Rowan Sullivan

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Ixcanul (Guatemala) – Witness the Power of the Volcano

Ixcanul Film Difficulty Ranking: 3

In Ixcanul, the volcano is a reminder of the power that nature holds over our lives. Follow Maria as she tries to find a way to escape from her rural community and the looming presence of the volcano.

Why Watch Ixcanul?
  • Hear some Kaqchikel – there’s a lot of people in Central America who don’t speak Spanish
  • To spend some time in rural Guatemala
  • Arguably a great feminist film
  • Feel the constant presence of the volcano
The Breakdown

Ixcanul starts with a close up of a teenage girl’s face. Her mum appears behind her and starts tidying her hair, cleaning her face, and tying her colourful head band. Maria (the teenage girl) looks blankly at the camera. It’s clear that she’s being prepared for something that’s out of her control. Is she getting married? Whatever it is, she seems too stunned to care.

The next scene flashes back to the two of them feeding rum to some pigs to make them horny. The girl waits around and watches the pigs as they copulate. It’s clear she’s bored. The only things she does at home is help her mum with the cooking and care for their livestock. Therefore it’s not a surprise that she finds another teenager that works nearby to have sex with.

The only problem is that her parents have just promised her hand in marriage to their boss. He’s the reason why they’re living in their house with the things they own as he’s the one renting it to them. So when her mum finds out Maria is pregnant she tells her off for ‘not counting her moons’ and puts together a plan to try and get rid of the baby.

The Power of the Volcano

Whilst the volcano never erupts, it’s power is always felt through the film. In every shot of the landscape, it looms in the background as if it is controlling their lives. In a way it is.

It is the wall that is blocking them from prosperity. On their side of the volcano, there is nothing, just barren land and boredom. But on the other side there is the United States and Guatemala City which both promise a better life. Just look at Maria’s fiance who travels to see them once every few weeks. He comes from the other side of the volcano and owns a car, the house Maria and her family live in, and is able to speak Spanish. He is obviously from the same part of Guatemala as her (as he also speaks Kaqchikel), and therefore the same lifestyle, but he has managed to find prosperity by venturing past the volcano.

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Conclusion and What to Watch Next

Ixcanul has great cinematography and strong female characters ensnared by the power of the volcano. It is the blockade between their barren farm and a better life as on the other side is the city and the influence of the U.S. Can they make it to the other side?

If you want to see another film about a young kid/teenager trying to break the monotony of their life, check out Wadjda. It’s a coming-of-age story of a young girl in Saudi Arabia who is desperate to ride a bike, despite all the pressures on her to become a woman.

Or if you want to see more films about young adults trying to find a better life, check out:

  • Makala – a documentary about a young man trying to transport a bike load of charcoal across arid landscape to be able to buy a new roof for his house.
  • City of God – the heart-racing action film about a few kids trying to escape the favelas of Rio de Janeiro.
  • Beijing Bicycle – the story of a teenager struggling to make a bit of change as a bicycle delivery boy in Beijing.

 

302

The Orator (Samoa) – Follow the old ‘Samoan Way’

The Orator Film Difficulty Ranking: 4

When you think of Samoa, you probably think of pacific island paradise. The Orator not only showcases the island’s beautiful scenery but also Samoan culture. It’s your chance to try and follow the ‘Samoan Way’. Check it out on Amazon here (free for Prime members).

Image result for the orator film

Why Watch The Orator?
  • Get to know Samoa, from it’s beautiful landscape to the Samoan language and the ‘Samoan way’
  • Meet a courageous little person
  • And a crazy smoking, paint spraying rugby coach
  • To see some great button up shirts
The Breakdown

The Orator starts with rain and the views and sounds of the natural landscape. It’s beautiful, lush green, and full of life. Then human voices start singing and the camera cuts to a picture of two grave stones in the middle of the forest.

They’re the graves of Saili’s parents. He visits them almost every day and tries to clear the graves of yam plants local farmers have planted around the site. But because of his size (he’s a dwarf/little person) he gets bullied around by the village. And the farmers planting yams around his parents graves threaten to cut of his head if he keeps vandalizing their crops.

Who’s Saili? It’s not entirely clear. All we know is that he’s a taro farmer and that he has a job as the night-time security guard of a local shop. He lives with his wife and her daughter although their relationship seems pretty cordial and friendly rather than romantic. His wife is an outcast just like him, after she was exiled from her home village for reasons we can only assume (probably for having her daughter out of wedlock?).

Why is there so little exposition?

Director Tamasese doesn’t waste time with exposition in The Orator. Instead he immerses us straight into the movie, straight into the Samoan landscape, language, and culture. As a result, we have to figure out what is going on, as well as who the characters are and how they’re related to each other.

