A Very Very Very Fine House
Commune
Review by Ross Anthony

First of all, this is an intriguing, entertaining and engaging documentary. I certainly enjoyed it. It integrates interviews with the now-much-older residents of the Bare Creek Commune with images (looked like old video) of the Commune in all its bare natural glory.

Truly, I was expecting a program that revealed the founders as those with trumped up utopian dreams that eventually crumbled into a million pieces of reality. But, even in retrospect the participants seemed to nearly only looked back nostalgically on their experience. They were all rather intellectual, introspective souls. Of course, there were times that presented big challenges to their ideals, but nothing shatteringly so. Save for, and only maybe, the tale of a commune kid who was shuffled off to live with a group of kids in India and other places around the world before returning to California and her birth parents. Her story is fascinating.

Another commune kid speaks about his experience, as well. But these commune kid stories only scratch the surface. I wanted to know so much more.

In fact, that is my only criticism -- I simply wanted to know so much more. What were the thoughts of the other children? What about loafers and freeloaders? I'd always thought communes would ultimately fail because only a small percentage of the participants would end up doing all of the work, while the majority freeloaded. But, this aspect is almost not mentioned in the documentary.

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  • Commune. Copyright © 2006.
  • Directed by Jonathan Berman.
  • Featuring Peter Coyote, Michael Tierra, Elsa Marley. among others.

Grade..........................A- (3/4)


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Copyright © 1998-2023 Ross Anthony, Author - Speaker - Solo World Circumnavigator In addition to reviewing films and interviewing celebs at HollywoodReportCard.com, traveling the world, composing great music, motivational speaking, Mr. Anthony also runs his own publishing company in the Los Angeles area. While traversing the circumference of the planet writing books and shooting documentaries, Mr. Anthony has taught, presented for, worked &/or played with locals in over 30 countries & 100 cities (Nairobi to Nagasaki). He's bungee-jumped from a bridge near Victoria Falls, wrestled with lions in Zimbabwe, crashed a Vespa off a high mountain road in Taiwan, and ridden a dirt bike across the States (Washington State to Washington DC). To get signed books ("Rodney Appleseed" to "Jinshirou") or schedule Ross to speak check out: www.RossAnthony.com or call 1-800-767-7186. Go into the world and inspire the people you meet with your love, kindness, and whatever it is you're really good at. Check out books by Ross Anthony. Rand() functions, Pho chicken soup, rollerblading, and frozen yogurt (w/ blueberries) also rock! (Btw, rand is short for random. It can also stand for "Really Awkward Nutty Dinosaurs" -- which is quite rand, isn't it?) Being alive is the miracle. Special thanks to Ken Kocanda, HAL, Jodie Keszek, Don Haderlein, Mom and Pops, my family, R. Foss, and many others by Ross Anthony. Galati-FE also deserves a shout out. And thanks to all of you for your interest and optimism. Enjoy great films, read stirring novels, grow.


Last Modified: Tuesday, 14-Nov-2006 14:40:38 PST