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Here’s something to chew on: Know why the murder rate took a sudden dip in the 90s? No, it wasn’t stricter gun control laws or more police presence. The lower murder rate was a direct result of legalizing abortion in 1973. According to the authors of bestseller Freakonomics, criminals are often born into the same troubled households – with single moms, poverty, drug use, etc. – that give rise to abortions. We know, it’s a pretty dark thought.
Freakonomics, the 2005 book-long study of cause and effect, was recently made into a film, and it’s the first screening at the new Coral Gables Art Cinema, which opens October 15.
After our conversation with cinema director Robert Rosenberg last
month, we expected programming to include films like La Yuma, that is, foreign and
romantic. Maybe it was all that talk of the cinema’s wine and high-end
pastries.
But this documentary does fit the art cinema’s mission in at least one
respect: It’s Freakonomics‘ Florida theatrical premiere. Coral Gables Art Cinema still hasn’t
announced a screening time for the film, but there will be a gala
fundraising party in addition to the screening on Friday, October 15.
As the Coral Gables Art Cinema is located at 260 Aragon Avenue, just across the street from Miami’s
literary center, Books & Books, perhaps it’s fitting that they kick
off their programming with a documentary based on a bestseller.
The film Freakonomics consists of four chapters by different
documentary filmmakers:
Morgan Spurlock, who did Super Size Me, relates
how classically black and white baby names are connected to
socio-economic conditions. Alex Gibney, the filmmaker behind Casino
Jack, reveals how sumo wrestling is full of cheaters. Why We Fight‘s
Eugene Jarecki examines how legalized abortion stopped a murder wave.
And Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing, of Jesus Camp fame, experiment in
paying students to motivate them to get better grades.
Here’s the trailer:
