myDylarama

Above and Below - East End Film Festival

Miranda Mungai — 2015-07-06T16:55:50Z

Above and Below is a charming and inoffensive documentary surrounding the lives of a few outcasts who have completely distanced themselves from ‘ordinary' life and the society that this comprises. Whether this rejection is a result of their situation or a choice varies between each character. The film follows the lives of three sets of people – those living above the earth (mars), on ground level (the desert) or below the streets (in the tunnels of Las Vegas).

The documentary begins poetically and immediately brings to mind the similarly magical Bombay Beach (Dir. Alma Har'el) with it's sensational natural summer sun, lens flares and vast tundra landscapes that are desolate but not barren, still holding life and thriving livelihoods. Those documented are depicted as having a sensibility most of us lose to childhood – of engaging in eternal play thanks to their surroundings yet without the constraints of parental supervision. The charm of the film is held in this sense of youth and in the characters themselves, who develop from these images of juvenile contentment to more complex individuals. As the intimacy between audience and character evolves we learn who they are, why they are where they are and where they hope to be. Yet, as we learn more about them and the film develops, its initial sweetness morphs into a pseudo-intellectual perspective of the world. Although not overwhelming, when you listen to what these people are saying, really listen, you realise that it means nothing. Surprisingly, this doesn't greatly affect the overall quality of the film (though perhaps it could have been half an hour shorter).

The filmmaking is remarkable; the three main stories intertwine by surreal means, my favourite being their individual interactions with ping-pong balls. Above, ground level and below are all interconnected; a reminder that we are all connected in some way, regardless of distance and lifestyle. It's easy to forget that this film is a documentary- not only due to acts of performativity such as playing ping-pong, but also the stories which are so completely surreal in themselves, so unlike mainstream society that it stops feeling believable. Despite its understated structure and the characters speaking in balls of hot air, Above and Below has a lot to say; about human nature, survival and, bleaker still, the lifestyles people are forced to adopt due to the effects of a neoliberal economic agenda. There is a moral that lies beneath this serene and lazy story and this moral is easy to miss, as boredom or perhaps serenity begins to reign. But this film does say something, even if it's an idea shrouded in beauty, pretension and dreamlike living.

Dir. Nicolas Steiner, 2015

The film will be screened as part of the East End Film Festival at Rich Mix in London on 9 July, at 8.45. It will be followed by a Q&A. Tickets are available here.

Chameleon - East End Film Festival

Miranda Mungai — 2015-07-06T10:50:34Z

Chameleon is a light-hearted and genuinely interesting look at the “most successful investigative journalist in Africa:” Ghana-based Anas Aremeyaw Anas, who helps the police investigate serious crimes and reports them back to the public. The documentary follows Anas as he takes on several serious criminal cases and successfully raises awareness of these among the general public, seeking full transparency as a means to reduce corruption in Ghana. This is the recurrent message of the film; viewers are encouraged to remember the seriousness of the work that lies beneath Anas' s playful attitude.
Anas is essentially presented as a story-teller, a journalist with a greater ethical agenda. The fact that he hides his face from the world is an important way for him to promote his work over his character. Yet the film highlights his humanity by not solely focusing on his work, but also showing him interacting with schoolchildren and his family.

The documentary eschews sensationalism in favour of a sober and honest assessment of Anas's work, despite his secret identity and undercover police work, which could make him come across as some sort of Batman-like figure. But there is no sob story there to bring any sort of extra validation to his journalism. This is prevalent in the footage of arrests, which despite being tense, are not glamourised. They are given more weight by instances of ethical discussions: is what Anas and the police are doing actually effective, right or best for those involved? One case involving a cultish church camp shows his struggle to define the victims and accurately separate them from the perpetrators. These questions and the comparative structure of the film mean that the police's victory seems much less sweet when the ‘victims' look distressed and confused. Including such points allows for a more unbiased documentary, which doesn't automatically suggest that the job Anas and the Ghanaian police are doing is perfect, but rather presents it as a step in the right direction. Painful interviews with victims of the crimes that Anas aims to bring to public attention only serve to reinforce this point.

This film is engaging and offers audiences an important glimpse into Ghana's attempts to combat endemic corruption and, beyond that, into a society far removed from some oft-pedalled clichés of poverty and despair. It shows us self-sufficient, dignified people, striving to better conditions for their peers. This only serves to underline the importance of Anas's work and his success, despite the occasional ethical questions it raises.

Dir. Ryan Mullins, 2015

Chameleon will be screened as part of the East End Film Festival at Rich Mix, London on 8 July at 6.30.
Tickets available at the Rich Mix website here.

