Genosse Kotze
6th March 2007, 06:44
Ok, I've noticed that the documentary has become quite a popular genre. It is probably do to Michael Moore's mainstream appeal--I'm aware that opinions vary in regards to him and his work, but I think that the increasing popularity of the political documentary film is, at least in part attributable to him. However, I must say that there needs to be a new genre of documentary. Docs such as 'The Corporation' are very compelling critiques of the kind of world we live in. This 'expose' documentary though always leaves the viewer feeling overwhelmed and powerless in the face of all the monolithic, corporate power discussed during the film. Usually there is a short and trite 'call to action' segment at the very end of these films, but when stacked against the far more powerful 'expose' segment, one develops a very cynical opinion of this 'call to arms'. If the point of the documentary is to get people off the couch and into the streets, then I say there needs to be a documentary which entirely covers activities and methods one can get involved in to join the struggle, and also tell some success stories of the people defeating business. There was one film that was in this vein; 'the Take' by Naomi Klein. It was about how Argentinean workers expropriated their factories after the neo-liberal induced, economic collapse in that country several years ago. Listen, you don't become Ulrike Meinhof by sitting on your couch and watching documentaries (just like you don't by posting on revleft), but since many people feel powerless to do anything about their situation, I think we could all use a bit of encouragement in our political cinema, no?