Film Difficulty 2

To help you ease your way into our world, we have devised a the film difficulty ranking system to rate the difficulty of each film reviewed on our site. The easiest to watch films (the Rom-Coms and Superhero flicks that you watch anyway) will have a rating of 1. Foreign language films automatically add one point, as do black and white films, and films with strange and hard to follow plots. Welcome to Film Difficulty 2.

Film Difficulty Ranking 2: These films are perfect introductions to those new to foreign films. These one’s may have subtitles, or be in black and white, but these films are all easy to follow and enjoy.

For the next step, check out Film Difficulty Ranking 3.

Saudi Runaway – Sundance Film Festival 2020

Despite reforms from MBS, the current ruler of Saudi Arabia, 1,000 women escape Saudi Arabia each year. Saudi Runaway follows Muna, a typical Saudi Arabian woman trying to make herself one of the 1,000 to escape the oppressive patriarchy. All the footage is shot on her phone camera, often in secret from under her hijab, to document a snippet of her life.

Muna gains our trust right from the start by showing us things we shouldn’t see. She takes us into the crowds of the Hajj pilgrimage circling the Kaaba by capturing the crowds from a phone camera hidden under her veil. She also documents her family secretly in prayer and the patriarchal words her family and fiance say without realizing they’re being filmed. From these secretive observational moments we can start to build a picture of the society and family she lives in and its restrictiveness. We can also feel the risk she’s taking in secretively filming her family. She obviously hasn’t told them about the film as all they’re faces are blurred. Because of the risks she takes and secretive shots she has shared with us, she immediately gains out trust and empathy.

The film strengthens our connection with Muna through a series of video diary entries in which she shares experiences from her life and plans her escape. We hear about the patriarchal oppression she faces: how her husband won’t let her drive and how she can’t go to the supermarket or leave the house without a man. We also hear about her slim chance for escape: she cannot leave the country without a man’s permission in Saudi Arabia, so she has to get married before attempting an escape in the UAE whilst she’s on her honeymoon. Amazingly, she captures all of the tension of her ordeal, even taking a minute to document her final thoughts before she attempts her escape.

The only fault I could give this exciting documentary is the touch of melodrama the European director adds to the raw footage from Muna. In some of the tense moments, the soundtrack feels like it’s emphasizing the emotions more than it needs to. It makes the film feel ‘more produced’ and therefore less intimate and trustworthy by taking away from the realness of the first hand footage shot by Muna. The ‘dear Sue’ addresses in Muna’s video diary also make the film feel more like an act, by recognizing the foreign hand in its creation.

Overall, Saudi Runaway is a documentary that any fans of escape documentaries (see Midnight Traveller) or viewers interested at an inside look of Saudi Arabia should watch.

Head to our Sundance Film Festival Hub for more reviews from the Sundance Film Festival 2020.

The Propaganda Game (North Korea) – What do you Know about North Korea?

The Propaganda Game Film Difficulty Ranking: 2

How dangerous do you think North Korea is to the world? Secondly, do you think you are an open minded person? The Propaganda Game exposes life in Korea and the propaganda we and North Koreans see every day. Is one side right? Can we find the truth? Read on.

Image result for the propaganda game

Why Watch The Propaganda Game?

To learn about North Korea
See how powerful propaganda can be (in this case it shows the propaganda we see that shapes our view of North Korea, and also the propaganda the citizens of North Korea see)
It will open your mind as you think about Cultural Relativism: the theory that beliefs, customs, and morality exist in relation to the particular culture from which they originate and are not absolute
It’s on Netflix

The Breakdown

The Propaganda Game starts with shots of what appears to be life in a typical Asian city. There are people meditating in parks, kids roller skating over ramps, and everything looks like it comes from a tourist brochure.

The shots are of course of life in North Korea. For a nice juxtaposition, the director layers western news reporters reports of life in North Korea over the top. It is clear that something is wrong as the pictures of North Korea obviously do not match up to the propaganda pushed by western media.

This is what film maker Alvaro Longoria explores in this film: propaganda. He points out that there are two players in the propaganda game, the North Korean government, and western media. Both are perpetrating myths and both myths are pretty much opposite. I’ve set out both myths below:

The western media perpetrate a myth that North Korea is a rogue state which poses a nuclear threat to the world and subjugates all of it’s citizens against their will.
North Korea perpetrates a myth that the west (in particular the U.S.) are the fault of all the problems in the country and that the whole world idolises their leaders and look towards North Korea as a beacon of the revolution.

Though the amazing shots and interviews we get in North Korea we can make our own judgements.

Conclusion

The most important message of this film is that we should always keep an open mind. Blindly accepting a point of view we see in the news can hide the truth. This goes for both the people in North Korea and the anyone who follows western media. We are all subject to propaganda, so we must always remain vigilant in trying to find see all sides of the agenda. In this case, there is no truth. Check out the trailer below.

The Coconut Revolution – Earth’s Real Life Avatar Eco-Revolution

The Coconut Revolution Film Difficulty Ranking: 2

This hour long documentary takes you through the naval blockade on Bougainville Island to meet the revolutionaries fighting for Bougainville independence. They’ve survived against all odds. First, their water supplies and land was destroyed by the world’s largest open copper mine built by a subsidiary of Rio Tinto. They were forced onto reservations. But they chose to rise up and forced the huge mining conglomerate to abandon the region. In response they earned the wrath of Papua New Guinea who depended on the mine for a large percentage of their GDP. After being attacked by the PNG army, the eco revolutionaries were starved from contact with the rest of the world for 7 years thanks to a naval siege operated by Papua New Guinea and Australia. When that didn’t kill off the revolution, PNG sent in international mercenaries to finish them off. But they were forced to retreat and the Bougainville Revolutionary Army survived and the island is now well on it’s way to independence after winning a referendum for independence at the end of 2019. It’s an incredible story.

The revolution becomes even more amazing when you see the resourcefulness of the indigenous people of Bougainville. Cut off from PNG power, they created their own hydro electric generators from scraps from the mine. And without fuel for the vehicles left on the island, they created fuel from coconut oil. On top of this, they use the land to feed the community and treat them for illnesses and diseases. This is a true Eco-revolution.

From: Bougainville, Papua New Guinea, Australasia
Watch: Trailer, JustWatch, Amazon Prime
Next: Avatar, System K, Princess Mononoke

The Bloodettes – A Stylish, Sexy, Futuristic, Vampire Film from Cameroon

The Bloodettes Film Difficulty Ranking: 2

Whilst the plot of The Bloodettes may be loose and confusing, it’s something new, sexy and stylish. Neon night club lighting, as well as masses of jump cuts, dissolve cuts, and slow motion shots (that would make John Woo proud), all backed by an energetic Tsotsi-esque soundtrack makes this one of the most original films I’ve seen from Africa. This is Cameroon in 2025.

From: Cameroon, Africa
Watch: Trailer, Kanopy
Next: The Killer, Tsotsi, Pumzi

The Hunt (Denmark) – A Teacher’s Worst Nightmare

The Hunt Film Difficulty Ranking: 2

If you’re a teacher, The Hunt is your worst nightmare. Set in a small town in Denmark, The Hunt shows how one lie can bring down a credible and likeable man and turn him into the victim of a modern day witch hunt.

From: Denmark, Europe
Watch: Trailer, Amazon Prime, Amazon (rent)
Next: Festen, The Shining, Gone Girl