seem so authentic, so I actually did like it. Larry Mantle>> Our third film is from writer-director, Hal Hartley. In fact, the characters are reprised from his earlier film, "Henry Fool". Parker Posey stars in "Fay Grim". [Film Clip] Larry Mantle>> Claudia, what did you think of "Fay Grim"? Claudia Puig>> I had mixed feelings about it. I thought it tried to sort of fuse two genres, a satirical kind of dark comedy with an espionage thriller. I realize that it was trying to sort of be a spoof on an espionage thriller, but it didn't ultimately work that well for me. I think there were some great performances. Parker Posey was good. Jeff Goldblum was excellent as a CIA agent. She's an ordinary woman who, by virtue of her husband's activities, is drawn into this intrigue and ends up overseas in Istanbul and in Paris. It's a lofty idea. It's a wonderful attempt to combine the thriller and the satire, but ultimately I think it just ends up feeling like two movies where it just doesn't meld well together. It is an independent film sequel, which is a strange thing. Larry Mantle>> All right. Jean, what did you think of the film? Jean Oppenheimer>> I was also mixed on it. I had not seen the first film, "Henry Fool", and I don't think you have to have seen it to see this film and even to enjoy the film. Larry Mantle>> Because the characters are the same, but not the story? Jean Oppenheimer>> Well, I don't know because I didn't see the first one (laughter), but I think not. This is really a shaggy dog story. I think that the espionage part is still satire. I just don't think it works there. It just goes too far off the edge. I think there were some things that were really interesting. For instance, Hal Hartley always has these slightly skewed angles when he's shooting and the people speak in this very sort of -- I don't want to say manner diction, but almost staccato diction. The music was wonderfully in sync with the tone of the film, so there were things like this that I liked and I did like some of the performances. But overall I was quite mixed and probably not quite as enthusiastic as Claudia was. Larry Mantle>> And finally this week, the Sundance Film Festival hit, "Once". The Irish film has music at its core and it stars the lead singer of the group, The Frames. [Film Clip] Larry Mantle>> Claudia, what did you think of "Once"? Claudia Puig>> I loved it. It was really a lilting romance and that's meant in both ways. The music in it was just sort of transporting. For anybody who is transported by music, this is a perfect film. It's kind of a romance, but the romance actually occurs more during their musical rendezvous. It's set in the streets of Dublin. He's an Irish Busker who repairs Hoover vacuum cleaners by day and night, and he meets a woman who's from the Czech Republic and she likes his music. They eventually start kind of riffing together and develop this bond, but she's very young and they're just not necessarily suited, but they just bonded through this music. The music is great. The two of them have a chemistry that's just unpretentious and it feels real, perhaps because they're not actors. They're not professional actors. They are musicians and they already had a friendship in real life. But you really feel this palpable connection and you're transported by the music. It's really a great film. Larry Mantle>> Thanks for joining us for another FilmWeek on Life and Times. For our critics, Claudia Puig of USA Today and from Village Voice Media, Jean Oppenheimer, I'm Larry Mantle inviting you to join us next week for the next FilmWeek on Life and Times. Val Zavala>> KPCC public radio broadcasts a longer version of FilmWeek on Fridays at eleven a.m. And that's our program. I'm Val Zavala. We'll see you next time. Announcer>> Life and Times was made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education. And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg. Sponsored in part by:  | |
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