Green Realities ’One World’ program

Any movie that passes through the light of a projector onto a big screen in front of an audience deserves to be talked about. Or else it is no different than propaganda. This is no less true for documentaries that, by their nature, are often made for non-commercial, humanitarian reasons on which the people involved (often the work of one person) spent years to create. Moreover, earlier documentary features in ADFF had a world-will-end-tomorrow appeal to them which gives me a lets-live-for-today feeling. So for the sake of ’Our World’, I mustered enough courage to say “yes” to the assignment. I did not regret it.

I was pleasantly surprised at the production values of all the documentaries. Except for The City Dark, by Ian Cheney, which had an amateur feel to it, these non-fiction features, from their sweeping airborne shots of mountains, jungles and cities to the close-up interviews, plus the slick editing and use of graphics to state the facts, were wonderful. Documentaries don’t generally look good on big screens. But these did. The City Dark was shot by amateur astronomer, which explains his lack of interest in everything that was not the night sky. But the uncommon subject of light pollution had its own unique appeal. The story was also enhanced by the lavish use of animation. The narrative felt slow at times and lacked depth at certain points.

If a Tree Falls: a Story of the Earth Liberation Front (commonly known as ELF) gives an idea behind the workings of an environmental organization which practices a different kind of non-violent protest. Non-violence is described in the ELF dictionary quite liberally. It simply means that no humans are harmed in the process. The leader of the group, Daniel McGowan, decides to hurt the corporations involved in the timber trade by destroying their factories and offices. The story moves better at a personal level, when the narrative is treated as a crime film and at the centre is the leader of the movement, Daniel, who is the chief perpetrator and ultimately a victim.

The Last Mountain is a typical environmental documentary, where a group of little people stand up to the wealth-hungry corporate types at the US mining industry. I liked it for the mountain-shaped narrative. The protest in Coal River Valley is the apex of the documentary while the global relevance of it is also explained in general terms: how a protest by a handful of land owners in one part of the world has an impact on the other side.

The best of the lot was the last documentary I watched: Project Nim. I felt that fifteen minutes through the opening sequences will tell me enough to write something about the movie. It did but I couldn’t stop watching. The film was much too fascinating. The plot was mesmerizing and disturbing at the same time. It connects with the viewer at a different level. Even if you are not a hardcore member of RSPCA, the UK animal welfare charity, you cannot help but be moved by antics of the baby chimpanzee, who was brought up by humans and taught sign language.

The liberal use of music in most of these films was unnecessary. It makes the films much more pleasant to watch but the shot of a person crying, when accompanied by a violin quartet, affects the audience differently. Music can bring emotions that are not always evident in the narrative and makes it highly unnatural.

The documentaries in ’Our World’ question your role as a global citizen. Stable and prosperous nations in this part of the world are in a position where they can choose a safer and cleaner future. Development does not have to be about following in the footsteps of the World War winners. If they jump into a pit, hopefully there will be a few who stop before it is too late.

by Ziad Abdul Samad