fLESH oUT Film Difficulty Ranking: 3

Verida is getting married, and in Mauritania, that means she has to fatten up before the wedding to make sure she’s as beautiful as possible. You’ll get eat all the bowls of cous cous and meat with her on her journey to becoming a big beautiful woman. Flesh Out is a well made portrait of a woman caught in a culture that clashes with modernisation.

From: Mauritania, Africa 
Watch: TBC - IMDb Page
Next: Mustang, Sand Storm, Supersize Me
Continue reading “Flesh Out – Eat More to Become More Beautiful”
Fatal Assistance Film Difficulty Ranking: 3

You’ve probably heard about the 2010 Haiti Earthquake and you may have even donated some money via one of the many fundraising initiatives, but have you got any idea about how all the funds raised were put to use? Fatal Assistance investigates the recovery attempts after the earthquake and will get you questioning whether we need to reform how we donate and how charities work.

Why Watch Fatal Assistance?
  • Learn about the devastation caused by the 2010 earthquake in Haiti
  • Analyse the effectiveness of disaster relief charities
  • Watch a film from Haiti from Haiti’s minister for culture, Raoul Peck (who you may know from his other great documentary: I Am Not Your Negro)
  • Find out if there are any solutions for the future
The Breakdown

Fatal Assistance starts with a first hand account of the 2010 Haitian Earthquake. You’ll see footage of people falling to the ground under the tremors and buildings shaking and crumbling. However, unlike the big disaster fiction films, this film is a documentary and focuses on the earthquake’s aftermath.

The destruction of the earthquake was massive. It made 1.5 million people homeless and caused 24 times as much debris as 9/11. Loads of celebrities and people around the world raised millions to help Haiti’s recovery. As a result, the country was full of hope despite being ravaged by disaster. There was enough money to change the country, for it it recover from the earthquake and lift it out of poverty.

However, you can tell that the hope is not going to be fulfilled. The letters that are narrated throughout the film seem to come from the future and feel full of regret.

The lack of hope is personified in the zombie-esque appearance of former U.S. President Bill Clinton who is in charge of the Interim Haiti Reconstruction Commission. The IHRC was part of a ‘dictatorship of aid’ which consumed all of the money without actually solving anything. All the charities involved in the relief effort only offered temporary solutions, arguably to ensure they continued to exist and receive funding instead of actually solving the problem they were created for.

Image result for fatal assistance

Conclusion

The result is a pretty negative view of the IHRC and Haitian recovery effort. Whilst the documentary doesn’t outwardly point fingers, it’s quite clear who Peck thinks is to blame. It’s worth watching to debate the effectiveness of relief charities (see GiveWell for a one solution) and for a quick lowdown on Haiti in the 2000s.

 

Made in Bangladesh

Made in Bangladesh Film Difficulty Ranking: 2

Why Watch Made in Bangladesh?

  • See Dhaka full of life
  • Fight for worker’s rights against exploitation
  • Choose marriage or work – either way the Patriarchy is unavoidable
From: Bangladesh, Asia
Watch: Trailer, Vimeo, IMDb
Next: American Factory, Salt of the Earth, I, Daniel Blake
Continue reading “Made in Bangladesh – Standing Up to Factory Owners”
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:

 

Epicentro Film Difficulty Ranking: 3

Why Watch Epicentro?

  • It’s an interesting outsider’s perspective of a forgotten country
  • To meet anti-imperialist and anti-colonialist locals
  • Watch a filmmaker unwittingly become part of the cycle of exploitation
From: Cuba, North America
Watch: Trailer, IMDb, Website
Next: The Project of the Century, I Am Cuba, Let it Burn
Continue reading “Epicentro – An Outsider’s Perspective of Cuba”