The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • N9

Boston Sunday Globe N9 Documentaries A pause that regresses Couric's editing of 'Under the Gun' seems to have backfired JUNE 5, 2016 faces, one by one, silent, for eight seconds. Some say it makes the nine look dumb. To me, they look like they're pondering their answers, which never come on camera. As it turns out, one of those participating recorded the actual exchange. The recording was sent to the conservative website The Washington Free Beacon, where it was picked up by ev- BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIE.illllllllllllH.

jgHoBWiaA BIIIIIIIIIIIh KsHl COURIC PHOTOGRAPH BY MATT SAYLESAP; "UNDER THE GUN" PHOTOGRAPH BY EPIX By Peter Keough GLOBE CORRESPONDENT "Gun rights activists took issue with the selective editing on 'Under the the Hollywood Reporter wrote recently about Katie Couric getting caught fiddling with footage in her documentary that premiered last month on Epix. Fair enough, except the term "selective editing" is an oxymoron. What is editing if not selection, a process of snipping, selecting, and putting together? Such manipulation is the essence of documentaries, news reporting, propaganda, commercials, and reality TV. So what happens in the disputed segment? Couric and nine unidentified people sit in a circle. She asks questions about their opinions about guns in America.

First question: "How many of you are carrying a gun right now?" Every hand goes up. Then she asks, "If there are no background checks for gun purchasers, how do you prevent felons or terrorists from purchasing a gun?" A montage shows the nine eryone. You can hear it in its entirety at http:freebeacon.com. You can also listen to podcasts labeled "Bill Clinton would 'laugh until he cried' with stories of buying votes" and "Bill Clinton had flatulence issue as president." Among the responses heard on audio, the most cogent comes from a lawyerly sounding gentleman. "In fact we do have statutes at the federal and state level that prohibit certain classes from being in possession of firearms," he says.

"If you're an illegal immigrant, if you're a convicted felon, if you've been adjudicated insane, these things are already illegal." "Adjudicated." Sounds convincing. Too bad Couric at this point had no follow-up question, like, "what about the 'gun show loophole'?" According to one of the film's experts, that's how 40 percent of guns get sold with no background check at all. It also sounds like the answer that Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president and CEO of lM WW hole," and he demands an answer to his question. There are no edited-in pauses in this exchange. Leahy: "Should we have mandatory background checks at gun LaPierre: "If you're a dealer, that's already the law.

Leahy: "That's not my question, Mr. LaPierre. I'm not trying to play games here. If you could, just answer my question." And so he does, saying he does not think the law should DOC TALK PETER KEOUGH Films that will move you Dance is the focus in Brattle screenings Controversy about the documentary "Under the Gun" (above) has focused on Katie Couric's editing of an interview in the film. the National Rifle Association, offers to a similar question posed by Vermont Senator Pat Leahy in a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing shown later in the film.

Except that Leahy brings up the "gun show loop ticketmaster 1 ly stuffed version of "Totally Stripped," clocking in at seven hours and 17 minutes, is also available on Blu-Ray ($109.98) and DVD For more information go to www. rollingstones. comfilm totally-stripped. Criie cut As any Motley Criie fan will tell you, any suggestion that the 'fljP JlySkgl KTMBqF I FAMLYJBraREuNioN Hfci milbiH jjjjH be extended to "private sales between hobbyists and collectors," which are, of course, not the only transactions that take place at gun shows. Couric could have done the same.

She could have asked the right questions and let the answers come as they may. Instead, she relied on crude editing tricks that she says she regrets as being "misleading," and now that's all we talk about. Peter Keough can be reached at petervkeoughgmail.com. Dec. 31, 2015 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

"Motley Criie: The End" screens June 14 at 7 p.m. at Showcase cinemas in Revere and Dedham. For more information go to www.fathomevents. comevent motley-crue-the-end. Peter Keough can be reached at petervkeoughgmail.com.

