DVD: The Feel of the Rope -- April 27, 2008

The Feel of the Rope tells the story of San Francisco's cable cars. That story has been told in more books and videos than anyone can count, but Nick Tomizawa's The Feel of the Rope takes a unique perspective. Like many other videos, it shows the cars climbing the hills, talks about the technology, and illustrates the history with well-chosen old photos. But this dvd is special because it concentrates on the men and women of the Cable Car Division. These dedicated people talk about what they do to keep the system working and how they interact with the public and with each other in their daily work. The video makes it clear that this is an unusually devoted family of people who give their best efforts to make the cable cars safe and available for the many people who want to ride them.
The quality of the video images and the sound is excellent. I enjoyed the use of classical music in the score, especially in an opening montage showing closeups of the various interview subjects. These were faces with a lot of character.
My whole family enjoyed it.
Order it here.