20 YEARS OF WATCH DOCS - ONLINE
TYSIAC TOG (A THOUSAND ROBES) (2020)
Recommended. A 12-minute film on the Polish judges' protest against dismantling the rule of law in the country. Judges, both Polish and from other European nations, explain the current governmental decisions will affect the nation for generations and stress the risk the protesting law professionals are taking. Profoundly touching.
THE WORK (2017)
Switched off. You follow group psychotherapy sessions filled with therapy jargon i.e. "being in the place", "holding" or "letting out" emotions.
上访 (PETITION) (2009)
Watchable. China from an unusual perception: a decade of filing petitions with a central institution to complain about human rights violations. The petitions all fall on deaf ears and the petitioners are frequently beaten up on authorities' orders or locked up in psychiatric wards where new drugs are tested on them against their will. It's a peculiar situation since the authorities have created the institution but then they threaten the people who seek justice this way. The film shows how it ruins people's lives, families, how they spend years camping and living like homeless people in order for their complaint to be heard. When a woman running from henchmen hired by those authorities fell under a train, the gathered just collected her body parts without manifesting any shock or emotions. A totally dehumanising system. The film is a bit hard to understand at times. Shot by a Chinese who might have assumed everyone knows what is discussed.
S21. LA MACHINE DE MORT KHMERE ROUGE (S21: THE KHMER ROUGE DEATH MACHINE) (2003)
Recommended. Blood-chilling but explains the whole machinery: how the guards tortured and killed because a refusal to obey an order equalled immediate death and how they would lie to the prisoners about where they were taking them or their children to prevent protests when in fact they were about to kill them. Lots of gruesome detail but each harrowing account is followed by a quiet moment so the viewer's tension doesn't accumulate.
The post-festival VOD section was highly interesting and comprised of a selection of hand-picked documentaries on human rights issues from all over the world, scarily a few from Poland. The viewing quality varied, especially with older films. The greatest hindrance, though, was the fact they were interrupted by commercials a few times. A fair deal, the films were free, but the foreign ones had so many breaks it discouraged from watching.
AFRYKAMERA ONLINE
PETIT PAYS (SMALL COUNTRY: AN AFRICAN CHILDHOOD)
Recommended. Based on facts. Set in Burundi and Rwanda at the onset of the civil war in 1994. Brings the events home. Not very graphic, apart from two dead bodies on the road, more are mentioned in a conversation ("100 000", "no sidewalk free"). Mid-way through the story, a wedding gathering turns into a black and white photograph. On the emotional level, for the first hour children frolic, dance, enjoy good weather. The second hour tugs on your heartstrings. Fine performances all around: all the children, Jean-Paul Rouve and Isabelle Kabano as their parents and everyone else.
No comments:
Post a Comment