Save the Country: The Cinematic Year in Review 2004

As the summer progressed, one of the most unusual cinematic events was the emergence of the political documentary as a real force in the marketplace. Of course, the enormous popular appeal of Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 was unprecedented; even within specialty markets, there was notice given to such films as Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott's The Corporation, Alison MacLean and Toby Pearse's Persons of Interest, and Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman's Born Into Brothels (all shown at this year's Human Rights Watch Festival and subsequently released theatrically). But going to this year's Human Rights Watch Festival, though there were moments of great poignance and unusual insight, there was also a feeling almost of fatigue. How many documentaries of children in dire circumstances in underdeveloped countries can one see? How many documentaries about the evils of corporate America are needed? These questions are rhetorical, and good films are always welcome, no matter what the subject. The Corporation turned out to be an entertaining screed, diagnosing the mentality of the corporation as pathological as if the corporation were a person; it ended with some small but bracing examples of ways in which people in different countries have fought corporate takeovers. Born Into Brothels was an extremely moving depiction of Zana Briski, a photojournalist, and her attempt to teach photography to the children of a red-light district in Calcutta; her hopes to use photography as a vehicle to help these children find possibilities for education and a way to move out of their environment seem daunting, but her determination and the children's enthusiasm provided glimmers of hope. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]