Accidental Courtesy: Daryl Davis, Race & America, by director Matt Ornstein, isn't a particularly well-edited or well-organized documentary per se, but its very thought-provoking, timely content compensates for those deficiencies. Ornstein is fortunate to have Daryl Davis as his compelling subject and to have gained access to him. Davis, an African American musician, has managed to become friends with members of the KKK. He refuses to treat opposing groups of people as his enemy; instead, he prefers to engage them in intelligent conversation that's not ad hominem. He makes a valid point when he states that America won't be able to progress without engaging others with different views via conversation. It's the power of the tongue over the power of the sword. Hatred begets hatred. Anger begets anger. The footage of Davis sitting down at a Baltimore restaurant with African American activists from Black Lives Matters speaks volumes about how much of an uphill battle Davis has when it comes to opening the door for open-minded conversations about race. One of the activists even leaves the table before Davis can converse with him about why he befriended KKK members. Ornstein doesn't explore Davis' friendships with the KKK members in depth---are they truly friends? How would Davis define friendship for that matter? Nonetheless, Davis comes across as a subject who's a warm, charismatic critical thinker which is very rare to find these days. He should have his own talk show. Accidental Courtesy opens at Cinema Village.A Different American Dream tackles the issue of how fracking affecting the Native Americans in western North Dakota. Oil companies destroy ancestral land and pollute the environment as a result of fracking. Director Simon Brook bombards the audience with interviews with men and women from the tribe including Edmund Baker, the tribe's Environmental Director, each of whom has negative things to say about the effect of fracking. There's not much solid, scientific evidence presented, though, to buttress their bold claims even if they might be right. This doc seems to have already decided which side its on from the get-go and doesn't offer much in terms of balance or thoroughness. Some of the film does feel heartbreaking, but it eventually becomes tedious while lacking any new revelations without making you feel enraged enough like you should be. Gasland did a much more illuminated job at raising awareness of the horrors of fracking. At least this doc isn't as lethargic, boring and amateurish as Broken Rainbow which inexplicably won the Oscar for Best Documentary back in 1985. First Run Features opens A Different American Dream at Cinema Village. The doc German Concentration Camp Factual Survey, also released by First Run Features at Cinema Village, was not available for me to view at press time, but any film about the Holocaust is worth seeing because of the important subject matter alone. I'll try to catch it if it streams on Netflix or Amazon sometime in the future.

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