This film is a perfect companion to The Lives of Others (from Germany). It reveals that invasive state security is not an outdated institution confined to the old Soviet-bloc, but something that still happens today. Will whistle-blower Edward Snowden be celebrated in decades to come for his bravery or will he continue to be victimised?
Why Watch Snowden?
You’re a fan of 1984
You have heard of Edward Snowden but don’t know enough about him to keep a debate going
Do you want freedom or security? Watch this film to find out.
For a dramatized and Hollywood-friendly version of Citizenfour
Anyway, as this is not a foreign or indie film, I’m not going to write another small essay. But, as it’s relevant to one of the other films I have recommended on this site, I’ve included it here in case you want to follow up your interest! Plus it is a good film with a good insight into one of the most controversial figures in politics.
The global recession of 2008 affected almost every one of us on this planet in some sort of way, but do you know much about it? Here is your opportunity to learn how it happened, what it caused, and if it might happen again. Hear about Wall Street Traders hiring prostitutes, Iceland, and the banks that caused the financial meltdown. Plus, all of this is explained at a digestible pace, meaning that you will end the film with a strong understanding of it all!
Why Watch Inside Job?
You want to know why the 2008 recession happened
To learn a bit more about the current financial system of the world
It’s narrated by Matt Damon
It won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2010
The Breakdown
The global economics crisis of 2008 cost tens of millions of people their savings, their jobs, and their homes. This is how it happened.
Iceland. A country of just 320,000 people, a bunch of small towns, beautiful landscape, low unemployment and low government debt. There was lots of clean energy, well managed fisheries, clean air, and pride. But this all changed in 2000 with deregulation and bank privatization.
After Iceland, we zoom across the Atlantic, and back in time, to New York in the 90s. The finance sector is booming. We are shown a montage of New York City skyscrapers, businessmen, and snappy quotes from finance experts set to a poppy soundtrack. This montage offers a stark contrast to the peaceful beauty of the shots of Iceland from the opening scene. This is the place laden with greed. This is the place which has disrupted the peaceful beauty of Iceland and the whole world.
After the introduction to Iceland and the New York City montage we start hearing from those involved in the build up to the crisis. Luckily for me, the narrator firstly explains all the financial jargon extremely clearly and at a gentle pace (unlike the rushed explanations in The Big Short). With a clear understanding of how the recession happened, the documentary then starts questioning some of the culprits. At this point we can understand the questions being asked and know when the interviewees (the culprits) are avoiding giving proper answers. He gives us the basic understanding so we can make our own judgement.
Conclusion
For a good understanding of how the global recession happened, this film is the best I have seen. It also carries an impressive selection of interviewees (from Federal Reserve, IMF, and Academia). Some of the interviewees were in charge before and during the recession and defend their actions, and others fuel the fire. You’ll also learn what will happen next – will there be another recession?
Watch on Netflix or click the poster to buy on Amazon
Food Inc. Film Difficulty Ranking: 2
Food INC. is one of the great documentaries to watch to open your eyes to the giant that is the food industry of the United States of America. You’ll learn what makes a McDonalds burger and how almost everything in Walmart contains some form of corn. But along with all the bad stuff you’re going to here (which will make you think twice about what you buy) you also learn how you can make a difference (which will also make you think twice about what you buy).
The simple answer: You can change the food industry and the world when you go to the supermarket and buy your food. Everything you buy is a vote for that product!
Check out the trailer below to find out more before you head to Netflix, YouTube, or Amazon to watch!
Why Watch Food Inc?
To learn where your food is coming from (mostly you America, but relevant to the whole world)
See how the food industry has been monopolised by a few big companies
Learn how you can change the world with what you eat
Here’s some quick fire reviews from the short films featured in the Pan African Shorts Program of the 2020 Pan African Film Festival.
My Father Belize (Belize)
It’s great to see films being made in Belize, and My Father Belize definitely does the Belizean tourist board proud with shots of idyllic peninsulas where the jungle meets pristine beaches. The film focuses on Sean, a born and bred in Belizean that left the country in his teens for a life in the United States. He’s back in town for the first time in three years to scatter his fathers ashes; a father that was never there for him growing up. Sean has moved on from the death of his estranged father and is now engaged to someone from the U.S. However, during his visit he discovers he conceived a son last time he was in the country and must face his own future as a father and husband.
My Father Belize works because the gossipy reveals are backed up by just enough well timed humor to keep it tongue in cheek. Every time the film introduces a cheesy twist, Sean’s cousin is on hand to say exactly what is on the audience’s mind, thereby acknowledging the exaggerated turns of the script. This balancing act cleverly draws the audience into the script, opening up a space for My Father Belize to talk to us about the ordinary topic it really wants to: fatherhood.