A ELLIE GOULDING jf HONDA CIVIC TOUR PRESENTS DEMI LOVATO nick JONAS PITBULL SAT. SEPTEMBER 24 BsS BAD BOY FAMILY REUNION FEATURING PUFF DADDY, FAITH EVANS, LIL KIM, MASE, HfH 11 2 TOTAL, CARL THOMAS, WM THE L0X' FREUCH MONTANA BLAKE SHELTON Emelif Mahd follow four female dancei "After Curtai rs in the EMELIE AH DA VI AN was intimate and candid, revealing the pope's spiritual, philosophical, and political doubts and concerns. This treasure trove of historical correspondence is examined in the rather luridly titled PBS documentary "The Secrets of Saint John Paul," directed by Richard Denton. It includes interviews with such experts as John Paul biographer Carl Bernstein and, alarmingly, Mark Lasota, historian of the Polish secret police. The film is available on DVD ($29.95) and digital download on Monday.

For more information go to www.pbs. orgprogramsecrets-of-saint-john-paul. 'Stripped' Stones Are they still the world's greatest rock 'n' roll band? Are they the world's only rock 'n' roll band? People have been asking the first question about the Rolling Stones since at least 1995, when the band released the album "Stripped," a compilation of pared-down moldy oldies like "I'm Free," "Street Fighting Man," "Let It Bleed," and, since it hasn't been covered enough already, Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone." "Totally Stripped," a documentary featuring two studio sessions and three live concerts, accompanied the album's release. Two decades later, "Totally Stripped" returns, including an expanded reissue of the album and a "revised version" of the documentary by the Rolling It's probably no "Gimme Shelter" (1969), but then, what is? "Totally Stripped" is now available on Blu-Ray ($19.99) and DVD And a total Two documentaries screening at the Brattle Theatre on Tuesday show how the ethereal art of dance is closely bound to the harsh realities of history and political change. Like the members of the Bolshoi Ballet in the 2015 documentary "Bolshoi Babylon," the four female dancers in Emelie Mahdavian's documentary "After the Curtain" (showing at 8 p.m.) contend with the turmoil of internal and external politics.

Unlike the Bolshoi members, though, they don't have the advantages of a long hallowed tradition and international renown. They live in the Soviet Republic of Tajikistan, a place which has grown wary of western art forms and the women who participate in them. Mahdavian's documentary celebrates its protagonists' courage in increasingly anti-art and misogynist circumstances. Webb Wilcoxen and Ian Brownell's "A Time to Dance: The Life and Work of Norma Canner" (6 p.m.) shows how dance can elevate not just the soul, but heal the body and mind as well. Presented in partnership with the American Dance Therapy Association, the film tells the story of Canner, who, after a career as a Broadway actress in the 1940s, pioneered dance movement therapy, a method that improves the lives of outsiders and the disabled through dance.

The screening will feature a discussion with Brownell and dance movement therapist Donna Newman-Bluestein, who is a former student of Canner. For more information go to www. brattlefilm. org. Hard hitting When former New Orleans Saints defensive back Steve Gleason blocked a punt and set up a touchdown in the team's first return to the Superdome after Hurricane Katrina, he inspired a city in ruins and stumbling toward recovery.

When he was diagnosed in 2011 with ALS at age 34, he inspired people again by making a video journal for his unborn son of his ordeal and of his determination to help others similarly afflicted. Filmmaker Clay Tweel condensed and adapted the footage into "Gleason," an intimate, heart-breaking, life-affirming documentary. Tweel will be in Newport, R.I., on Tuesday for the new-portFILM screening of his film at 6:30 p.m. at the Casino Theatre, followed by a discussion. For more information go to www.

newportfilm. comfilm-eventsfilmsgleason. Straight dope on the pope Not everything a pope writes or says is ex cathedra. Sometimes he just wants to slip off the tiara and red shoes and share his innermost feelings and thoughts with a friend. Pope John Paul II, who became the first Polish pope in 1978, died in 2005, was beatified by his successor Pope Benedict XVI in 201 1, and was canonized in 2014 by Pope Francis, was no exception.

In 2014, BBC broadcaster Edward Stourton was granted access to more than 300 personal letters between John Paul and the Polish American philosopher Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka, which were archived in the National Library of Poland. The three-decades-long correspondence AND MORE! td garden box office 800-745-3000 Rolling Stones are the world's greatest rock 'n' roll band, let alone the only one, is a flat-out falsehood. As if to prove that, the classic 1980s heavy metal band has its own movie making the rounds. "Motley Criie: The End," a documentary directed by Christian Lamb and Jeff Tre-maine (of the "Jackass" series) brings to the screen their final concert, which occurred on.