Movie reviews

HUMAN DOC FESTIVAL:

FOLLOWING KETTLY

Watchable. I'm not a great supporter of artistic projects but it was nice to see the guys dance - talented they truly are.

MOBILE CINEMA

Watchable. The makers' earlier movie about rape was more interesting. There's nothing new in this one, at least not for an africanist.

AFTER THE APOCALYPSE

Watchable. It's just shocking to become enlightened by an Englishman that between 1949 and 1991 456 nuclear bombs were tested in the Semipalatinsk region of Kazakhstan and the USSR authorities didn't evacuate the inhabitants as they wanted to see the radiation effects on humans in preparation for a possible nuclear war. What detracts from the film is the doctor droning on and on about eugenics. Not that the subject wasnt' interesting. His viewpoint was the essence of the movie but due to his manner of speech - slow and repetitive - felt like preaching.

What I found surprising and comforting at the same time was how little effect such radiation actual had on humans. Man will survive anything.

WELCOME TO NORWAY

Watchable. A touching story showing how racism hinders refugees' integration. Still, nothing new, it was exactly what I had expected.

ROSLING'S WORLD

Watchable. A funny film telling you that the Swedish Academy's professors' knowledge of the world is on the par with chimpanzees'. But the scenes of the scientist preparing for lectures should be limited to his jokes. The rest is dispensible.

BURZYNSKI. CANCER IS SERIOUS BUSINESS

Recommended. I've known for years that neither chemiotherapy nor radiation cure cancer, yet the ostentatious way drug companies force those treatments for purely financial gain goes beyond my worst fears and suspicions. And as if deliberate killing of patients wasn't enough, the FDA, the National Cancer Institute and the Patent Office prove to be corrupt beyond belief. An eye-opening courtroom drama with a grain of hope - antineoplastons are out there after all.

LAST SUPPER FOR MALTHUS

Watchable. A revision of vital data on world trade and agricultural methods but nothing new for an educated viewer.

MAMMA LIMA

Watchable. Uplifting missionary propaganda but why don't they do such work here in Poland instead? The protagonists also don't say anything other than expected.

ON THE EQUATOR

Watchable. Not many facts about circumcision, the word itself is mispronounced by the woman reporter. The major value of the film lies in a question asked: "Circumcision helps control women. But why do you have to control them?"

SLUMGIRL$

Watchable. Again, having been to Sub-Saharan Africa, I know that prostitution there is a norm and not seen as a social pathology but the film may be as enlightening to others as the news was to me years ago in Ghana.

ONE-WAY ROUND TRIP

Watchable. Another uplifting movie about how your success in life often depends on the kindness of strangers and about the thin line between becoming a criminal or succeeding. Unfortunately it's a typical French doc in which nothing much happens over 90 minutes. Why do the French always insist on showing everything minute by minute?

TICKET TO PARADISE

Watchable. An enlightening film about how popular working in sex business is among Thai women and how they don't care whether their husband is old or ugly as long as he provides for her. It's sad how they prey on lonely foreigners but not as revelatory as to blow me away as a film.

THE CASTLE

Watchable. The first behind-the-scenes look at Malpensa Airport. It was interesting to see the security guys at work but the rest didn't involve much action.