The Invisible War Introduction

This is just a rough introduction of what I am trying to aim for.
     Kirby Dick’s revealing documentary The Invisible War emotionally exposes serious moral and political injustices that have constituted the United States military judicial system since women were allowed in uniform. Since the beginning of the war in Afghanistan and Iraq, U.S. servicewomen, more than ever before, have become subjects of sexual brutality and victims of violent rape crimes by fellow soldiers; their male comrades have become the enemy. Premiering at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, The Invisible War gained top viewer recognition and won the Audience Award for Documentary.
     Film scholar Bill Nichols suggests that in documentary film, one such as The Invisible War, how the logic and perspective is conveyed defines its voice (p. 69). The voice of The Invisible War takes on the logic and perspective of needing to establish and maintain equal constitutional rights for both male and female beings in the military justice system. The voice Dick portrays is insightful and infuriating. Through the display of textual facts from government surveys about the growing rape attacks in the military, and through personal stories from victims who suffered rape or sexual assault while serving in the armed forces via interviews, Dick’s voice for this film aims to strictly appeal to audiences’ emotions. It is through the editing choices of the recorded interviews where Dick subjectively emphasizes the seriousness of the violent crime by focusing solely on the emotional, psychological and spiritual breakdown of the rape victims and their families as they struggle for justice in this rape epidemic.
     Dick seems successful with achieving his goal to inform. However, as he informs through personal stories and professional interviews, he also reveals the deeper, darker and core problem to this heavy issue. Comments quickly mentioned in the film about how rapists “are serious criminals” and rapists “stalk their prey,” implies a mold that a rapist fit—and therefore involves complex psychological and personal history issues of the perpetrator—which is completely ignored in the voice. There is no direct definition given of the term “rape” in the film, and there is no mention of rape being a violent crime solely for power and control of another. Interviews conducted outside of the film itself as well as the film’s production notes and other written statements reveal a much deeper issue of the misogyny and traditional military culture—or male domination and control—however, that is exactly why there is a military rape epidemic.

Steven Broadbent: Intro Paragraph

 As documentary film has expanded over the last fifty years into a major genre of filmmaking it has come under increasing ethical scrutiny. The treatment of its subjects, the integrity of the footage used, the conditions under which the footage is captured, and the final edit and representation it constructs have all been called into question. And rightly so, because the documentary form makes different claims upon the viewer and social world than do most fiction films. As film scholar Bill Nichols asserts, "[d]ocumentary film speaks about situations and events involving real people (social actors) who present themselves to us as themselves in stories that convey a plausible proposal about, or perspective on, the lives, situations, and events portrayed" (Nichols 14). Audiences expect documentary film to frame the real world in terms of real people and events. The camera is not an unobtrusive glimpse into scripted narrative, but an obtrusive and often forced perspective embedded in an historical time and place. As such the perspective of documentary offers the audience a take on reality. The documentary is not a perspective from nowhere in particular. It is a concrete perspective from real people, the filmmakers. It is in accordance with this line of reasoning that I propose that filmmakers ought to be held accountable for the conclusions they draw. After all, the conclusions offered stem from the representations they have created. In this essay I look at five documentary films analyzing the proposed solutions of each. I pay particular attention to The Law In These Parts (Alexandrowicz, 2012) and the way this film is able to escape the usual pitfalls of inadequate solutions. This analysis focuses on the efficacy of such solutions and argues that if documentary filmmakers are going to offer solutions in their films they ought to be held accountable for them.

The Law In These Parts: Summary

The Law In These Parts (Alexandrowicz, 2012) is a documentary film focusing on the legal system used to sustain the Isreali occupation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The film deals specifically with the legal system and its role in legitimizing the occupation for the last 45 years. As the filmmakers themselves see their project it seeks to ask, "can a modern democracy impose a prolonged military occupation on another people while retaining its core democratic values?" (thelawfilm.com). Through a series of interviews with retired high ranking Israeli officials and voice over archive footage the documentary seeks to unravel that question. Ra'anan Alexandrowicz- the director- does the voice over narration though we never see the director for certain in the film (Press nybooks.com). 