A Handful of dates (Sudan)
It’s also great to see more films coming out of Sudan. A Handful of Dates is shot from the perspective of a young boy that is ashamed to learn the truth behind his grandfather’s date palm fortune. He has grown up idolizing his grandfather, but when he sees the poverty his grandfather has nonchalantly plunged his neighbor into to achieve his wealth, he’s repulsed.
A Handful of Dates is a risk-free adaptation of a short story by Tayeb Saleh that fits perfectly into 15 minutes. It efficiently builds the arcs of the two characters the young boy interacts with (his grandfather and the neighbor) with just enough visual cues to support the limited dialogue. No second is wasted in depicting the grandfather’s transformation from idol to demon and the neighbors transformation from social pariah into a humble exploited man we can sympathize with.
Dolly (U.K.)
In Dolly, a white babysitter works on her laptop whilst the young black girl in her care asks for help with her maths homework. The babysitter ignores her until she finds out she’s got the job she wanted. To celebrate, she lets the young black girl put make up on her face, not knowing that the young girl is going to paint her face black.
There are a lot of issues that Dolly touches on but doesn’t explore, such as white privilege, racial privilege, black girls in STEM, discrimination in education, blackness, lack of black representation, being black in a white world and more. However, instead of exploring any of these issues that the film half references, it chooses to ultimately go for a punch-line ending of a white girl being found with blackface on. As a result, Dolly is left without much substance to add to a pretty bland performance from the white babysitter.
Songs for my right side (U.S.A.)
Rodger Smith is in pain. Every night he writhes alone in his bed because of a searing pain that has taken over the right side of his body. It might be the after effects of a bad break up, or the fate of two young black people recently murdered in cold blood. The only thing that soothes the pain is music.
Songs For My Right Side deserves a lot of credit for trying to do something different. Whilst the three short films above stick to familiar storytelling styles, Songs for My Right Side blends music, mystery, and Rodger’s thoughts together to create an almost psychedelic viewing experience. It’s as if you’ve been plunged into another person’s mind and forced to follow their roving stream-of-consciousness. There’s no room to step away from it and get a complete picture of what is happening, but that is kind of the point. You’re stuck with an untrustworthy, apparently crazy narrator, and you have to try and decipher what is true or not. Whilst the film does meander a lot, rendering it pretty confusing to follow, the experience is worth the ride.
Lupe Under the Sun features an ageing migrant worker from Michoacan working in California’s Central Valley. It deals with the vagueness of migrant identity – is Lupe Mexican or American? Or both and neither at the same time? The director, Rodrigo Reyes, shows migration to be both an inspired act of hope and a frightening leap into the unknown.
Why Watch Lupe Under the Sun?
For a timely look at the life of a lonely migrant worker in the U.S. a group verbally assaulted by Trump
To see an old man riding a tricycle
Step in somebody else’s shoes – take a walk through the eyes of an immigrant worker in an unfamiliar environment which you call home
What does it mean to not belong?
The Breakdown
The film starts with a narration by Lupe’s grandson as Lupe walks through arid landscape and orchards.
He says that his grandfather told him a secret; that he was going to America to paint a really big house that will take him a long time. He won’t be back for some time, because he has to keep painting.
Does Lupe really belong here? He doesn’t talk to anyone, except one scene where he is gambling around a small table with two other guys. He doesn’t answer his girlfriend, he mumbles back to the doctor, and doesn’t make any effort to start any conversation. His lack of dialogue emphasises his lack of belonging and identity. He has no friends and no one he cares about in the Central Valley. He has no reason to stay where he is or go home.
Furthermore, his days are occupied by ritual. He wakes up at 4am each morning, cooks his eggs, showers, and shaves his moustache before he gets picked up to go pick fruit. Each day we are shown this same ritual emphasised by fixed shots of the alarm clock, the cooking hob, and the kitchen sink. The repeated shots emphasise the mundaneness of Lupe’s life – is he brave for sticking out this monotone life? His only joy seems to come from riding his tricycle around town.
Why is Lupe living here? Why doesn’t he go back to Mexico where he might feel a little more belonging? Lupe is symbolic of the ‘no-man’s land’ of migrant identity – he is both the man of his past life in Mexico and the man of his present in the U.S. Pick this one for a quiet night in to watch with someone else – watching it alone might make you question your loneliness.
The global recession of 2008 affected almost every one of us on this planet in some sort of way, but do you know much about it? Here is your opportunity to learn how it happened, what it caused, and if it might happen again. Hear about Wall Street Traders hiring prostitutes, Iceland, and the banks that caused the financial meltdown. Plus, all of this is explained at a digestible pace, meaning that you will end the film with a strong understanding of it all!
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