SCREENINGS & MEANINGS
By Gerald Schmitz
Taking the measure of TIFF’s top documentaries
Perhaps taking a leaf from Sundance, this year’s Toronto film festival gave considerable prominence to cutting-edge documentary selections. Concurrently, there was also an expanded two-day TIFF Docs Conference that included a work-in-progress screening of Fight Like Children, Die Like Soldiers based on the eponymous Romeo Dallaire book. While waiting for its completion and release be sure to look for the extraordinary narrative feature Rebelle (War Witch) about a girl child soldier in the Congo, already a multiple award winner before playing at TIFF.
Speaking of awards, TIFF’s documentary “people’s choice” prize went to Artifact, which follows the bitter duelling lawsuits between rock band Thirty Seconds to Mars — whose lead singer is actor Jared Leto — and their record label Virgin/EMI. Frankly, I’d never heard of the band before. I didn’t see the film, read any buzz or hear anyone talking about it, unlike the strong contenders noted below. So it seemed a surprising choice but I’ll reserve judgment. There were also some attention-grabbing docs I wasn’t able to see. Amy Berg’s West of Memphis continues the story of the wrongful conviction of three teenagers for the murder of three young boys that galvanized a public campaign for their freedom in response to the HBO Paradise Lost documentary trilogy (see my review of Feb. 29).
Droh Moreh’s The Gatekeepers offers an unprecedented look at the Palestinian-Israeli conflict through the candid testimony of six former leaders of Shin Bet, Israel’s intelligence and counterterrorism agency.
TIFF’s program book promises that Leviathan, a kaleidoscopic perspective of commercial fishing in the North Atlantic, “is sure to be one of the most gripping and ferocious cinematic experiences of the year.”
On the environmental
front, Canadian Rob Stewart (Sharkwater) returns with Revolution, an
impassioned appeal to halt the destruction of the planet’s marine
life, accompanied by stunning underwater photography. And veteran Canadian
filmmaker Peter Mettler earned great reviews for his globe-spanning exploration
of an eternal subject in The End of Time.
Time now for highlights of my six top docs as well as several others
deserving of mention.
1. The Act of Killing (Denmark/Norway/U.K.)
Quite simply the most astonishing documentary I’ve yet seen and
may ever see. Directors Joshua Oppenheimer, Christine Cynn and an anonymous
colleague — many of those involved with the film remain so for
their safety — obtained the willing co-operation of former paramilitary
and death squad leaders during the Indonesian anti-Communist massacres
of 1965 who re-enact their heinous deeds for the cameras with relish
and to sometimes garish effect. It would be outrageous black comedy if
it were not so chillingly true. As a study of impunity and absolute evil
it must be seen to be believed.
2. Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God (U.S.)
This one will cut close to the bone for any Catholic, and closer for
the clerical establishment. Backed by HBO, Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex
Gibney tackles the sexual abuse crisis in the church through the prism
of the infamous case of St. John’s School for the Deaf in Milwaukee,
Wis. Gibney brings to light the stories of victims of a notorious sexual
predator, a much-honoured (and protected) priest, who was not removed
until long after his criminal assaults were known to the hierarchy, including
in Rome, resulting in some of those affected bringing a class action
lawsuit against the Vatican. Watch for a full review in a future issue.
3. Stories We Tell (Canada)
Documentaries can be a powerful vehicle for personal narratives, and
this labour of love and pain by Toronto actor-director Sarah Polley achieves
a rare depth of poignancy and pathos that never descend to the maudlin
or self-indulgent. Her mother died when she was 11 but she learned only
recently that she was the child of an affair. Deciding to tell her own
story on film, she approaches it largely through the generous reactions
of her half-siblings and non-biological father. The result is a profoundly
human and moving cinematic essay that brings laughter and tears.
LOVE, MARILYN — Liz Garbus, director of Love, Marilyn, is speaking, centre, with Thom Powers, left, head of the TIFF Docs program, and at right one of Marilyn’s close friends and confidants. (Schmitz photo)
4. Love, Marilyn (U.S.)
Munroe, of course, the legendary blonde bombshell and screen goddess,
born Norma Jeane Mortenson in 1926 Los Angeles, and dying just 36 years
later of an apparent drug overdose at the pinnacle of Hollywood fame.
Despite Marilyn being the subject of more than 1,000 books, director
Liz Garbus reveals new layers of her troubled, and strikingly pensive,
inner life through her private thoughts recorded in recently discovered
diaries — selections from which are read by a cast of well-chosen
contemporary actors, male as well as female. What emerges is a Marilyn,
fatally insecure yet fiercely committed to the craft of acting, and far
more than the sexpot tragic figure we thought we knew.
DOCUMENTARY — Sons of the Clouds director Alvaro Longoria and Javier Bardem (right) talk about the film at the Toronto International Film Festival Sept. 13. (Schmitz photo)
5. Sons of the Clouds: The Last Colony (Spain)
In 2008 acclaimed actor Javier Bardem attended an unusual film festival
in the refugee camps of the Western Sahara where 200,000 Sahrawi people
have subsisted in exile for decades since the former colonial power Spain
abandoned then to the depredations of an expansionist Morocco. Bardem
(who appears in the new Bond thriller Skyfall and plays a Catholic priest
in Malick’s To the Wonder) has emerged as a passionate advocate
for their cause, including for a referendum on independence long promised
but never delivered by the United Nations. Bringing hopeful attention
to a neglected struggle, he told the Toronto audience: “My journey
is the journey of a person who tries to understand.”
6. More Than Honey (Germany/Austria/Switzerland)
Do we need another film about the perilous environmental situation of
both wild and domesticated bee populations? The answer is a resounding
yes with this stunningly photographed first documentary by veteran Swiss
director Markus Imhoof that includes a globe-spanning exploration of,
not only the challenges facing the many species of these vital pollinating
insects (such as “colony collapse”), but also the fascinating
world of bee behaviours. Taken from 205 hours of footage, some from special
cameras shooting at 300 frames per second, it’s a revelation.
Worth seeing too is Far From Afghanistan, made on a shoestring
by activist filmmaker John Gianvito and four collaborators, which strives
to contrast the contradictions of American society and imperial power
with those of the 11-year conflict that has killed more than 2,000 Americans
and many more Afghans. Taking inspiration from 1967’s Far From Vietnam,
a famous militant anti-war project of five French directors, this similarly “omnibus” film
has powerful moments — especially on the terrible human toll — though
these are sometimes undercut by an uneven quality and a highly didactic,
expressly one-sided selectivity.
Finally, No Place on Earth tells the incredible story of 38 Jews who
survived 18 months in underground caves during the Nazi occupation of
Ukraine, details of which were uncovered thanks to the efforts of a cave-exploring
New Yorker. These discoveries and harrowing eyewitness accounts are astounding
enough that I could have done without swelling music and dramatic re-enactments.
Still first-time director Janet Tobias is to be commended for adding
to our appreciation of the human spirit that burns even in the darkest
times of unspeakable horrors.
Recommended in theatres: All Together, Arbitrage, Bill W. (documentary about the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous), Frankenweenie, Laurence Anyways, Inch’Allah (Quebec only), Seven Psychopaths (winner of the people’s choice “midnight madness” award at TIFF), The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Schmitz is an ambassador member of the Canadian Film Institute. He writes from Ottawa.
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