We Feed The World

Είδος: Ντοκυμαντέρ
Γλώσσα: Γερμανικά
Υπότιτλοι: Αγγλικά, ΕΝ
Χρονολογία: 2005 , D
Σκηνοθεσία: Erwin Wagenhofer
Διάρκεια: 96'

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0478324/

Bus 174

Είδος: Ντοκυμαντέρ
Γλώσσα: Portoguese
Υπότιτλοι: English
Χρονολογία: 2003 , Brazil
Σκηνοθεσία: José Padilha Felipe Lacerda (co-director)
Διάρκεια: 119'


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0340468/

Author: noimagination from London, UK

One of those moments when you realise that you know nothing about the roots of another culture or society. And when you start learning, the pits of your stomach heave and your heart collapses at the deplorable and impossibly harsh reality of other people's lives.

Onibus 174 is the piecing together of an event that took place in 2000 in Rio de Janeiro, where a gunman took a busload of passengers hostage. The whole event was televised live to the nation, and this documentary film uses this footage, along with interviews with survivors, friends and relatives of the gunman, to document the implications of a society that treats its poor with a disdain not even reserved for deformed animals.

I can honestly say I have never sat through a film that was as difficult to watch as this. Throughout most of it my stomach clenched with anxiety, pity, misery and sadness. I cried at the plight of the street kids. I cried at the description of the child seeing his mother being stabbed 3 times and crawling about with a kitchen knife sticking out of her shoulder until she died in front of him. I cried at the last moments of the hijacking. And I cried at the reaction of the baying, blood-thirsty crowd of on-lookers at the end. And all this from live images. As it happened. The crude, devastating vicissitudes of a society wracked with poverty and hardship.

I have no idea why this film affected me so profoundly, but there's no doubt that is was largely to do with witnessing the real effects of social meltdown. The street kids are merely trying to gather together the semblance of an existence. Suddenly the thefts and muggings became understandable; I could be swayed to be not just sympathetic towards, but defensive of their crime, such is the extent of their horrendous degradation. And this is the result of rendering them invisible.

A film that's devastating, enlightening and enfuriating in equal parts. It has to be watched, but beware that it'll make you all too aware of your own impotence.

My Brother Tom

Είδος: Ταινία
Γλώσσα: English
Υπότιτλοι: -
Χρονολογία: 2001 , UΚ
Σκηνοθεσία: Dom Rotheroe
Διάρκεια: 111'

Our Daily Bread / Unser täglich Brot

Είδος: Ντοκυμαντέρ
Γλώσσα: Γερμανικά
Υπότιτλοι: Ελληνικά
Χρονολογία: 2005 , D/AU
Σκηνοθεσία: Nikolaus Geyrhalter
Διάρκεια: 92'



not such an "artistic" documentary, 3 December 2006

Author: thisidhasalreadybeen from United States
if by artistic you mean concerned only with aesthetics, and beautiful camera work, and gorgeous film, and incredible color. i gotta take issue with saying that the documentary was cold and dispassionate and too concerned with art for art's sake. i would have to say not by the longest long shot. because....because the movie was equally as much about the people producing the food as it was about the production. and thats where much of the heart of the whole movie lies---you just don't notice it right away because there is no sound track, or you don't hear or understand the conversation between people. the isolation of the producers one from each other, for instance. the silence that they work in. those big ear muffs they wear. the deafening noise. the isolating self0-conscousness of being on camera, the movie maker implicating himself. (i definitely saw that a couple of times.) look at that first shot of the woman eating by herself with the mangled finger. an UNBELIEVABLY compassionate image. describing close to the entire world in thirty seconds. Or the next woman, taking her smoking break.

the voicelessness is about isolation. the workers, the animals, the act of filming. the "dumbness" of animals--their inability to speak--and that of the workers on many occasions--is what maybe the movie is all about. (and so the wordless narration is maybe an act of empathy with the animals?? I dunno for sure, but i could make a good argument i was going to write a paper.

and what about the shoeless guy in "The Dominator"?

AND... did notice how, when the ethnic workers are introduced, as opposed to the white northern working classes of Europe, when the immigrant populations are shown at work, the movie slightly changes?? The first and only shot of people at home, and talking in a group, and cooking at home (rice), are Africans. Refugees of wars, no doubt. For a long time in this film,m, I was wondering where the ethnic minorities who make up so much of Europes' working class had disappeared to. Suddenly, mid way, they show up. i don't think it's completely by accident. not completely. Then, later, the Arabic guys are shown taking there lunch break. they too, are eating and talking with each other. taking there break under a tree, close to the ground that they are harvesting from. these shots if anything rubbed me a little bit the wrong way, thinking a little bit of idealizing of the non-European "other" was going on. but the movie redeems itself on this front--or just proves me wrong--when we see a big table of white Europeans eating together. something is most definitely being said about tribalism, and about race, and consumption habits.

i could talk reams about how great this movie is--write a dissertation even like maybe Chris here--but that would totally ruin it. see the movie, its phenomenal. and disturbing..

OUR DAILY BREAD

The Coconut Revolution (Bougainville, Papua New Guinea)

Είδος: Ντοκυμαντέρ
Γλώσσα: English
Υπότιτλοι: Αγγλικά
Χρονολογία: 2000 , UΚ
Σκηνοθεσία: Dom Rotheroe
Διάρκεια: 50'

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0479000/

America, America

Είδος: Ταινία (Drama)
Γλώσσα: English
Υπότιτλοι: Ελληνικά
Χρονολογία: 1964 , USA
Σκηνοθεσία: Elia Kazan
Διάρκεια: 174'


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056825/

The story of the Weeping Camel

Είδος: Ντοκυμαντέρ
Γλώσσα: Μογγολικά
Υπότιτλοι: English
Χρονολογία: 2003 , D
Σκηνοθεσία: Byambasuren Davaa, Luigi Falorini
Διάρκεια: 87'

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0373861/