Tag: War
-
For Sama.
Reviewing documentaries is a very different beast to reviewing fiction. There are different considerations to be taken when attempting to weigh up the positive and negative qualities of a documentary film. Attempting to review For Sama is a whole separate challenge. Where to start with this compelling, horrifying, masterful movie? Director Waad Al-Kateab filmed many…
-
Ethel & Ernest.
The cinematic adaptation of Raymond Briggs’ graphic novel, Ethel & Ernest tells the story of the artist’s parents – their marriage, their lives, their triumphs and tragedies. It opens with a brief interview with Briggs where he briefly describes how he remembers his parents and their relatively undramatic relationship. What follows is the tale of…
-
Son of Saul.
In the hell of the Holocaust, Saul Ausländer is working as a member of the Sonderkommando. Forced to burn the bodies of other prisoners following their hideous murders in the gas chambers of Auschwitz, Saul sees a dead boy that he believes to be his son. He becomes instantly determined to save the boy’s body…
-
What Our Fathers Did: My Nazi Legacy.
Human Rights Lawyer Philippe Sands spends his days fighting for justice in courts of law. Directed by David Evans, What Our Fathers Did documents his journey across Europe to different places which hold historical significance for their roles in the extermination of 6 million Jews during The Holocaust and World War Two. Philippe lost all…
-
Cartel Land.
Danger and documentary have always gone hand in hand. The great masters of the genre have always strived to put their art before their safety. Matthew Heineman takes risk to a new level in Cartel Land, proving himself to be made of the same courageous steel that’s present within the likes of Werner Herzog. A…
-
American Sniper.
Clint Eastwood’s latest war-hero biopic preaches to us in its opening minutes that there are three different kinds of people in the world; sheep, wolves and sheepdogs. This concept of there being only the weak, the evil and the saviours remains American Sniper‘s biggest restraint for its remaining 130 minutes. Chris Kyle, the real life…
-
Fury.
War is ghastly. We already know this but Fury is determined to drive the message home. Its grizzly depiction of life for American soldiers fighting in Nazi controlled Germany in 1945 reaffirms the horror of war and the unfathomable trauma it leaves on those “lucky” enough to survive it. Fury continues to portray the violence and…
-
Virunga.
Documentaries don’t get rawer than Virunga. This is a real story of corruption, greed, death and determination. Amidst tensions over the country’s oil resources as well as a bloody civil war, we meet a select few, determined to protect Congo’s national park known as Virunga. We also encounter some of the last surviving mountain gorillas and those…
-
Little Dieter Needs To Fly.
Since the German New Wave movement, that brought directors such as Wim Wenders and Rainer Werner Fassbinder to the world’s attention, Werner Herzog has excelled as a contemporary film-maker. Known for his physically ambitious approaches to film, Herzog has repeatedly left his own philosophical mark upon his cinematic work. His documentary work has always interested me in…
-
Nightmares from the Lens.
As my passion for film grows, I sometimes forget that my first love was still photography. Photographers who explore truth and realism fascinated me the most. Some photographers, such as Martin Parr, amused me through the comedy they provoked through their photographs. Others moved me. Three years ago I went to see the Don McCullin…
Hannah McHaffie 