I went into The Last Repair Shop expecting something different. As a person who performed in the concert and marching bands through middle school and high school, I support anything that supports the arts. But the short documentary directed by Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers takes a different angle by focusing on the Los Angeles school district that offers a repair shop to fix musical instruments at no extra cost. It’s both about those who fix the instruments as well as those who love music.
I must admit it was a little misleading, but I did like the short documentary film nonetheless. When I was working at the Wagoner Tribune, I did news stories on kids who went to school at the small Okay Public Schools system as they were going to perform in the Macy Thanksgiving Day Parade. Then, after that maybe a year or so, the school district did away with the music program. A lot of schools are facing similar problems or have done away with as many arts and entertainment programs as they could. Blame No Child Left Behind or Common Core but a lot of young people are going to school in which they don’t have many chances of advancing, even having to do remedial courses if they get accepted at colleges and universities.
Like a lot of other critics, I really would like if they focused more on how the program functions and how they’re able to repair instruments. If you’ve ever watched the TV show How It’s Made the right footage and editing can make anything look interesting as the people and machines produce or repair a project. Bowers, himself, is also a music composer who went to school in Los Angeles County and seems to have made this to draw attention to the program. In March, it won the Oscar for Best Documentary Short and already has reportedly received a lot of donations in the past month. Maybe the filmmakers’ original attention was to attract fund-raising.
The focus is on four people who work at the shop and a short summary of their lives. Dana Atkinson is in charge of the strings. Paty Moreno focuses on the brass instruments. Duane Micheals handle the woodwinds and Steven Bagmanyan plays the piano as well as fixes them. They are music lovers and they want to spread their love to another. The way they talk about music is the same way an athletic coach will talk about prospects. It might seem boring to some who don’t appreciate the arts but sports might seem boring to those who don’t appreciate that.
Our education system in itself is a tricky one where people debate a certain subject needs to be taken. Why should people read certain literature books if they’re not interested? What’s the point of knowing algebra or calculus if no one is going to go into that field? To correct what the teachers have said, we do have calculators in our pockets. We should teach more social studies so people will understand basics of government. Yet in many school districts, music and the arts is the only thing keeping them going.
Just about anyone loves music but we have so much diversity to the it. At only 40 minutes with credits, the short is currently streaming on Disney-Plus. Even if you’re not a big music lover, I urge you to watch it.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 