Movie reviews

HUMAN DOC FILM FESTIVAL 

SHADOW WORLD

Recommended. Shattering. Plenty of disturbing facts are presented. Politicians instigate wars and arm those they're fighting. Osama bin Laden's bunker was built by the CIA: "Of course they knew where he was, they built it!" Barrack Obama, Hilary Clinton, Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, Margaret Thatcher whose son received 12 million pounds, Thabo Mbeki from the ANC, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld all made money war-mongering, waging wars and making deals with weapons manufacturers. Politicians had plans for starting wars in 7 countries over 5 years. Saudis bankroll ISIS. "Business is always about sex and money", like an arms dealer says. Prostitutes are used to extract information.

In the subsequent meeting with Andrew Feinstein, author on books on weapons trade who contributed to the film, another handful of facts were discussed. "Hollywood's depiction of war and arms trade is heroic." In reality after 9/11 out of the 7 countries with planned wars only Iran is left. Andrew Feinstein found an arms dealer on Facebook. He "never has done anything for nothing in his whole life" but after a while started talking to the author. "People speak to you for different reasons at different times." Andrew Feinstein trained as a clinical psychologist and this knowldedge led him to believe several people in this trade were "sociopaths, they believe it's for good." Another motivation is for people within the army. Military people have been in that for several years so they believe in war and armaments, "they think others don't get it". Putin gets a cut of arms deals. Also Tony Blair and Theresa May's husband. "The City of London is the money laundering capital of the world." The team spend months of veryfying every interviewee for the book and for the film to ensure credibility. The Open Society first bankrolled this research, then came royalties from the books, some other philanthropic foundations have funded it too. They also train organizations and journalists how to investigate fraud. British press has no investigative budgets so they do the work for newspapers or alternative media which just publish it. As far as safety is concerned, it's whistleblowers who are at real risk because they are the sources. In the UK two men, one of them a pastor, broke into a BAE factory and damaged equipment. The judge ruled that they had committed a minor crime to prevent a bigger crime. Andrew Feinstein quoted cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead: "History is always changed by thoughtful individuals working together." As the South African noticed, nobody had predicted the revolutionary change in South Africa 5 years before it. What happened was the society became ungovernable in order to bring down the system. 

This film is available free on VOD till the end of 2018.

BOHU ZEL (GOD FORSAKEN)

Watchable. Daily lives of refugees in the Czech Republic. Very nice people but nothing new on the topic. The few protagonists' stories are shown in pieces interchangeably and their names are not signed so it's easy to confuse them. The great music over the end credits turns out to be the Czech anthem.

This film is available free on VOD till the end of 2018.

WHEN LAMBS BECOME LIONS

Watchable. An engaging documentary which, through a story of two cousings: a poacher and a ranger depicts the issue of ivory trade extensively. Still, it doesn't explain why exactly some poachers turn rangers like both men have.

SILAS

Recommended. A ground-breaking documentary revealing the extent of corruption in Liberia, where president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf's family both took bribes for letting an international palm company log a primeval forest and embezzled further millions it received to combat the Ebola epidemic. Instead all hospitals and clinics were closed, thousands of people died and the land of the deceased was sold to the palm oil manufacturers. The eponymous activist stopped the company expansion, the president lost power but Silas wasn't elected for the parliament. Hilary Clinton, Barrack Obama, Angela Merkel had praised the corrupt president for allegedly developing her country. An eye-opener. Silas Siakor is going to rerun in Liberian parliamentary elections in 2023. I made a note of it in my calender to check on it.

BLUE HEART

Watchable. 3000 dams are planned to be built in the Balkans which is going to destroy the rivers and surrounding forests to be used as supply roads. That includes the only still-wild river in Europe. Locals protest. The World Bank finally withdrew but the government still looks for financing. The film is too artistic looking, too sentimental instead of politically hard-hitting. The music titles are all connected to river, nature and dams. It was composed specifically for the film.

In the meeting with a Balkan activist I learnt about his ideas: since 32% of energy is lost in transmission, rooftop panels and decentralisation would solve the problem. 10% of roofs with solar panels could eliminated the need to build even 1 dam. The Albanian and Macedonian waters are badly polluted with plastic but that's because villages have no trash containers.