why I watch romantic comedies

I know good and well that romantic comedies have the tendency to distort the truth, even though my life reads exactly like most of them. But really, when I'm in the mood to watch a movie, just give me a romantic comedy that I've seen before and know that I'll go to bed that night happy. I have seen a few documentaries that have bothered and bugged me to the point where I had trouble sleeping. Maybe that's the point, and I'm glad people have these passions to show the "truth" of things, but I feel that I'm in touch with reality enough, these extra examinations about the flaws in institutions that we trust are making me a paranoid lady. One who surely will not be popular at cocktail parties, not that I have ever been to a real one.

Documentaries are factual. If the situation doesn't have a happy ending, then you will not have one. Seems obvious. But after investing hours in a movie, you hope that the white writing on the black screen at the end will tell you an update of triumph and oppose to defeat. You know what I'm talking about. You're on the edge of your seat as the film concludes and on the screen comes the summary: this is still a problem, nothing has been solved.

Three documentaries that have left lingering discomforts are the following:

Food, INC. / The Business of Being Born / Hot Coffee

No one was forcing me to watch these, no indeed. I had an interest that led me to them. The food one because if Ken and I went to the viewing, we were entered in a raffle for an Alice Waters cookbook. I left the showing, and literally threw up while walking back to the car. I was in my first trimester with Avery, but I believe my nausea was caused by the excessive about of pink slime that is found in the hamburger I ate the week prior. It made me sick. Now, this fear of pink slime has resurfaced and I will not buy ground beef anymore and I cringe when I see my students eat it in their school lunches. If you've seen this film, you know that part that I'm talking about. Where they are packaging the meat in boxes and like 70% of it is pink slime.

Conclusion: never trust where your food comes from unless you raise the chickens and grow the vegetables from the ground yourself. The subtitle: You'll Never Look at Dinner the Same Way Again is very true.

The baby one, well, that's obvious because it's my new favorite thing to talk about and think about. I watched that when Avery was about 3 months old and it was intense. I cried a lot. It talks about a lot of different elements of what happens in the hospital behind the scenes and while you have to take it for what's it worth, there were some parts that were eerily familiar to my experience. It makes me wonder what conversations were happening when the doctors and nurses left the room I was in. Not that I'm skeptic of them caring for me and Avery, but I think some of the calls made in the 11th hour (or 30th...) were not the best but I really can't complain because if I have to have the exact same experience to bring this little girl into the world, I'd do it because, well, Avery is the best. Still, I loved the interviews and I have had great discussions with my OB and he agrees with a lot of what the film says, but he still has to CYA as a doctor, which I respect.

Conclusion: Having babies is crazy and hospitals try to make the process efficient with no problems. However, their interventions take away from the natural process that our bodies were created to do. As a pregnant mom, you have a right to have a voice. Not a 10 page birth plan, but more control than you think. Enlightening film, with a dab of paranoia.

The last one, Hot Coffee I watched the other day and it sucked. Not that is wasn't a good film, but how you felt afterwards because none of the four highlighted cases had good endings. They were left with permanent damages and unresolved cases that are waiting for their day in court. It made me so sad. It made me loose trust in our justice system because of what's written in the fine print. Tort reform es no bueno. The one story about the mother who gave birth to twins was heartbreaking, and because of tort reform, her family is left struggling to get by. You'll have to watch it for yourself, but note that you'll finish it feeling jaded with our judicial process and the power of the chamber of commerce.

Conclusion: always read the fine print, but once you read it, I have no idea what to do about it. The end.

So, give me Sleepless in Seattle, You've Got Mail, Sabrina, Braveheart, City Slickers, French Kiss or So I Married an Axe Murderer. These are my favorites because I feel good after I watch them. And unless you want to feel jaded and paranoid, I suggest you watch the same. Two thumbs up, 5 stars.