Oscar nominated for Best Documentary Short, The Last Repair Shop is now on Disney plus, but without audio description (at least when I watched it upon release). I don’t care this time. It’s my party and I’ll do what I want.
While there are other exceptional documentary shorts this year, I am in love with this one that focuses on a small group of instrument repair workers who try to make sure the Los Angeles public schools have access to workable instruments. Not only is this a love story of sorts to these people who work in a back room somewhere, toiling thanklessly for children who will never meet them, but this celebration reminds us all that there are important people out there to all of our kids, and they aren’t just teachers.
We get to meet all the individuals who do this for a vocation, and they tell us why they choose to do it, and love doing it. They’re just fixing musical instruments every day. Think of how many students have passed through one of the largest school districts in the country, and are now out there performing professionally, and had their instrument fixed by these hands.
I work in music, because shockingly this website with no ads, and me not being a Rotten Tomatoes certified critic just doesn’t pay the bills. This documentary hit me in a very personal way, so I’m waiving my special “get out of jail free” card on this. I know it doesn’t have audio description, but it struck such a chord with me personally, that I can’t help but sing its praises. We need more documentaries celebrating people like this, who often work in thankless jobs. So many people thank their teachers, but they don’t thank the rest of the people who supported them behind the scenes, often because they don’t know they need to. Someone saw that need here, and they made this film, and I adore them for that.
If you are a musician, and blind, it’s quite likely you won’t let the lack of accessibility stop you this one time. If you’re not, it’s a beautiful documentary that celebrates the uncelebrated. If you must have audio description for everything, I respect that too. But this should absolutely win the Oscar this year, and I hope those featured in the short get to go on stage.
Final Grade: A
