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‘Middletown’ Review: Looking Back on a Group of Student Filmmakers Who Questioned Authority
Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss craft a story that has the beats of a '60 Minutes' segment, with hints of the emotional insights of a John Hughes movie.
The final was the hour-long “Garbage, Gangsters and Greed.” Political malfeasance, press acquiescence, the Ford Motor Co. and the Genovese crime family among others play their roles in the student exposé of toxic waste dumped into the area landfills. With access to Issek’s voluminous, well-kept archive of VHS tapes and files, McBaine, Moss and editor Christopher Passig (“Telemarketers”) craft a story that has the beats of a “60 Minutes” segment with hints of the emotional insights of a John Hughes movie. On a small TV monitor, they watch footage of themselves as they trespass amid the overgrowth of the Wallkill landfill, where brown muck pools and corroding barrels are stored; interrogate public officials for answers; and interview citizens concerned by the rank smell of their tap water.
Or read this on Variety