The Divide - East End Film Festival (preview)

Miranda Mungai — 2015-06-30T19:49:12Z

An interesting and well-meaning documentary, The Divide presents audiences with a frequently mentioned, though infrequently interrogated, phenomenon- the divide of the rich and the poor in the Western world. The film begins with a quote from Warren Buffett, “the most successful investor of the 20th century": “There's a class warfare, all right, but it's my class, the rich class, that's making war, and we're winning.” This beginning sets us up with the impression that the film promises an explanation of what went wrong here, this ironic quote doing nothing but creating questions. However, these questions unfortunately appear to go unanswered by the film's end, setting out The Divide in purely human terms rather than presenting a global, structural analysis.

The trajectory that this film follows concentrates on a few extremely wealthy people and a few of the poorest people mostly from America but also with a few from the UK. We follow their struggles as portraits of their home life are presented in tandem with that of their working lives. It is not a film that aims to understand and address the gap that these sets of people face, but it is purely a look at rich people and poor people, doing nothing more than suggesting that this gap could be closed if everyone became rich. It looks at everyone's struggle but does little to fulfil the promise of the initial quote – it does not suggest why this gap is here. It is the exceptional amounts of sympathy, however, that this film provides those from these seemingly happy, affluent homes that becomes increasingly aggravating. We watch wealthy, stable Jen complain about the mistreatment of her “blonde haired, blue eyed” children in her gated community who are treated as pariahs due to their relative lack of wealth - neighbouring children allegedly run away, screaming. She appears trapped and persecuted- but why not move to another gated community and be the wealthiest family there? Mesmerised by wealth, the film focuses an inordinate amount of time on the lives of the rich until eventually they come to appear shackled and enslaved by their own privilege and greed, another example of society's ongoing fetishisation of the lives of the rich.

The film is interspersed with interviews with Wall Street analysts, lecturers, and social commentators, including Noam Chomsky, which are the most thought provoking moments in the film, revealing the reality of the problem on a large scale, they seriously discuss and hypothesise The Divide. Unfortunately these moments are few and far between, leaving a yearning to learn more and perhaps pick up a book of Mr. Chomsky's instead. This film chooses to concentrate on empathising with the ‘struggles' of the richest more than anything. It's disturbing that rather than enquiring into the structural causes of poverty, we keep idealising and sympathising with the richest. Perhaps the message that this documentary sends in laymen's terms is that the poor should just become richer to close the gap rather than presenting an analysis of the original causes of the eponymous Divide.

Dir. Katherine Round, 2015

The Divide is showing as part of the East End Film Festival on July 2nd- tickets and more information here:

https://www.genesiscinema.co.uk/films/events/eeff-the-divide-qa-thurs-2nd-july/

Enemies of Happiness - Best of Dochouse

Miranda Mungai — 2015-03-02T12:09:39Z

Enemies of Happiness/ Vores lykkes fjender is a powerful exploration of the determination and sheer hard work of Malalai Joya in the ten days leading up to the 2005 Afghanistan elections-the first democratic parliamentary election in over 30 years and the first in which women were allowed to vote. We follow her trials as a female political candidate, accurately self-described as a ‘woman among warlords'. The film hums with the constant buzz of radio announcements and news stories, propelling Joya forward in the face of violent opposition and death threats. Yet this film is more than the story of her campaign to win electoral support. Mulvad paints a portrait of Joya that presents the sisterhood, solidarity and encouragement which she shows to those who arrive at her doorstep (from the young girl worried about being forced into marriage to an elderly woman who shares Joya's vision for Afghanistan) to be a crucial element in her fight for a democratic system freed from corruption. These stories, which aren't overtly concerned with her political campaign, are some of the most moving and significant moments of the film, performing the essential task of bringing politics back to the people. These moments save the film from exalting Joya as a singular figure and place her in a broader movement for change, whilst still recognising her courage and determination.

Mulvad's humanist approach presents an Afghanistan that the Western public rarely see. Enemies of Happiness confronts the audience with several passionate expressions of hope and emotive desires for peace, expressions which are sometimes overwhelming for both subject and audience. Joya's dedication is to people and communities who, in the midst of a brutal struggle, are overwhelmed by hope and her own passion is the hope for a whole nation, hope for a new kind of politics. We are left to contemplate the tenacity of their faith in struggle and solidarity, a conviction that is so easily lost.

Dir: Eva Mulvad, 2006

Enemies of Happiness is screening Thursday March 5th as part of the Best of Dochouse series, details below:

http://www.dochouse.org/film-screening/Best-of-DocHouse-ENEMIES-OF-HAPPINESS/423