"Man With a Movie Camera," "Manhatta" and the Exorbitant Price of Ambulances

I just watched "Man with a Movie Camera" and film by Dziga Vertov in 1929 and "Manhatta" a short film by Paul Strand and Charles Sheeler in 1921. The former is on DVD with music composed by Michael Nyman. I do not know if there was music composed earlier specifically for that movie. Michael Nyman's music fits it very well. I mentioned this film in an earlier post. It uses various film techniques such as split screen. I mentioned in the earlier the sequence with a wedding, childbirth and a funeral. I had forgotten that the beginning of this sequence two couples are shown in civil offices. One of these couples is registering to get married, and the other couple is registering to get divorced. There are shots of the man mentioned in the title of the film as he films actions. There is a sequence where an editor is shown working on some film footage. We then see some of the footage on which she is working. Later in the film we see more of the setting of this footage. There is a brief sequence of a woman in a shooting range. The target at which she is shown shooting is swastika on the head on the head of a human figure. There is a mention of "the father of fascism." Towards the end of the film there are shots of an audience watching and the perspective changes to the film they are watching. There are various changes of perspective in the film. "Manhatta" shows shots of Manhattan mostly of buildings, people arriving on the island, distant shots of the city. One interesting thing to me in watching the crowds of people is that every person shown is wearing a hat and wearing what would now be considered somewhat formal attire. In both of these films it is interesting to me to get a glimpse of life at that era.


Now on to something unrelated to that. One of the areas that definitely needs to change in the U.S. is ambulance service. Towards the end of last year and the beginning of this year I had to go in an ambulance to the hospital following seizures. I had no choice in the matter. I did not have insurance at the time. Each ride on the ambulance is close to $500.00. For several months I was not making enough money to pay on these bills. The billing in itself was confusing to me too. My pay checks are being garnished for the payment of these bills. In many parts of the country, even if you are not able to make a decision of whether or not to ride in an ambulance, you are forced forced exorbitant rates for ambulance services. Yes, they do provide needed services, but I do not understand the high price. Many medical services in this country are deemed necessary, but they are too expensive for most people to afford even with health insurance. Another example of this is a colonoscopy. I am still paying for one that I had done several years ago. More examples of how fucked up the U.S. healthcare system.