Customer Reviews

Echoes of Forgotten Places

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When I purchased the movie, I expected to see stunning photographs of many abandoned industrial sites with some info and history for each location. When I watched the movie, I was disappointed that most of the featured places are not named and no information is provided about them. A lot of narration is simply boring.
Although, the bonus movie "A symphony of industry" is very interesting, it describes the process of steel production and fabrication.

I guess, "Echoes of forgotten places" is ok to watch once, as long as you don't have unrealistically high expectations about it.

This video is absolutely stunning. The videography is top notch, with an even better soundtrack. If your a fan of urban exploration, or just plain like decaying structures, then this if for you.

Updated: 07-25-2010

Defenitely worth watching but...

PROS: Lots of interesting buildings. I learned that Rochester New York has / had a subway system! I have explored abandoned buildings and ridden my motorcycle in a million square foot factory in Waterbury Connecticut near Route 8.

Extras: "A symphony of industry" is excellent be sure to watch it. It shows old archive of movie clips from the 40's and 50's that promoted factory work as a career choice. I applaud the film makers for including it.

CONS: A little one-sided in the approach to the subject, while lacking detail to provide depth. The film has the an over emotional and sad view that perfectly good buildings were just disposed of (I can relate to this) but there are reasons factories close; complex market and political forces, consumers looking for the cheapest merchandise from China.

I wish the film included the location of the "City Power" plant; Melborne Australia? It would have been nice to know when the building closed, what it made, combined with interviews from past workers; the building dimensions in square feet.

Exploration footage is excessive and often serves as "filler".

Links: the film could have provided links to sites like urbanexplorer dot org or a way for the viewer to continue his or her interest or donate to the explorers.

The film missed opportunites to educate the viewer and stimulate further interest by providing links to blogs or forums related to the subject. Film has lots of potential to be updated or re-released with some of the proceeds going to urban explorer clubs in exchange for interviews and video footage.

Described as `industrial archeology' or maybe even as simply as `urban exploration', this is a practice of seeking out abandoned, condemned, or deserted business structures in city environments. Apparently there is widespread appeal for this activity as it seems many do this in a variety of locations. Whether it is curiosity or just excitement, the attraction of it seems to be unique for different types of people.

No matter the size of each new discovery, either large or small, every one of them appears to have a story to tell. Just seeing the pictures and video clips from each location is kind of eerie because it begs questions like what was made there, who worked here, why it closed down, and things like that. Looks can be deceiving also for many of these buildings. Even though several look dilapidated on the outside (some are more than a decade or two old), the inside areas are remarkably well preserved and could fool you into believing they were just recently vacated.

Throughout this program, there is mostly a photo montage and some video footage of the many sites. Woven into this is commentary from several explorers and a little bit of narration now and again. It is suitably done and it reveals the passion these individuals have for what they do to include their own ethics of not vandalizing, stealing, or destroying anything at the places they visit. Going a step further, thoughts are examined as to how mankind can often carelessly destroy certain things in the interest of urban sprawl without any consideration of historical or sentimental aspects.

`Echoes of Forgotten Places' is an interesting documentary in and of itself and the subject matter is stimulating to a degree. It's a little bit on the short side and that's just about my only complaint really. Other than that, I enjoyed it and I believe it's worth a look for all those who might like this kind of material

I was into Graffiti for awhile (photographing tags, not tagging myself) and I thought this would contain a lot. It did not, but it did teach me a lot about underground areas and old factories.

...And now, for something completely differnt (thanks, Mr. Gilliam...) a dive into urban exploration! This DVD took me to a parallel dimension of reality...but, wait a sec, that was real! Yeah, that evoking soundtrack made me think I was drifting through a dream...no, no, this is no fiction, take a look at what we can build and how we just abandon things once we think we no longer need'em. Is that right? this wideo made me wonder...