'Watermark' A documentary film by Jennifer Baichwal, Nick de Pencier and Edward Burtynsky.
A film about water. What's even better 'Watermark' is a Canadian film about water.
So there'll be lots of conflict here right? A massive struggle over water rights in Bolivia ended up with a progressive government in power headed up by a First Nations president Evo Morales. British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher against public opposition, privatized British waterworks in the 1980's. And outspoken Canadian patriot Maud Barlow fears that American companies are casting envious eyes on Canadian waters.
But 'Watermark' directed by Jennifer Baichwal and Edward Burtynsky isn't about the politics of water at all. It takes us on a peaceful journey through the waterways of ten countries including Canada.
"We're water," says First Nations guide Oscar Dennis as he takes us along the Stikine River in northern B.C. "We're all water."
Who can disagree with this? And who can criticize either the beautiful photography by Baichwal, Burtynsky and Nick de Pencier of oceans, rivers, streams and deserts?
Burtynsky's still life photos of massive factories and huge landscapes, have had a big influence on 'Watermark'. The man is one of the world's outstanding photographers. Baichwal has racked up a lot of films as a documentary film maker. This film is one of her best.
Abalone farms and the huge Xilodu dam in China, contesting surfers at California's Huntingdon Beach and scientists in Greenland are all grist for the film's cameras as they soar and swoop around the world. We took "20 stories from 10 countries" says Baichwal, "and somehow flow(ed) them together into a single experential stream." I wanted to see an overarching story that linked all the separate stories . Yet perhaps water itself was the story that brought together all the separate stories.
Baichwal and Burtynsky in any case have made a fine documentary. I'm glad I saw it. The politics of water belongs in a separate film which I'll be waiting for. It probably won't come from Baichwal and Burtynsky. But that 's okay since they've done a great job by making 'Watermark'.
Tuesday 29 October 2013
Wednesday 16 October 2013
Pirates of the Deep Threaten U.S. Ship
'Captain Phillips' Starring Tom Hanks and Barkhad Abdi. Directed by Paul Greengrass..
The American writer John Judis once pointed out that the world's countries are placed in a pecking order. At the top of the pile sits, naturally, the U.S of A. Its wealth and military might, even to-day, overawes most people. At the bottom squat the poorest countries like Moldova, Afghanistan and Somalia.
'Captain Phillips' starring Tom Hanks as the captain of a huge cargo ship, points up Judis's idea. Phillips leaves his wife at the beginning of the film at an airport in Vermont. They live in a comfortable house but now Phillips heads off to the high seas. Hanks has a very good role here as a captain. A little chunkier and greyer than when I last saw him on the screen, Hanks remains a fine actor.
Cut to Muse, a poor dark skinned man played by Barkhad Abdi. He lives in abject poverty in Somalia on the coast line of the Horn of Africa. He's a modern day pirate who rides with a gun in a broken down boat along with his friends. They capture ships like the one Phillips captains. .Probable ransom for releasing the captured ships? Six to nine million dollars.
"Nice work if you can get it," that old song used to go. "And you can get it if you try." But the work is dangerous and violent.
At last Phillips and Muse meet on the deck of Phillips's ship. But Muse is doomed after putting Phillips through hellish tortures. "There's got to be something more than being a fisherman and kidnapping someone," the captain says to Muse. But here there isn't.
Director Paul Greengrass has given us a very competent thriller with small glimpses of the living conditions of the poverty-stricken Somalis. In the end though the massive military might of the United States comes through to kill and save the day. This is what happened in real life for this film is drawn from a true story.
And what happens to the Somalis left behind in their sad villages? Alas, they just go on being poor or dying early as quite a few do in this film, unless of course they move to North America, as many already have. You can't blame them for coming here, especially if you've viewed 'Captain Phillips'. At least I won't blame them for landing at our airports or on our shores. It sure beats living in Somalia.
The American writer John Judis once pointed out that the world's countries are placed in a pecking order. At the top of the pile sits, naturally, the U.S of A. Its wealth and military might, even to-day, overawes most people. At the bottom squat the poorest countries like Moldova, Afghanistan and Somalia.
'Captain Phillips' starring Tom Hanks as the captain of a huge cargo ship, points up Judis's idea. Phillips leaves his wife at the beginning of the film at an airport in Vermont. They live in a comfortable house but now Phillips heads off to the high seas. Hanks has a very good role here as a captain. A little chunkier and greyer than when I last saw him on the screen, Hanks remains a fine actor.
