3000 miles from Hot Docs
The Bloor CinemaWell, closer to 3300 really.
Continuing my coverage of HotDocs 2008, despite the fact that I'm back home and the festival's finished, here's a few more I saw.
STRANDED, I'VE COME FROM A PLANE THAT CRASHED IN THE MOUNTAINS might be an ordeal as far as titles go, but it's not half as much of an ordeal as the events it portrays. You've probably heard of the famous story of the Uruguayan rugby team that crashed en route to a game in the mountains and how the survivors eventually resorted to cannibalism to survive. It was made into a Hollywood movie which I've never bothered to watch.
I probably never will bother now either, as I'm not sure there's a need after seeing this stunning film. Gonzalo Arijon has gathered all the survivors who relate the full story of what happened and how they survived, including a trip to revisit the site and a touching finale in which they finally play the game they were going to play all those years ago. It's terrifying and yet inspiring, in a morbid kind of way, and cannot fail to affect you. And like so many good documentaries (or films in general) it will leave you to think. Just what would you be prepared to do to survive?
AT THE DEATH HOUSE DOOR tells of a death row chaplain who has no doubts about the job he is doing until the day he finally has to stand over the execution of a man he firmly believes to be innocent. That's the emotional side, with the more clinical aspect being provided by journalists investigating the potential miscarriage of justice.
The film has a lot to say about the death penalty and, while it does come down on one side of the argument, it's never less than fair. At the same time however it's also as much about the effect that execution has on everyone involved as it is about whether it's right or not. While not necessarily my number one film of the festival, it does have the feel of potential Oscar nomination material.
STALAGS: HOLOCAUST AND PORNOGRAPHY IN ISRAEL sounds a lot more exciting than it is. Back in the sixties, a range of sleazy exploitation books appeared in Israel that claimed to be written by American soldiers as accounts of their times in Nazi prison camps, and usually involved hideous torture, gruesome violence and beautiful female Nazis using the US soldiers to satisfy their needs. Think of them as a print predecessor of the seventies and eighties "nazisploitation" films like ILSA and so on.
Truthfully, it is actually interesting to start with, as it reveals that these works were the result of Jewish authors hiding behind pseudonyms, but as it starts to examine the effect of these books on our impression of the holocaust it totally loses its way.
It still never becomes as dull as the short film that was billed alongside it though. KREDENS follows a young man searching for a long-lost item of furniture that once belonged to his grandfather. It's dull, it feels staged and even at less than half an hour it outstays its welcome.
Hotdocs coverage will be continued shortly.
Continuing my coverage of HotDocs 2008, despite the fact that I'm back home and the festival's finished, here's a few more I saw.
STRANDED, I'VE COME FROM A PLANE THAT CRASHED IN THE MOUNTAINS might be an ordeal as far as titles go, but it's not half as much of an ordeal as the events it portrays. You've probably heard of the famous story of the Uruguayan rugby team that crashed en route to a game in the mountains and how the survivors eventually resorted to cannibalism to survive. It was made into a Hollywood movie which I've never bothered to watch.
I probably never will bother now either, as I'm not sure there's a need after seeing this stunning film. Gonzalo Arijon has gathered all the survivors who relate the full story of what happened and how they survived, including a trip to revisit the site and a touching finale in which they finally play the game they were going to play all those years ago. It's terrifying and yet inspiring, in a morbid kind of way, and cannot fail to affect you. And like so many good documentaries (or films in general) it will leave you to think. Just what would you be prepared to do to survive?
AT THE DEATH HOUSE DOOR tells of a death row chaplain who has no doubts about the job he is doing until the day he finally has to stand over the execution of a man he firmly believes to be innocent. That's the emotional side, with the more clinical aspect being provided by journalists investigating the potential miscarriage of justice.
The film has a lot to say about the death penalty and, while it does come down on one side of the argument, it's never less than fair. At the same time however it's also as much about the effect that execution has on everyone involved as it is about whether it's right or not. While not necessarily my number one film of the festival, it does have the feel of potential Oscar nomination material.
STALAGS: HOLOCAUST AND PORNOGRAPHY IN ISRAEL sounds a lot more exciting than it is. Back in the sixties, a range of sleazy exploitation books appeared in Israel that claimed to be written by American soldiers as accounts of their times in Nazi prison camps, and usually involved hideous torture, gruesome violence and beautiful female Nazis using the US soldiers to satisfy their needs. Think of them as a print predecessor of the seventies and eighties "nazisploitation" films like ILSA and so on.
Truthfully, it is actually interesting to start with, as it reveals that these works were the result of Jewish authors hiding behind pseudonyms, but as it starts to examine the effect of these books on our impression of the holocaust it totally loses its way.
It still never becomes as dull as the short film that was billed alongside it though. KREDENS follows a young man searching for a long-lost item of furniture that once belonged to his grandfather. It's dull, it feels staged and even at less than half an hour it outstays its welcome.
Hotdocs coverage will be continued shortly.
Labels: documentaries, hot docs, toronto
posted by Alan at 6:28 pm
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