Review #1,403: 'Man with a Movie Camera' (1929)

David Abelvich Kaufman was born on January 2nd, 1896 in Bialystok, Ukraine, and came of age during the Russian Revolution, joining the movement headed by Lenin and Trotsky that would eventually overthrow the Russian Republic. At some point during this time, Kaufman changed his name to Denis Arkadievich to avoid the persecution of Ukranian Jews. He studied music and medicine until he found his true calling in the arts, writing essays on Futurism and French avant-garde and developing a keen interest in cinema, something he viewed with both curiosity and frustration, calling out traditional, sentimental cinema as "leprous". Learning his trade developing newsreels for Cinema Week and changing his name once again to Dziga Vertov, the filmmaker set out to develop something nobody had ever seen before: a film without narrative, characters or dialogue.

Man with a Movie Camera, released in 1929, did away with traditional storytelling techniques to the point that no story would be told at all, at least not in the way that audiences were - and still are - accustomed to. Vertov would spend over 3 years on the film, shooting in Soviet cities Moscow, Kharkiv, Kiev and Odessa to capture the hustle-and-bustle of everyday life, from faces on the street to the labourers keeping the cities in motion. But this is no ordinary documentary, and to call it a documentary at all is somewhat misleading. Vertov and his group, the kinoks, were rooted firmly in modernism and Marxist ideologies, and Man with a Movie Camera aimed to push the limits of what could be achieved with a camera and clever editing. What may sound like a dour experiment for the academics is actually incredibly entertaining, with Vertov having plenty of fun playing with his toys. After a short burst of intertitles, we see an audience arrive for a screening, their seats magically lowering themselves down before the film begins. Later, we see a woman editing a scene we've just watched.

It's a film being made before our very eyes, and Vertov even manages to make you feel part of the process. Not only do we have the pleasure of some dazzling, innovative camerawork, but we also get to see how such a shot was achieved. The only 'character' of the film is the man with a movie camera, played by Vertov's brother and cinematographer Mikhail Kaufman. We see him scaling great heights and perched on the side of a moving car, or lounging in the shallow sea as he shoots a crowd gathered at the beach. The film would pioneer techniques still used to this day, including the likes of double exposure, slow-motion, extreme close-ups, jump cuts, and in one of the most delightful segments, stop-motion animation. With an average shot length of 2 seconds - the same as many blockbusters today - it thunders along like a well-oiled machine, backed by The Alloy Orchestra's rousing score. Everything is constantly in motion, from the trains, trams and factories, to the people going about their business. Vertov juxtaposes life and death, marriage and divorce, happiness and hardship, almost like it's happening simultaneously. It's a head-spinning experience that remains one of the most significant moments in cinema history, and to think it was done over 50 years before Godfrey Reggio's Koyaanisqatsi attempted the same.


Directed by: Dziga Vertov
Starring: Mikhail Kaufman
Country: Soviet Union

Rating: *****

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,342: 'Hearts and Minds' (1974)

Although Western involvement in the Vietnam War ultimately drew to a close over 40 years ago, the spectre of the bloody, brutal and still divisive conflict still looms over the U.S. and the country's current involvement in foreign affairs. The title of Peter Davis' highly affecting documentary is taken from a quote by then-President Lyndon B. Johnson: "the ultimate victory will depend on the hearts and minds of the people who actually live out there." The film opens with archive footage of this speech, and proceeds to show a country eventually devastated by napalm, Agent Orange and an assortment of other weapons designed to inflict maximum damage. The people became an afterthought in the quest to distinguish the 'Commie threat'. Hearts and Minds is blatant propaganda, but its raw power is undeniable.

The film had a difficult road to winning the Best Documentary prize at the 1974 Academy Awards, namely due to Columbia Pictures withdrawing their desire to distribute the feature after one of the interviewees, former National Security Advisor Walt Rostow, claimed that his participation had been misrepresented and his words taken out of context. The producers eventually purchased back the rights to the film, and ran it for just one week in theatres (the minimum time required to be eligible for awards season). It's legacy understandably invites mixed responses, with many criticising the one-sidedness of the film's views, the clever film-making techniques, and the lack of context given to those who may defend U.S. involvement in Vietnam, or be actively in favour of it. This is particularly noticeable when documenting former POW George Coker's return to his home country, where his vocal disdain for the Vietnamese race is documented without taking into account the terrible treatment he no doubt suffered at their hands.