Cut to Muse, a poor dark skinned man played by Barkhad Abdi. He lives in abject poverty in Somalia on the coast line of the Horn of Africa. He's a modern day pirate who rides with a gun in a broken down boat along with his friends. They capture ships like the one Phillips captains. .Probable ransom for releasing the captured ships? Six to nine million dollars.
"Nice work if you can get it," that old song used to go. "And you can get it if you try." But the work is dangerous and violent.
At last Phillips and Muse meet on the deck of Phillips's ship. But Muse is doomed after putting Phillips through hellish tortures. "There's got to be something more than being a fisherman and kidnapping someone," the captain says to Muse. But here there isn't.
Director Paul Greengrass has given us a very competent thriller with small glimpses of the living conditions of the poverty-stricken Somalis. In the end though the massive military might of the United States comes through to kill and save the day. This is what happened in real life for this film is drawn from a true story.
And what happens to the Somalis left behind in their sad villages? Alas, they just go on being poor or dying early as quite a few do in this film, unless of course they move to North America, as many already have. You can't blame them for coming here, especially if you've viewed 'Captain Phillips'. At least I won't blame them for landing at our airports or on our shores. It sure beats living in Somalia.
Tuesday 1 October 2013
A powerful violent film.
'Prisoners'. A film starring Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhall, and Viola Davis. Directed by Denis Villeneuve.
No sunlight pierces through the slate grey skies around a Pennsylvania town. Huge evergreen and leafless trees hover around it. It's late November at Thanksgiving.
"Be ready," Keller (Hugh Jackman) tells his son as he aims his rifle to shoot a deer. So from first to last, 'Prisoners' is bathed in violence. Two couples namely Keller and his wife Grace (Mario Bello), and their neighbours, Franklin (Terence Howard) and Nancy (Viola Davis) lose their daughters to a kidnapper.
Then comes the search for the daughter. Enter Detective Loki played by Jake Gyllenhall who searches tirelessly for the missing children. Keller tries a different route. He zeroes in on and tortures Alex(Paul Dano), a mentally challenged man whom he believes is the abductor.
Clad in nearly all black clothing, and a tieless buttoned up white shirt, Gyllenhall, with his thick,swept back hair, plays Detective Loki to perfection. Denis Villeneuve, a transplanted Quebecker, has used his first stint in Hollywood to direct a powerful violent film.
But in the end 'Prisoners' which stretches out over more than two and a half hours, serves up a fantasy. Most detectives would never measure up to Loki and I wouldn't expect them to. Most serial killers and child abductors are men not women. And unfortunately, abducted children vanish forever or don't survive. Still, this is a powerful film.
"Violence," the black militant H. Rap Brown said many years ago, "is as American as cherry pie." True or not, 'Prisoners' serves up this idea very well. I enjoyed it, and it'll be interesting to see what film Denis Villeneuve directs next.
No sunlight pierces through the slate grey skies around a Pennsylvania town. Huge evergreen and leafless trees hover around it. It's late November at Thanksgiving.
"Be ready," Keller (Hugh Jackman) tells his son as he aims his rifle to shoot a deer. So from first to last, 'Prisoners' is bathed in violence. Two couples namely Keller and his wife Grace (Mario Bello), and their neighbours, Franklin (Terence Howard) and Nancy (Viola Davis) lose their daughters to a kidnapper.
Then comes the search for the daughter. Enter Detective Loki played by Jake Gyllenhall who searches tirelessly for the missing children. Keller tries a different route. He zeroes in on and tortures Alex(Paul Dano), a mentally challenged man whom he believes is the abductor.
Clad in nearly all black clothing, and a tieless buttoned up white shirt, Gyllenhall, with his thick,swept back hair, plays Detective Loki to perfection. Denis Villeneuve, a transplanted Quebecker, has used his first stint in Hollywood to direct a powerful violent film.
But in the end 'Prisoners' which stretches out over more than two and a half hours, serves up a fantasy. Most detectives would never measure up to Loki and I wouldn't expect them to. Most serial killers and child abductors are men not women. And unfortunately, abducted children vanish forever or don't survive. Still, this is a powerful film.
"Violence," the black militant H. Rap Brown said many years ago, "is as American as cherry pie." True or not, 'Prisoners' serves up this idea very well. I enjoyed it, and it'll be interesting to see what film Denis Villeneuve directs next.
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