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I attended graduate school at the University of Alabama from 1996 to 2001. Therefore, I was excited to see that Rachel Goslins had made a documentary about Jessica Thomas' attempt to become UA's 5th black Homecoming Queen by overcoming the power of the infamous Greek-run "Machine" that controls student government at UA.There are a number of strong aspects of `Bama Girl:- I learned a lot about how student candidates practice "retail politics" at UA. The scenes in which the candidates go across campus scrambling for votes are educational. Goslins also does a good job of building the tension as the votes for Queen are counted.- An interesting subplot is the tensions that exist between the black sororities at UA. Two black sororities run candidates for Queen, and the tensions create some dramatic scenes.- `Bama Girl contains an interesting segment on the Kappa Alpha fraternity's celebration of the Confederacy during its "Old South Week." Some of the visuals (guys in Confederate uniforms, women in hoop skirts) are memorable. One of the black sorority members wryly asks her sisters whether the KAs expect to drop their laundry at the women's sorority.- Bama Girl has excellent cinematography. The filmmakers did an excellent job of shooting on campus; even the night scenes are easy to see.Unfortunately, much of the film is disappointing:- Goslins includes almost no material from members of the UA Machine fraternities and sororities. Instead, she simply caricatures these people as villains. For instance, the filmmakers play a slow, mournful version of "Dixie" when The Machine's Homecoming Queen candidate is on screen. The film would be more interesting, and subtle, if Goslins had presented all of the characters as complex human beings.- `Bama Girl does not examine the extent to which UA's Machine relies on the apathy of the average student. Only about 20% of UA's students are Greeks; the Machine dominates student politics at UA because the other 80% of the students simply do not care. There is no drama in apathetic students (and the politics surrounding the Queen begin to seem somewhat trivial if few people care).- Goslins' viewpoint is predictable and the film, therefore, is redundant given the thousands of previous works on Southern race relations. Everything the film says has been covered by more-thoughtful artists dozens of times before. If Goslins had looked at race from a creative perspective, `Bama Girl would be much better. For example, Goslins never articulates why it is important that UA have a 5th black Homecoming Queen. She never asks whether "beauty queens" are anachronisms or examines the white sorority woman's motivations to become Queen. Ideas such as those would have required a bit of independent thought, and Goslins shows no inclination in that direction.In the end, `Bama Girl "seesaws" between showing the viewer what Goslins discovered without comment and telling the viewer what to think. `Bama Girl is well worth a look. But viewers should be aware that, while Goslins attacks the worst of the Old South, her own views are both predictable and unreflective.