Soviet-made Cuban films don’t do half measures, they go all in. I am Cuba is no exception. The cinematography is more stylish than most films you’ll ever see and some of the shots are truly unforgettable. Add in Cuban history from the 1920s to the 1950s and you’ve got one truly epic film.
From: Cuba, North AmericaContinue reading “I am Cuba – A Soviet Made Masterpiece”
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Next: Lucia, Battle of Algiers, Battleship Potemkin
How much do you know about the Iraq War? You may know that it was a war between the U.S. and it’s allies and Iraq to overthrow Saddam Hussein and bring democracy. However, that’s just the account that you’ve probably been exposed to. Homeland is your chance to see the Iraqi perspective. Through the home footage of Abbas Fahdel’s family maybe your view of the war and it’s intentions may change.
You’ll join director Abbas Fahdel’s family in Iraq as soon as this film starts as if you’ve always been a part of his family. His nephew, Haidar, is watching a piece of state propaganda referring to Saddam Hussein as ‘our beloved leader.’
Outside of the short interruptions of unsubtle state propaganda on TV, life in Iraq is very familiar. Haidar and his friends are just like any other kids of their age, playing fun pretend war games and fooling around. Similarly, adult life goes on normally. People talk to their neighbours, go to the market to buy provisions, and spend a lot of time with their family.
However, their normal lives slowly disappear as the American invasion gets closer and closer. They all start preparing for war: stocking up provisions, preparing water pumps, and moving to the country in attempts to get out of the war zone. Then the war hits. You’ll then experience what it was like to live in the Iraq War. You’ll hear injustices, you’ll see cultural buildings ruthlessly bombed, and you’ll also witness the resilience of the Iraqi people.
Homeland: Iraq Year Zero is the film to watch to get a first-hand account of the Iraq War from the Iraqi perspective. You’ll get to experience how life was before the war and also how life changed when the war started.
It is less biased than you might expect because it is solely home footage rather than a more opinionated narrated documentary. But it’s a strong statement against war.
he shows his niece and nephews watching television one morning; a piece of state propaganda referring to Hussein as “Beloved Leader” soon gives way to a Looney Tune cartoon featuring Foghorn Leghorn.
If you want to get an idea of how life was in Germany after the Second World War, Europa is your film. It recreates the inevitably nightmarish environment in a country shrouded by the horrors it has committed. It’s inventive, creative, and amazingly dark.
From: Germany, EuropeContinue reading “Europa – Darkness in Post-War Germany”
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Next: Wings of Desire, Children of Men, Persona
Are you ready to watch an amazing visual recreation of the Holocaust? You will see it all from the point of view of Saul, a Jew forced to help in the Nazi death camps. The camera shoots the whole film with Saul’s head in close up. We see everything he does, as if we are controlling him in a video game. If you liked the long takes of Alfonso Cuaron’s Children of Men, or Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas, you will appreciate this film.
The film starts with a blurred image full of green vegetation. You can just about make out two people with their shirts off, digging a hole by a tree. A man approaches the camera and his head comes into focus. The camera sticks to him, always showing his head in close-up focus and everything happening around him out of focus. He herds people onto a train and into the Nazi Death camps where they are frantically stripped and sent to their deaths in the gas chambers.
The man who the camera has stuck to is Saul, a Sonder Kommando. The Sonder Kommando were strong men, usually Jewish, selected by the Nazis to clear the gas chambers. We see them clearing dead bodies, rifling for valuables in the dead’s clothes, and digging burial plots. They were effectively slaves for the Nazis. If they didn’t obey the Nazis, they were shot and replaced. However, like the prisoner in A Man Escaped, there is hope where there is life and always opportunity to rebel and escape.
The director, Lazlo Nemes, chooses to focus on one man, Saul, throughout the film. The camera stays glued to Saul’s face for the whole film. Our view is restricted by Saul’s movement – even the background is rarely in focus. It gives us a unique point of view which immerses us in the horrors of life in the Nazi death camps. However, the blurred background hides a lot of the gore and violence from clear view (even though we know what is happening). I believe the director leaves these blurred to show that Saul has become accustomed to the horror/violence. He knows it is there, but doesn’t want to see it any more, so he blurs it out of his memory.
As hinted at before, Saul blurs out the horror and violence of the Holocaust as he doesn’t want to see it. As a result, his perspective and life retreats into himself as he tries to leave reality. He makes it his duty to ceremonially bury a boy killed by the Nazis who is left for experimentation. He prioritises this over everything else (escape, rebellion, and protection).
“You have failed the living for the dead” – One of the Sonder Kommando to Saul.
Fragment 53 Film Difficulty Ranking: 3
War. What is it good for? Absolutely nothing.
However, you can learn a lot from this documentary about the Liberian Civil War. It features interviews with the people responsible for killing hundreds if not thousands of people. You’ll also get to hear from all sides in the conflict and what they did in the role and what they think of the murders they committed now that the conflict is over. If you can’t imagine a time in which eating a heart is normal, I recommend you check out this film to find out.
Fragment 53 starts with the sound of a trumpet, a sound connected to war memorial services. The sound of the trumpet sets the tone of this war documentary, a tone that both recognises those lost, but also questions the nature of war. Alongside the trumpet we are shown a montage of statues and statuettes. Each one of them is a deity of war from various human cultures. War has been around for millennia. Is it a part of humanity or something we can stop?
Before, and also between the interviews of the war generals, the film hints at the surreal. We are shown shots of people working at roadside stalls, a cloud of fruit bats stripping the leaves off of a tree, and hills covered in rain forest and mist. Why are these images included? They are included as they show time passing. These mundane images are just as natural as war is to mankind. Bats will always strip the leaves off of trees, mist will always collect in the hills, and people will always be making a living. These things, just like war, will also continue into the foreseeable future.
The director’s also manipulate the interviews with the warlords and generals. Each interviewee is given the same introduction text and are all shot in close-up. But look out for how the director leaves them after the interview is complete. The first interviewee is rather vague about his opinion of war so his interview finishes with a blurred and dark image of him getting up to leave. The second interviewee is consistent in his views of war and his role and therefore the director ends his interview with a clear head shot. This is just one of the ways a director can influence our perception of interviewees in documentaries!
Fragment 53 is an intriguing look into the nature of war. Is it something that is a part of humanity or can it be eliminated? Hear from seven warlords/generals from Liberia. Their answers offer an insight into both the Liberian war and humanity as a whole.
For more documentaries on the nature of war, check out The Look of Silence and also Little Dieter Needs to Fly.
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