Ask Not

I have a couple criteria for good documentaries. The biggest one is, show, don't tell. We don't need some narrator reciting facts at us, no matter how relevant the imagery you put under it. Let us see the opinion of the people involved, not your pet statistics.

Ask Not does this maybe 3/4ths of the time. They certainly found an interesting subject in the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy of the US military, which is currently discharging and turning away thousands of homosexual soldiers a year while at the same time failing to meet enlistment quotas. And they found two activist groups whose activities provide a decent narrative for the documentary.

Unfortunately, they also give in to the temptation to splash title cards up on the screen with "startling statistics" about homosexuals in the military, complete with dramatically blurred out flags waving in the background. They couldn't find someone in all their interviews who mentioned those facts?

In addition, it seemed that a bit too much time was spent on the activists, and not enough on the people who oppose the movement. I wouldn't care as much, except they took the time to show them saying the same thing verbatim a number of times, which seems like it could have been better used to elaborate on the mindset of the people they're up against.

There are several sit-ins at military recruitment centers that are well worth seeing, though. This is definitely a valuable documentary, despite any shortcomings in the presentation.