WATCH DOCS 2023
PRAY FOR OUR SINNERS AND Q&A WITH DIRECTOR
Watchable. 91% of primary schools in Ireland are still controlled by the Catholic Church. The people who were struggling to be saved became the worst oppressors of each other. You learn of families with even 15 children, kids at school beaten daily, even on a broken hand, plenty of single mothers made to give up their babies for adoption. But the narrative statements by director Sinead O'Shea are repetitive. Not many facts are given but you do get how powerful the Church has been in Ireland and that this oppression was so internalised few questioned it, e.g. a nun: "It has all been arranged. There's nothing I can do about it." "Then you will have to unarrange it, won't you." It also shows how tight-knit and hierarchical Irish towns are which results in such reciprocal oppression. Money is power too - it's the well-off who had the guts to oppose the Church, if they cared. Archive footage mixes with current shots of the locations and interviews. Very Irish: the accent, mentality and the final credits song.
Up to 20 000 babies are unaccounted for, about 9 000 died in mother and baby homes, as was found in the report covering only some institutions. Many people about 30 years old have no records of themselves. More than 100 000 babies were born there. No one is excavating baby bodies while thousands may be there. It's no longer cool to go to church. But they still have church weddings or communions. The Irish Church has lots of assets and good lawyers.
ЧОРНОБИЛЬ 22 (CHORNOBYL 22)
Watchable. This short film explains why Russians came to the abandoned town en route to invade Kyiv: it was to be their retreat. They left a few days later, vomiting from the radiation, having sacrificed lots of their tank fuel to save the power of the nuclear plant they were told could explode. They had no idea what they were getting themselves into. They hadn't even been aware of the contamination. The film's chaotic but you learn that. I was also surprised by how fast modern tanks could go.
THE NEW AMERICANS: GAMING A REVOLUTION
Watchable. Game-speed dynamic animation, hip-hop, lots of obscure financial terminology. The real 'Wolf of Wall Street' and plenty of unknown individual investors or big traders comment on modern finance, gullible youngsters, the post truth. While details weren't comprehensible to me, the picture is we live in a world of blurred lines between the truth and fake news, legality and crime.
PERIODICAL
Recommended. A multi-faceted look at menstruation: biology, history, but most of all human rights around it: toxicity of many tampons, menstruation product taxation whereas Viagra, condoms or participation in gun clubs are often exempt. While the documentary is American, it's relatable to women worldwide. Visually attractive: beautiful young activists, Naomi Watts (perimenopausal at 35) with her dog in her lap, colourful animations, film and commercial insertions. Dynamic and thorough. Being on your period is also looked at from the most obvious pain perspective: the machine simulator makes men writhe in agony while women comment a period is 10 times stronger.
PATRICK AND THE WHALE
Recommended. Shot in and on the waters around Dominica, It's not just about the beauty of these amazing animals. You learn about them, e.g. sperm whales turn white and wrinkly at the age of 70-80, a mother leaves her calf with another female when she takes a foraging dive. But most disturbingly, they have such close bonds they never leave theirs in need. That's how they end up stranded on a beach in group or how whalers used to be able to harpoon so many, because when one was dying, others would come for rescue. The film is comforting in how gently and respectfully Patrick Dykstra treats the whales.
DEEP RISING
Recommended. Produced and narrated by 'Aquaman' Jason Momoa, with stunning deep sea photography, it's a bleak picture of humanity. Gerard Barron's lies and callousness are shocking. His "clean and green" metal extraction means killing rare animals which, apart from their beauty, capture carbon dioxide. Oceans provide oxygen for our every second breath. The extraction has already started. In spite of other solutions, e.g. hydrogen.
USMIECH LOSU (SONG OF GOATS)
Watchable. The sun and Greek music here don't mean holidays but hard labour. The protagonists' and others' behaviours aren't always justifiable in the plot but in the end make sense. While based on elements of a fine art photographer's life, the structure is like in traditional fairy tales, where a young man has to learn a few life lessons to come into the possession of a house and and marry the woman of his dreams. This appears to be the most sensible interpretation of those inexplicable actions and reactions. Not that there is much action. No, it's a slow movie.
Reviewed from the distributor's screener, cinematic reception might differ.
HER DOCS FORUM 2023
ПРОКИДАЮЧИСЬ У ТИШІ (WAKING UP IN SILENCE)
Switched off. A short film where Ukrainian refugee children play with their German friends. Boring, just like watching any other kids.
Reviewed from the organizers' screener, cinematic reception might differ.
REMEMBER THE SMELL OF MARIUPOL
Recommended. A poetic short film about death and forced migration. Still photos and lines of text are surprisingly powerful.
Reviewed from the organizers' screener, cinematic reception might differ.
DOBRA WIADOMOSC (GOOD NEWS)
Watchable. A 10-minute short film whose first part drags but which shows the absurdity of the current situatuion on the Polish-Belarusian border where Poles are afraid of the Polish Border Guards and migrants browse the Internet while hiding in the woods.
Reviewed from the organizers' screener, cinematic reception might differ.
EL SOSTRE GROC (THE YELLOW CEILING)
Recommended. This Catalan film about a theatre which was a paedophile's playground for 20 years is a thorough depiction of manipulative tactics towards 13-14 year old girls and the scale of his outrageous activity. The girls were all superb actors but paid far too high a price for acquiring such skills. He was incredibly powerful in the city, successful... and promiscuous with adults and minors alike.
Reviewed from the organizers' screener, cinematic reception might differ.
