Product Details

• Directors: Linda Goode Bryant, Laura Poitras
• Format: Color, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Zeitgeist Films
• DVD Release Date: March 20, 2007
• Run Time: 86 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• ASIN: B000LXS6HA
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #57,090 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
What happens when black working-class families are faced with an influx of white gay homebuyers in their neighborhood? Filmed over four years, FLAG WARS is a clear-eyed look inside the conflicts that surface in one inner-city Columbus, Ohio, community. The film’s as-it-is-happening verité style captures the raw emotions of unguarded moments between neighbors: the lesbian realtor who sells the area’s Victorian homes; a new homebuyer who moves to the area to live openly as a gay man; two longtime residents who are in court because of new housing codes; and the judge who hears their cases. From porch conversations and family dinners to public hearings and street protests, FLAG WARS provides a rare and extraordinarily intimate account of the social and human consequences of capitalism and the pursuit of the "American Dream" told through the lives of residents in a community confronted by gentrification.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Raw Discussion on Race, Sexual Orientation and Nationality, April 2, 2009

By	NoelTyler (Columbus, Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Flag Wars (Video On Demand)

This movie was good, not excellent. I was in the mood for a documentary, and through searching found Flag Wars. Residing in Columbus, Ohio I found this movie particularly intriguing. I moved here after 2003 when it came out, so I had never heard of this movie.

The movie depicts the Old Towne East area of downtown Columbus, historically black in ethnicity. A mostly gay, professional group of individuals began buying homes in the area in a sort of urban renewal project. With housing codes being passed, many of the long time black residents were unable to repair their homes, thus forced to move.

I really wanted to take sides in this movie, and I figured that by the end I would choose one. It's hard. The gay characters often come off as elitist as they encroach into this blighted area, taking homes at bargain basement prices to fix up. However, the blacks, admitting their own struggles with race and poverty, are outwardly homophobic and unwelcoming of their new neighbors. The characters all have their flaws, and that's really the only issue I had with this documentary--I was unable to make a connection with any of them. The moral of the story is, everyone is prejudice in some way or another. White, black, gay, straight--we all have these preconceived notions in our head of what "the others" are like, blinding their true likenesses when we do finally come to encounter them.

Decide for yourself. I'd definitely recommend this movie to anyone familiar with the Columbus area. Those with backgrounds or interest in civil rights, gay activism, property law or real estate-especially flipping properties, urban renewals-will find this movie very appealing. All in all it was good, not great. Shooting over four years, you'd expect a little more. Though most scenes were good, it left me wondering if "this is the best the have??" Even if I didn't live here, I would have probably enjoyed it.