The film begins with the construction of the set: a chair and pulpit like desk set against a green screen. As critic Robert Koeheler remarks, "[t]he judges and attorneys often turn to watch the footage being simultaneously seen by the doc[umentaries]s aud[ience], resulting in a postmodern approach that invites the viewer into the director's inquiry" (Koehler, Variety). The film continually draws into question the conventions of filmmaking and the violence of interviews resulting in a fascinating participatory-reflexive mode. At the end of the film Alexandrowicz even calls into question his own participation as a filmmaker and draws attention to the fact that when his camera shuts off, the problem will persist.

The film also adopts what film scholar Bill Nichols categorizes as a "historical non-fiction model" (Nichols 150). The Law In These Parts begins the historical narrative in 1947 with the Israeli state- though no state of Israel yet existed- sponsored "cultural tours" of the West Bank and Gaza region. These cultural tours included semi-automatic weapons and armed escorts. The film is austerely divided into five parts that seemingly mirror the historical acquisition of land by Israel. From the cultural tours the films traverses the historical landscape through the initial occupation to the Six-Years-War in 1967, up until today. The whole time subjecting the interviewees to questions about the development of the law that coincided with the historical conjunctures. 

In a dramatic sequence of final thoughts from the interviewees the filmmakers demonstrate the influential power of evidentiary editing. The crucial questions of the violence done to Palestinian detainees and the legitimacy of the "privisonal" legislation are edited together in a whirlwind of self condemnation on the part of the judges, lawyers and legal advisors. In effect the subjects of the film pass the final verdict on their actions. However, the film ends, as noted above, not with a plan of action and a number to text to change the world, but with a closing voice over from Alexandrowicz. He references the documentary mode, challenging the conventions of pre scripted solutions by his failure to offer even an optimistic diagnosis of the problems. The audience is left with the final verdict of the Palestinian-Isreali conflict in their newly informed (and probably overwhelmed) hands. 

The Law In These Parts Official website: www.thelawfilm.com/eng

Press, Eyal. How The Occupation Became Legal. The New York Review of Books. Jan. 25, 2012.
http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2012/jan/25/how-occupation-became-legal/

Koehler, Robert. The Law In These Parts. Variety Reviews. Jan,.29, 2012.
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117946961/

Nichols, Bill. Introduction to Documentary 2nd Ed. Indiana: Indiana University Press, 2010.

Alexandrowicz, Ra'anan. The Justice Of Occupation. New York Times Op-Docs. Jan. 24, 2012.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/25/opinion/the-justice-of-occupation.html?_r=1

Goldberg, Matt. Sundance 2012: The Law In These Parts review. collider.com. Jan. 24, 2012.
http://collider.com/sundance-2012-the-law-in-these-parts-review/140253/#more-140253

Technical difficulties!

Sorry about my posts guys, I cannot figure this damn blog out for the life of me! I am technologically impaired.

Finding North

Finding North (2012) was directed by Kristi Jacobson and Lori Silverbush. Silverbush’s husband, celebrity chef Tom Colicchio, served as the film’s executive-producer, along with Jeff Skoll and Diane Weyermann. Jacobson is a celebrated documentary filmmaker. Her previous projects include Toots (2006) and American Standoff (2002). Silverbush has prior experience in scripted movies; having written produced and directed On the Outs (2004) (IMDB). Colicchio frequently appears as a judge on the reality-television program Top Chef, as well as owning several high-end gourmet restaurants (craftrestaurantsinc.com). Silverbush first witnessed the harsh realities of hunger in America while mentoring a young girl in New York. The girl was struggling in school despite being clearly intelligent. Trying to help, Silverbush had the girl moved to a private school, which ended up making things worse. The new school did not offer free lunches to its students, so the girl had to resort to digging through the trash in order to find food (Kung).

The title Finding North is meant to imply that by neglecting its poor and hungry, America has lost its moral compass. It covers a wide variety of topics. The film touches on government-subsidized farming and its effect on food prices. It deals with school lunch programs and the government’s (lack of) funding for them. It addresses the consequences of a diet made up mostly of empty calories and the lack of healthy food available in urban areas and other “food deserts”. The film’s primary conclusion seems to be that more tax money needs to be spent on welfare programs that counteract hunger. We need more money for student lunches, more money for food stamps, more money for soup kitchens and food banks. The audience is encouraged to send off a text message at the end of the film to show support for the cause.

