A Touch of Zen is one of the most inventive martial arts films you’ll see. It combines a bunch of genres, including the historic Samurai films of Japan, haunted house horror, and the classic hero’s journey adventure films. Plus it adds it’s own styles have been hugely influential on later martial arts films. There’s plenty of epic widescreen landscape shots, bouncing characters (that you’ll also see most noticeably in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), and innovative editing to create some stunning CGI-free action sequences. On top of that, it focuses on a powerful female fugitive and an unstoppable Buddhist monk. It’s all shot from the perspective of a regular guy like us to bring us into the action. It’s one of the best wuxia films you’ll see.
If you love documentaries that stray into the fictional or very real docu-dramas, you’re in for a treat. Honeyland is one step up: it’s a docu-epic. It follows a middle-aged bee keeper in rural North Macedonia living on her own with her frail grandmother. Their survival is delicately in the balance when a large family join them looking for a better life. It’s a tale of modernity vs. tradition, and greed vs. modernity: a real showdown for the ages. Plus it’s shot beautifully.
What were you doing on your sixteenth birthday? Hopefully something better than Liam. Sweet Sixteen came out three years before MTV’s My Super Sweet Sixteen and shows a semi-orphaned teenager waiting for his mum to get released from prison. It’s another brilliantly bleak depiction of working class youth in the U.K. from Ken Loach and a perfect reality check to the super rich spoiled kids which took over MTV screens a few years later.
This documentary film is on another level. You’ll rarely get this close to a life completely different to the one you’re used to. Not just because you probably have no idea about the lives of charcoal miners in DR Congo, but because you rarely get films that are this intimate. There are so many close ups and shots where Kabwita’s emotion is so clearly visible that you’ll feel like you’re there right beside him. The only problem is that you’ll feel even worse for not being able to help him up those hills.
Why Watch Makala?
Find out how to make a living in rural Democratic Republic of Congo
The incredible cinematography! (detail below)
Learn how to make charcoal
It’s an excellent documentary – it won Critic’s Week at the Cannes Film Festival 2017
The Breakdown
Makala starts with Kabwita (our protagonist). The camera follows him through the bush. He’s carrying two axes on his shoulders. He’s looking for a good tree. After a minute or so, the perfect tree appears near the top of the shrub covered hill. After a quick prayer, Kabwita starts cutting down the tree.
Makala covers the whole process of making a living from charcoal. You’ll see Kabwita make the product (charcoal), transport it, and sell it. This is how he manages to live.
What’s amazing about the film is how intimate it is. The director, Emmanuel Gras, found Kabwita whilst working on his previous documentary (also set in DRC). Kabwita agreed to the film in return for help building the home he mentions in the film. This is how the director manages to get so many close-up shots of Kabwita documenting his trials and tribulations.
Because of the connection the close-ups establish between us (the audience) and Kabwita, there are many times when we want to reach out and help him. We can feel his struggle pushing the charcoal logs up hills and also his frustration when a lorry crashes into his livelihood. Of course, the director could help, but to do so would be to take away from our experience. It’s the director’s responsibility to direct the life of the charcoal maker. It’s our responsibility (the viewers) to be enlightened and be inspired to make a change.
Conclusion
Makala is a beautiful film. The cinematography at times is almost unbelievably real. A lot of the shots are so intimate and close that you’d be forgiven for forgetting that this is a documentary. We are so used to seeing unrealistic intimate shots in Hollywood films (close-ups of people kissing that you’d never see in real life) but this kind of intimacy is unusual in Documentary film. In Makala you get to experiencethe life of the charcoal maker, not just witness it.
Imagine a German nightclub blasting techno music. Imagine a German nightclub blasting techno music whilst drinking Red Bull. Imagine a German nightclub blasting techno music whilst drinking Red Bull and dancing the running man. You’re now getting close to the adrenaline rush of Run Lola Run.
Imagine a German nightclub blasting techno music. Imagine a German nightclub blasting techno music whilst drinking Red Bull. Imagine a German nightclub blasting techno music whilst drinking Red Bull and dancing the running man. You’re now getting close to the adrenaline rush of Run Lola Run.
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