The short film “Terminal Bar” directed by Stefan Nadelman in 2003 is an award-winning American Documentary. The documentary is unique in the way it tells its story, mainly through the use of photos of the patrons of the bar taken by bartender Sheldon Nadelman over a ten-year period stretching from 1972 to 1982.

Typically you may think of a documentary being dry or slow-paced in its structure, however Terminal Bar surprised me with its fast paced and energetic tone through the use of the photographic portraits and a combination of music. In fact this style works well in building the environment in which this short film takes place, Time Square New York City. The fast paced non-stop life of New York is matched with the tone, enabling the audience to immerse themselves with in Sheldon Nadelman world. As well as portraying the lively atmosphere there are times where the movie shifts tone, slow pans into portraits, real audio from the streets, dramatic photographs, all of these aspects takes away the glamour of the City and show the grittiness of the bar and the surrounding area. Being able to see these darker conditions allowed me to sympathise and truly understand what the Terminal Bar genially meant for these regular bar inhabitants, this place allowed them to escape the stress and pressure of their lives and I can only imagine the solicitude between each other.

Overall Stefan Nadelman does a great job at visually showing the documented information from Sheldon Nadelman of the Bar in a way that will make understand what I might have been like to be there.