Finding North documents the struggles of three primary subjects. The first is Barbie Izquierdo, who is a single mother living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Unemployed and receiving food stamps, Barbie struggles to feed her two children. Having been raised on cheap processed food, Barbie has vowed to give her kids only nutritious things to eat. To shop at a fully stocked grocery store, which sells fruit and vegetables, Barbie spends over three hours on the bus. After months of searching, Barbie finally finds a job, only to learn she now makes too much money to qualify for food stamps. With the added cost of child-care, Barbie discovers she can best provide for her children by remaining unemployed.

The second subject is Rosie, a struggling fifth-grader living in Colbren, Colorado. Rosie lives at her Grandparent’s house with her mother, Trish. The family does not qualify for food stamps. Rosie has a difficult time paying attention in school and is frequently behind in her homework. Rosie’s family receives food from a food bank run by the local church. The church provides a hot meal for over 80 local people every week. Rosie complains that she often goes to bed hungry, while listening to the sound of her stomach growling.

The third subject is Tremonica, a second-grader from Mississippi, who suffers from health problems caused by her poor diet. Her mother, Kimberly, feeds Tremonica a steady supply of cookies, chips and soda. Kimberly claims she would purchase more fruits and vegetables if they were in her price range. The nearest fully stocked grocery store is a 45-minute drive away, making healthy food even more unaffordable. Their home, the Mississippi Delta area, has the highest rate of hungry people in the country; it also has the highest rate of obesity.

Finding North combines several different documentary modes as defined by Bill Nichols. It most closely fits the definition of an expository mode documentary. Through use of voice-over and presentations of graphs and figures, it “emphasizes verbal commentary and argumentative logic” (Nichols, 31). The other documentary elements included in the film seem to be used primarily to reinforce its argumentative logic. Several interviews with the film’s subjects are shown, causing the film to qualify for the participatory mode of documentaries. There is also footage of the subjects going about their day-to-day lives. This footage shows “direct engagement with everyday life of subjects as observed by an unobtrusive camera” (Nichols, 31) which is the definition of an observational documentary. Since the filmmaker’s main goal seems to be presenting argumentative logic to convert the audience to their point of view, the film is an expository documentary overall.

Most documentary films use more then one mode (Nichols, 32). The combination of elements used here seems to work for Finding North. Simply presenting facts and data about food-insecure people would have been dull. Putting a face on the problem of hunger by including the film’s three primary subjects helps humanize the issue. Audience members are able to witness firsthand how hunger can damage lives. The choice of subjects was important, and the filmmakers found three very sympathetic, lovable individuals to help win over the audience. The participatory and observational portions of the film are essential to the overall success of the feature, yet they are not without their flaws.

Much of the observational footage included in the film appears to have been somewhat staged by the filmmakers. Likewise, the filmmakers seem to be leading the subjects with the questions they ask them during the interviews. They likely do this in order to drive home the points they want to make with their film. It is relatively common to find this sort of footage in documentary films. As far back as Nanook of the North (Flaherty, 1922) with its staged scenes of Inuits hunting walruses, and its fake western-style family structures (Rothman, 24), documentary filmmakers have been manipulating the reality presented in their films for years. The tradition of offering a somewhat unfaithful view of reality is carried on with Finding North.

Works cited

Finding North. Dir. Kristi Jacobson, Lori Silverbush. Independent, 2012. Film.

"Filography of Kristi Jacobson." IMDB.com. Amazon Co. 2012.Web.

"Filmography of Lori Silverbush." IMDB.com. Amazon Co. 2012. Web.

Nichols, Bill. Introduction to Documentary. Indiana University Press,2010. Print

Kung, Michelle. 'Finding North' Shines Spotlight on Food Insecurity. The Wall Street Journal. Jan 01, 2012. Web.

Rothman, William. The Filmmaker as Hunter. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1998. Print.

"Tom Colicchio Chef/Owner." Craftrestaurantsinc.com. Wichcraft Inc. 2012. Web.