His aim is to make you feel like an outsider, just like the two main characters. They have lived most of their lives outside of the ‘Samoan Way’ and have to rediscover it whilst we are trying to figure it out. As a result, we identify more with their journey and struggle.

Conclusion and What to Watch Next

The Orator is a window into another world. With beautiful cinematography and a slow contemplative rhythm, you’ll slowly be introduced to the ‘Samoan Way’.

There are quite a few great films of indigenous people and customs from across Australasia. I strongly recommend checking out:

  • Tanna – a Shakespearian love story adapted to the Vanuatan rainforest
  • Rabbit Proof Fence – to cheer on three children from the ‘stolen generation’ trying to walk home after they are separated from their parents
  • Another Country – to meet an indigenous community in Australia

Or for another contemplative drama with a strong flavour of local life, check out Timbuktu, where you’ll see how the three tribes/ethnic groups of Timbuktu get along.

303

Amor y Frijoles (Honduras) – Romantic Drama in Small Town Honduras

Amor y Frijoles Film Difficulty Ranking: 2

If you’re a fan of indie films or telenovelas, you’ll enjoy Amor y Frijoles. It’s got the feel of a heart-warming indie film, but the romantic drama of a Mexican telenovela.

Why Watch Amor y Frijoles?
  • Experience life in a typical town in Honduras
  • For telenovela level relationship drama
  • See typical Honduran food: Baleadas
  • Witness the effects of boredom on Ojojona’s inhabitants
The Breakdown

Amor y Frijoles starts with a load of establishing shots of the town of Ojojona as it wakes up in the morning. You’ll see shots of the churches, the streets, the butcher chopping meat, vendors preparing coffee, and the rural landscape which surrounds the town. It’s a typical Honduran town, and acts as a microcosm for the entire country.

This isn’t great news for Honduras. As whilst the town is portrayed well, the main characters are not. Firstly there’s Dionisio, Karen’s husband. He obviously doesn’t care for his wife as he comes home late every night and ignores her. Karen also suspects that he’s cheating, and he probably is, even if it’s never confirmed. Secondly there’s Ramiro, Karen’s best friends husband. At every opportunity he voyeuristically checks out Karen. There’s even one obvious shot of him gazing at her boobs.

Dionisio and Ramiro compose a pretty awful picture of Honduran men. But luckily(?) for them Karen stoops to their level and therefore half  vindicates their awful behavior by having a one-off affair with Ramiro, her best friend’s husband! The drama!

Why are their relationships so extra-marital?

There are so many extra-marital affairs because they are all bored. Karen cooks baleadas in the morning before she goes home and watches hours and hours of reality and religious TV. The directors show her following the same mundane routine everyday. It’s obvious she’s bored, but she’s too stuck by her routine to break from it. Therefore, it’s no surprise that when the TV breaks, she looks to other entertainment to fill the void.

This is also true for Ramiro, Karen’s best friends husband. He’s never shown doing anything other than driving around town aimlessly. It doesn’t look like he has a job or any hobbies to occupy his time. Therefore, without anything to do, he keeps trying to seduce Karen.

Conclusion and What to Watch Next

Amor y Frijoles is a well made, easy-to-watch Honduran film. It’s got the feel of a great indie film. However, the plot is anything but relaxing, it’s full of the relationship drama you expect to see in Latin American telenovelas.

For more controversial relationships in Central America, check out two films with Gabriel Garcia Bernal:

Or, if you’re after a more romantic love film, check out The Road Home by Zhang Yimou or Sepet, a teen love film set in Malaysia.

304

Icarus (U.S.) – Are All Sports Stars on Drugs?

Icarus Film Difficulty Ranking: 2

As the World Cup continues in Russia, the Tennis stars of the world play at Wimbledon, and the world’s premiere cycling tour kicks off in France, there’s no better time to watch Icarus. You’ll learn about the effects of doping, start doubting the even playing ground of all sports, before asking yourself: “what if they’re all doping?” To find out more about doping in sport and the political stakes of doping, watch Icarus on Netflix.

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Why Watch Icarus?
  • If you’re a sports fan
  • If you like conspiracies
  • Meet a friendly Russian doping expert
  • Because it won the Best Documentary at the 2018 Academy Awards
The Breakdown

Meet Bryan Fogel. He’s an amateur cyclist who was on the brink of turning professional when he was hit with an injury. Whilst he didn’t get to cycle alongside Lance Armstrong like some of his friends, he still idolized the best cyclist from his country and generation for his 7 Tour de France wins. But, his view of professional cycling and Lance Armstrong came crashing down when Armstrong finally admitted to doping in 2013.

