All Rise...

Appellate Judge James A. Stewart is into architecture, at least with Legos.

The Charge

"We must face the insurmountable challenges for what they really are: opportunities to reinvent and redesign."

The Case

In China, students in two remote villages start across the bridge every day to go to school. Other people go shopping and use the library, starting across the same bridge. Since all those things are on the bridge, no one actually has to go to the other village, but it's still a sort of unity. If you see it, as you will when watching e2: Intervention Architecture, you'll find that it's also kind of neat.

The documentary looks at five projects that won the Aga Khan Awards, which annually honor Muslim architecture that helps the community and environment. Projects featured include a Turkish textile factory, the Madinat al-Zahra museum in Spain, an upgrade to Tunis' hypercentre, and a wetlands project in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

There are talking heads to tell you the significance of the projects, along with New Age music and soft-spoken narration by Brad Pitt. However, the best part of the documentary is that you get to see the projects, and they are impressive, whether you're looking at the gleaming glass of the textile factory or the gardens and flowing canals of Riyadh. It's a recent production, so the picture quality is strong.

The DVD's standard definition 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer and Dolby 2.0 Stereo mix both serve the presentation adequately, but there are no bonus features to build on what was shown on PBS. However, architecture students might want to take a look, as each of these projects are interesting and shown off beautifully.

The Verdict

Not guilty.

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