Leni Riefenstahl… finally

Sorry for getting this up so late guys, but I could not figure out how to do an attachment (only links) or I would have posted my powerpoint. Regardless here is a sketch of my presentation:


     Leni Riefenstahl is one of film makings most controversial figures. Love or hate her, however, her enormous talent in front of and behind the camera cannot be denied. Riefenstahl began her long career in film as an actor. She starred in a several German "mountain films" by famed director Arnold Fanck such as The Holy Mountain (1926), The White Hell of Pitz Palu (1930), Storm Over Mount Blanc (1932), and S.O.S Iceberg (1933) (IMBd http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0726166/filmoyear). It was during the making of these outdoor adventure films, Riefenstahl recalls in the The Wonderful Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl (Muller, 2003), that would develop a love and fascination with nature that would affect so much of her later work . In fact Riefenstahl wrote, directed and starred in her own mountain film The Blue Light (1932) which she claimed Adolf Hitler greatly admired (Riefenstahl 102). 


Yet it was Riefenstahl's two documentaries that would elevate her to international and historical fame and controversy. The first of these films, The Triumph of the Will (1935) is considered by many to be the greatest propaganda film ever made (Bach 148). Riefenstahl had an unlimited budget for the film and was involved in the planning and staging of the Congress (Sontag 3). These factors led to the exquisitely orchestrated feel of the congress' proceeding and create the overall triumphant feel of the film. Triumph of the Will portrays the 6th Reich Party Congress of the National Socialist Party in Nuremberg, Germany. The film begins with a series of textual passages that recall Germany's fall from power after World War I and situate the Nuremberg Party Congress as the historical retrieval of German dignity. I analyzedTriumph of the Will using the four categories of meaning offered by David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson in Film Art: An Introduction (Bordwell and Thompson 62-4): 


Referential Meaning:: Documentary film about the NSDAP's 6th Reich Party Congress in                     Nuremberg from September 4th until September 10th, 1934.
                 
Explicit Meaning: The Nazi Party had the support of the German people and are unified in their leader: Adolf Hitler.
                
 Implicit Meaning: Germany is a strong unified country that is capable of military action on a world scale. They have the best blood coursing through their veins and the best leaders commanding the greatest people. They can do anything they imagine, they are entitled to do anything they imagine… and they will.
                
 Symptomatic Meaning: what film scholar Bill Nichols terms a “problem/solution paradigm” (Nichols 22). Problem: national humiliation and economic collapse of Germany following Article 251 “the German Guilt Clause.”Solution: Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party.


As film scholar Patricia Aufderheide notes, the film centers on a continual conflation of Hitler with the nation through his poignant speeches and masses of cheering Germans (Aufderheide 68). The typical fascist themes of strength, obedience, loyalty, courage, unity, struggle and sacrifice are woven throughout Hitlers speeches and repetitiously suggested by Riefenstahl's cinematography. When stressing obedience, courage, loyalty and struggle, the camera scans the faces of the crowds in attendance. When Hitler evokes notions of unity the camera pans out to frame the large crowds in their abstract unity. In addition to these themes an underlying suspicion of silence on matters of education and intellectual activities reinforces the anti-intellectualism typical of fascist regimes. Critic Susan Sontag recognizes these basic fascist themes would extend throughout her work, both photography and film (Sontag 5).


Her second documentary film Olympia (1938) documented the Berlin Olympic Games of 1936. In this work Riefenstahl focuses on the aesthetic dimensions of the human body, again returning to her fascination with strength, struggle, sacrifice and idealized beauty (Sontag 3-6).


After the de-nazification trials of 1946 Riefenstahl was ostracized from the world of cinema and turned her artistic eye to photographing indigenous peoples in Africa (Sontag 3-4). Though she move to a different medium and chose a different topic for her lens, Riefenstahl courted controversy and criticism to her death in 2003.


Links to Triumph of the Will: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHs2coAzLJ8


Bibliography


Aufderheide, Patricia. A Very Short Introduction: Documentary Film. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007


Nichols, Bill. Introduction to Documentary. Indiana: Indiana University Press 2nd Ed. 2010


Bordwell, David and Kristen Thompson. Film Art: An Introduction 9th Ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2008


Sontag, Susan. Fascinating Fascism. The New York Review of Books. Feb 6th, 1975


Riefenstahl, Leni. A Memoir. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992


Bach, Steven. Leni: The Life And Works Of Leni Riefenstahl. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2007