America's Last Little Italy: The Hill

Most of us are used to the Ken Burns style of documentary film. It's great to see a young filmmaker who's aware of other styles but chooses to go his own way to make the truth of this film understood exclusively from the comments of those he interviewed. It's also poignant to note that some of those voices were captured in their last days on this earth as several of those in the film are already gone just months after the work was done. In this manner, the story tells itself rather than having a coat of cosmetic interpretation that instructs the viewer what to think or how to interpret the voices heard. St. Louis, from afar can sometimes be judged only by the news outsiders see, like the fires in Ferguson or the conflicts between protesters and homeowners in the Central West End. The Hill provides an in-depth lens on a love story for a community, culture and credo that affirms its history and explains why it will endure when even more of its founders are long gone.