From: Cuba, North America Watch: Trailer, IMDb, Website Next: The Project of the Century, I Am Cuba, Let it BurnContinue reading “Epicentro – An Outsider’s Perspective of Cuba”
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.
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:
Though the amazing shots and interviews we get in North Korea we can make our own judgements.
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.
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.
Between Fences Film Difficulty Ranking: 3
One of the best ways to understand someone else is to walk in their shoes. So, put yourself in the shoes of an African refugee for an hour and a half and watch Between Fences. You will learn about why some people are fleeing war and dictatorships in Africa. You will also learn how refugees are treated in other countries. Then debate whether we can do more to help others across the world.
Between Fences starts with a man drawing on a wall full of graffiti. He draws a long snake across the wall. He is one of the many asylum seekers from Africa (mostly Eritrea and Sudan) that has ended up in Israel.
These refugees are all held/imprisoned at a detention centre in the Negev desert near the Egyptian border. They are not allowed to leave sight of the HOLOT detention centre. They are not allowed to go to any Israeli city to live a normal life as they are considered ‘dangerous.’ Even though Israel is a member of the UN and are required to accept refugees, the refugees were told that the human rights are “just on paper” and the UN membership is just “for the photo op”. There is clearly something wrong with their treatment.
The film-makers encourage the imprisoned African refugees to act out their history for some relief from the boredom of life in HOLOT. The refugees act out how the war and dictatorships they are fleeing from at home. They also act out their experiences with border enforcement and life in Israel. Interestingly, the directors also get some Israelis in to act with the refugees. In these parts the Israelis play the refugees and the refugees play the Israeli guards. It allows both groups to put themselves in each others shoes.
Between Fences provides a unique insight into the lives of the African refugees held at detention centres in the Israeli desert. The acting gives the prisoners short breaks from their dull life in the detention centres and allows us to see how they have been treated in Africa and Israel. A great film to watch for a better understanding of refugees by putting us into a refugees shoes.
Who said you can’t learn from film? Show them this documentary, and I guarantee you’ll know more about Iran by the time the credits appear.
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