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The Last Repair Shop follows the work at the LAUSD instrument repair workshop. The shop provides a free service to musical students from public schools, most of which don't have the resources to buy an instrument, let alone maintain it. The documentary focuses on four of the craftspeople at the shop as they draw parallels between their life stories and how they approach their work.
These workers come from very diverse backgrounds; from a gay man that was afraid to come out to his parents to immigrants from Mexico or Armenia trying to escape violence and war. All of them have one thing in common, and it's how they used music as an outlet. This is also interspersed with stories from the students they service, all of which are going through similar struggles.
It is beautiful to hear these stories, but most importantly, to see the commitment of the four workers profiled and the impact it has on these children. Music is often described as "healing", but to be able to heal, sometimes the instruments themselves have to be "healed" or fixed; and perhaps by "healing" the instrument, they can "heal" whoever's playing it, and make things whole again.
Grade:
THE LAST REPAIR SHOP
(2023, Proudfoot and Bowers)
(2023, Proudfoot and Bowers)
"When we see a broken thing, we think 'Oh, with a little something here, a little something there, we can fix the part that's broken and make things whole again'."
The Last Repair Shop follows the work at the LAUSD instrument repair workshop. The shop provides a free service to musical students from public schools, most of which don't have the resources to buy an instrument, let alone maintain it. The documentary focuses on four of the craftspeople at the shop as they draw parallels between their life stories and how they approach their work.
These workers come from very diverse backgrounds; from a gay man that was afraid to come out to his parents to immigrants from Mexico or Armenia trying to escape violence and war. All of them have one thing in common, and it's how they used music as an outlet. This is also interspersed with stories from the students they service, all of which are going through similar struggles.
It is beautiful to hear these stories, but most importantly, to see the commitment of the four workers profiled and the impact it has on these children. Music is often described as "healing", but to be able to heal, sometimes the instruments themselves have to be "healed" or fixed; and perhaps by "healing" the instrument, they can "heal" whoever's playing it, and make things whole again.
Grade: