Change Your Image
ohm_intern
Reviews
Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010)
An true artist reveals the oldest preserved art work discovered
Herzog's artistic direction of "Cave of Forgotten Dreams" instill wonderment and compel one to appreciate the oldest form of visual art discovered. A realization I made after watching this film is that while time has instituted change, man's endless bounds for creativity and ingenuity remain the same and this is what connects us to the past and keeps us yearning to understand who we were in past civilizations. There is greatness, knowledge and mysticism all around us and Chauvet Cave encapsulates all of these. Mysteries are unsolved: who are these people who painted on the walls and left their prints on the wall and sand? what stories were they telling? what was their religion like? The unknown piques and haunts our psyche.
I cannot think of a better director for this film since Herzog is perspicacious enough to ask these philosophical and spiritual questions about the individuals who painted these figures while also presenting the supposed lifestyle of this people by discussing the climate in which they lived, presenting artifacts found in Germany and supposed hunting methods. Scientists are interviewed and their various methods are also documented in this film including a perfumer who smells for openings outside of the cave. A poignant part of the film is when Herzog said that he had an eerie feeling that those who painted the figures were still watching as if their spirits were still there. I am compelled to side with Herzog but rather feel that the human spirit exists within each generation which continues to observe and document the world in which we live as our ancestors did in this beautifully preserved cave. The cave is vaulted off to the public which makes this documentary ever the more crucial.
Peur(s) du noir (2007)
Shown at Sundance Film Festival '08 - slightly spoiler
The story begins with what appears to be an old, sadistic British general walking a pack of angry dogs. A dog gets away and chases a small boy... thus beings one of a few stories of people's fears. The fears displayed in these animated segments usually involve an insect or animal beast. I think that the director either had a fascination or fear of bugs/animals.
In between each segment, a soothing french voice tells us her "fears" but what I interpret as her observations and cristicms of society and social behaviors.
One segment, a man is haunted by a praying mantis; in another, a girl is possessed by the ghost of a samuarai, in another.. a man has an encounter with the ghosts of an abandoned house.
Each segment has a unique art style where people's bizarre fears become their lives. A great artistic representation of how people's fears can so easily become part of their reality - whether those fears are overcome or succombed to.
The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo (2007)
My thoughts from Sundance '08
The film-making itself was raw but that's no concern because the content was purpose of the film.
I appreciated that the director, being a gang-rape survivor herself, reached out to congalese women who are constantly vulnerable to rape attacks. In the war-ridden congo, it is too common for a woman to be a victim of rape. The film does not hold back on the graphic details of these rapes... a situation that seems almost unreal because it is so heinous and widespread.
Rape victims are interviewed in villages and hospitals about how they have lost their families and lives because of rape. The director even interviewed rapists who came up with excuses for their actions. She interviewed mothers who are raising children from rapes and also showed orphans or rape who may end up in the coltan mines. While it is difficult to watch this subject, it is necessary to know about this situation so that we, the viewers, can be moved to action. I truly am thankful the director has provided this powerful perspective into a crisis that needs to be stopped in the congo.
The director stated her intention behind the film was to spark action for people to get involved with helping rape victim women and contacting cell phone companies to demand conflit free coltan in our cell phones. I came away from the film better educated on this situation and inspired to get involved in causes supporting congalese rape victims and asking for safe coltan practices.
Please watch this film and get involved.
Ezra (2007)
I saw the film at Sundance last week
One of the best films i've seen in Sundance the past 4 years I've been attending. This is the first movie I've seen that focuses on the issue of child abduction for military rebel training in Africa. It paints a truthful picture of what rebel recruited children went through, what the family left behind went through and how a country can recover from such a conflict. It showed how the blame can't be placed on the children for committing horrible acts of violence since they are forced to at gunpoint.
Western influence has spawned these conflicts through a demand of diamonds or oil, causing warlords to fight, or recruit children to fight for them, for personal wealth. There are many GREAT issues from all perspectives. It is very realistic because it felt like I was being shot at in the movie theater. The movie is done in a flashback style which adds to the intensity of an already heavy film. I felt exhausted after leaving the film because of all I had experienced throughout the film. More films should deal with issues like these. A comparable film I saw during sundance was "War Dance", a documentary about young children from northern Uganda. some of these children were abducted or had family killed by the rebels.