Filming the Unfilmable

After seeing numerous films about genocides, I researched more about "filming the unfilmable".

Peter Raymont (who made the documentary Shake Hands With the Devil: The Journey of Romeo Dallaire) questioned the use of video footage showing people being slaughtered, supposing that "These are people who are dead or injured and you haven’t asked for permission to use that footage, so you wonder: Does it serve a greater purpose or not?” Raymont asks,“When does it become exploitative?” The issue of exploiting victims of genocide is a very controversial topic. While being a witness to the victims is extremely important, filmmakers (and writers, as in the case of Peter Galloway, who wrote about the cellist from Sarajevo) must be careful not to use the victims' final moments of life as a way to make money for themselves. "On the other hand", Raymont added, "it’s important to convey the horror and the evil". "You don't want to desensitize viewers to horror and violence … [which] … of course can happen". Katrina Onstad supposes that a balance must be reached for a film about genocide to "succeed".

Samantha Power (author of A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide) said that “Hotel Rwanda is particularly powerful because it’s not a black-and-white genocide from ancient history. It’s genocide shot in colour in the present day. If we have to choose the more palatable Trojan horse, I’ll take it. Maybe the next film will be about Darfour. It can’t come soon enough.” Showing films and video footage from the past is always important and spreads information of past genocides, in hope of preventing future genocides from occurring.

SOURCE

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/film/genocide.html

The Pianist

In Roman Polanski's film, The Pianist, Władysław Szpilman, played by Adrien Brody, is a Jewish, Polish pianist who survives the Warsaw Ghetto and escapes death throughout the movie. Both Władysław Szpilman and Roman Polanski are both Jews who survived the German occupation. Władysław Szpilman, through his piano playing and his autobiography, he expresses his suffering using art, while Roman Polanski expresses his suffering through his film making. In the movie, the mix between the personal journey of Szpilman's and the historical time in Poland is juxtaposed very well. From multiple windows, crannies, and other apertures, Szpilman watches the events which occur all around him, from the Jewish uprising in the Warsaw ghetto and German raids of civilian homes, making the setting more terrifying. The part of the film which struck me the most was the facial expressions the camera could really capture. At one point, Szpilman is told by a friend that he has heard that the cattle cars leave full with people, but never with food, and come back empty just to fill the cattle cars with people once again. He lets out one tear as he remembers that his family were put in those train. The film is more than just a way to tell the story of Władysław Szpilman, it is a way to convey a tangible media to show the sufferings of Władysław Szpilman, Roman Polanski and others like them.

PS. I understand that it is technically now Wednesday, but I finished watching the movie at 11:45, so I really hope this will not be counted as late.