How did Fogel react? By choosing the toughest 7-day amateur cycling race available and riding it twice. Firstly, he rode it clean, and secondly on performance enhancing drugs to analyse their effect.

Long story short, he finished in the top 20 clean, but couldn’t improve his positioning whilst doping. But, what might have been a movie about how doping won’t immediately make you the best in any sport luckily doesn’t end there.

That’s because the guy helping Fogel to dope was the director of the Russian anti-doping laboratory, Grigory Rodchenkov. They both become friends as Rodchenkov helped him through his doping process. Rodchenkov gives him plenty of advice and laughs, and even hosts him at his home in Russia.

However, Rodchenkov later drops a bombshell: he oversaw the state-sponsored doping programme for the 2012 Olympics in London and the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. This confession turns Icarus into an investigation into the worldwide doping scandal that banned all Russian athletes from competing in the 2016 Olympics and rocked the sporting world.

Conclusion and What to Watch Next

Icarus is one of the most gripping documentaries out there, especially if you’re a sports fan. It’s got an interesting premise (how much does doping help) which sets up the story, but the twist lands in Fogel’s lap because of Rodchenckov’s confession. From there it’s the two of them versus the Russian State and the U.S. court system.

If you’re looking for more great documentaries, check out the equally thrilling Citizenfour about Edward Snowden. Like Icarus it contains a whistleblower vs. the state, but instead of sport’s doping, it’s a worldwide spy network.

Or, if you’re looking for a sport documentary which focuses more on the sport, check out the brilliant basketball documentary, Hoop Dreams. It’s like Boyhood meets Basketball.

 

305

Another Country (Australia) – Meet the Other Side of Australia

Another Country Film Difficulty Ranking: 3

Most people forget that Australia, like the United States, was already inhabited when Europeans arrived. Just like in the U.S. the natives were almost wiped out by disease, politics, and genocide. Today, Indigenous Australians make up just 3% of the Australian population and Australian politics have pushed them to the side onto pseudo-reservations. Get to know some of them in Another Country – watch it here (Amazon).

Image result for another country molly reynolds

Why Watch Another Country?
  • Get to know the indigenous Australians of Ramininging, Northern Territory
  • Learn how politics have disrupted the old way of life
  • Witness the lack of opportunity and isolation of the community
  • See a strange reenactment of the crucifixion
The Breakdown

Firstly, we’re introduced to our narrator, the ‘living legend’ that is David Gulpilil. You may know him from films like Crocodile Dundee, Rabbit Proof Fence, and Charlie’s Country. He’s even met with the queen and relaxed with Jimi Hendrix and Bob Marley. But, he assures us, “this film is as much about you than it is about me and my people”.  Another Country is about what happened to aboriginal culture when it was interrupted by western culture.

The film is set in Ramininging, 400km away from the nearest town (if the dirt tracks haven’t been washed away). No one wanted to live here, but the Australian government set up a town here anyway to host the indigenous people it didn’t know what to do with. It’s as if they picked a completely isolated spot to keep them hidden.

Why would the Australian government want to keep the indigenous population hidden? Because they don’t know anything about the indigenous population. The politicians never learned any indigenous languages and rarely interact with any of the indigenous people out of their own initiative, so keeping them out of sight is a way of hiding their ignorance. All the government does is provide them with just enough to keep them living and reliant on government support.

Why is Another Country narrated?

Yes, Another Country is a documentary, and documentaries are often narrated without the narrator appearing in the film. But Another Country is different. This is David Gulpilil’s home town, and he introduces us to his childhood friends through his narration, so it would only be natural for him to appear and initiate dialogue with his friends and family. But, instead, he is kept separate from what we are seeing on film.

This creates a distance between what we are being told and what we are seeing. As a result, his narration feels similar to the news reporters we see on TV, that narrate over news footage to create a story.

Australians, and the world, are probably used to hearing news reporters and politicians create the story of indigenous Australians without having any understanding of them. And, most of us probably blindly accept what they say as the truth as they are figures of authority.

Therefore, having David Gulpilil as the narrator, and keeping him as just a narrator, keeps him in a position of narrative authority that news reporters and politicians often inhabit. He gets to create the story as he sees it, and we, the audience, get to finally listen to an indigenous voice narrating the indigenous people in Australia.

Conclusion and What to Watch Next

Another Country is the documentary to watch if you want to get to know some of the marginalised Indigenous Australians. You get a first hand introduction to the isolated community of Ramininging through it’s most famous former resident, David Gulpilil.

If you’re interested in learning a bit more about the history of the indigenous Australians, check out Rabbit Proof Fence. It’s a story about a couple of girls from the Stolen Generations who were removed from their families by the Australian government in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Or if you want to see more films exploring the damage done by generations of European colonists around the world, check out: