Life, Animated (Amazon Prime)

Life, Animated, the Oscar-nominated documentary from Roger Ross Williams, is as life-affirming as a documentary gets. It follows Owen Suskind, who at the age of three was diagnosed with autism and who is graduating high school 20 years later when the film begins. Owen spent several years unable to communicate with his family until one day began talking to a stuffed animal of the parrot Iago from Disney’s Aladdin. Disney movies became a way for him to understand the world around him, and a means of communication between his family and himself. As we meet Owen as a young adult, he holds meetings of a Disney fan club where he and other young people with disabilities watch Disney movies and discuss the lessons that they teach (warning: their discussions get deeper than any I have ever had about a Disney film). Throughout the movie, he is able to graduate high school, move into his own apartment, get a job, and try his hand at a romantic relationship. Life, Animated celebrates each of these moments as a triumph of Owen and his amazing support team and explains how Disney movies have prepared Owen for each of these stepping stones.

It is to Williams’ credit, though, that the film never feels like a commercial for Disney. While it celebrates the contribution Disney makes to Owen’s life, it doesn’t turn the company into his saviour. That is reserved for his parents and brother, who are shown as patient beyond understanding. The film is honest about how draining this can be, and how the means they have — Owen’s dad, a celebrated journalist, even admits at one point that his career meant he could afford better help for Owen than many other kids — but makes the case that it is their determination that makes Owen as successful in life as possible. His father is the one who first uses the Iago puppet to communicate with his son, his brother tries to discuss the birds and the bees with Owen to repeated awkwardness, and his mother remains his staunchest advocate at every turn. Williams reminds us that the movies have a magical power over helping us navigate the world, but it is the love of a family that is the strongest way to help us cope with the world.

First Ladyland/Make Inishturk Great Again (Short of the Week)

Short of the Week is a great website that highlights free short films available to stream. One of the benefits of a website like this is that the turnaround of films can be very quick. First Ladyland, which landed on the site last month, includes coverage of the January inauguration of Donald Trump and the chaos swirling around it. David Fried’s 20-minute film focuses on Sevnica, Slovenia, the birthplace of First Lady Melania Trump, as it deals with the bolstered fame of its most celebrated daughter and prepares for what is sure to be an influx of tourism. In addition to news footage and pictures of Melania-named cakes and lingerie, we also get to know the residents of the town in all their documentary quirkiness. Part Errol Morris, part Christopher Guest, and part Anthony Bourdain, First Ladyland offers a more quiet, but no less bizarre, portrait of the reality-show infused world of Donald Trump than the daily news.

Taken together with Make Inishturk Great Again, Fried’s even shorter documentary from last summer, we get a more complete portrait of how our 45th president has made his mark internationally. Inishturk is a small Irish city, “Population: 58” as we are constantly reminded, that has advertised itself as a haven for Americans who want to escape America and find a new home. The two films compliment each other to remind us that the circus that seems to surround Trump is an international one, and that everything we do in America resonates across the pond. They are just as obsessed with our leaders as we are, and as crazy as we may see our current situation in America, they all see it as being even crazier.