The Last Americans

I saw Otto and his ways. The son of a Swiss immigrant who arrived in southern Alaska in 1930, he has lived like his father before him, completely on and off of the wild and beautiful land that yields only grudgingly to incisive intelligence and forethought with survival as really the only important watchword of these latter day pioneers. Yes, it's a "reality" television program, but the keen mental and physical skills of the cast versus the reality of the contending elements are not part of the teleplay's contrivances; they comprise rather, nearly all of the rock solid foundation of the show's compelling qualities of fine entertainment. The suspension of disbelief during seemingly life and death situations (cameramen, plausibly armed and at the ready with first aid kits, etc., are always there of course, for whatever and every scene we see) is hardly an issue to trouble our consciences. These are authentic people, members of a loving family and with a sense of truth about all their observations, whether hopes or fears. There is humor, kindness, as well as strong familial bonds and the daily drama of such lives of self-sufficiency makes for instant empathy for these folks who live lives extraordinarily different than most of our own, lives that helped make America the truly great land she was and can be again.