Davis clearly has an agenda, and uses propaganda tools to make his point. The most powerful of which is the rather sickening view of General William Westmoreland that life on the Orient is cheap, while images of a grieving wife attempting to throw herself onto her dead husband's coffin are juxtaposed with the interview. Soldiers who went into the war with a hatred for the enemy they didn't know soon lost their hunger and started to question their involvement, especially after seeing many of their comrades lose their lives and the grisly effects their chemical weapons were inflicting on innocent children. Hearts and Minds succeeds in capturing the turning point in the war for the people at home in the U.S., when attitudes started to shift as it became clear their government didn't have a clue how to win it and the pro-peace movement erupted across the country. The archive images pack incredible power, and the interviews with veterans are undeniably moving, especially when the camera reveals the lasting effects the conflict has had on them. This is documentary film-making at its most complex and admittedly biased, but regardless of your opinion going into the picture, it will certainly leave you questioning events and wondering if any lessons have been learnt.


Directed by: Peter Davis
Country: USA

Rating: *****

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,319: 'Dig!' (2004)

The fickle nature of the music industry is well known. Most bands will try and flounder with a whimper; true visionaries will fail to find an audience or be deemed as too great a risk by the corporate machine; and the pretty but talent-free will strike it rich with one instantly forgettable tune after another. It's been documented in film before, but never in such brutal, in-your-face detail as Ondi Timoner's documentary Dig!. The cameras followed bands The Dandy Warhols and The Brian Jonestown Massacre for seven years, covering their friendship during the bright-eyed, let's-change-the-world beginnings to the bitter rivalry that formed between them as one made it big and the other struggled in infamy.

Both bands wanted to start a music revolution - one that would see artists take back control from the industry heads who ultimately lacked vision - by refusing to sell out. The Dandy Warhols' professionalism and willingness to bend as long as it avoided breaking meant that their star rose with increasing speed, before Bohemian Like You was snapped up by a mobile phone company and they became an overnight sensation, particularly here in the UK. This savviness is mistaken for bending over by BJM frontman Anton Newcombe, and soon Dandy lead singer Courtney Taylor-Taylor is receiving strange packages containing shotgun cartridges. Meanwhile, Newcombe's increasingly threatening behaviour towards everyone around him sees his band often struggle to make it through a set without brawling on stage. BJM were descending quickly from the next big thing to a circus sideshow.

Despite the chaos on screen, Timoner never loses sight of Newcombe's raw talent. His actions can be blamed on mental illness, egomania or copious amount of heroin, but he is the real deal, pouring everything into his work and banging out records at a miraculous rate (they released three albums in 1996 alone). The genius and madness meld together to create an image of a man worn down by his philosophy, someone who preached love but only ever gave any to himself. His descent is both tragic and funny, and every fight, argument and storm-out is captured by Timoner's ever-present camera. For a film ultimately echoing Newcombe's views on a corporate mechanism more interested in money than artistry, Dig! somehow forgets the music itself. The odd bar or snippet can be heard here and there, but it's usually interrupted by some act of self-destruction or other. Ultimately however, Dig! is a fascinating study of the idea of selling-out and a must-see for music fans, serving as a cautionary tale for anyone considering starting a band.


Directed by: Ondi Timoner
Starring: Anton Newcombe, Courtney Taylor-Taylor, Joel Gion, Matt Hollywood
Country: USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,290: 'Lo And Behold, Reveries Of The Connected World' (2016)

With Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World, director Werner Herzog continues his investigations into the nature of man and our influence on the planet. Having spent most of his earlier career exploring the nature of madness and the limits of the human mind with feature films often starring Klaus Kinski, Herzog's career of late has seen him focus primarily on documentaries, and there is perhaps no other filmmaker more naturally suited to the genre. Lo and Behold tells the story of the internet, from its humble birth in a seemingly forgotten office at UCLA, to its recent explosion and rapidly widespread use throughout the world, and Herzog tackles the subject with both excited fascination and trepidation.

Herzog, as usual, plays the role of the viewer, actively participating in conversation with his interviewees. He often interrupts to confirm his understanding, or to offer his own unique philosophical musings. This may come across as distracting to anyone less than familiar with the filmmaker's output, but for us Herzog loyalists, his willingness to vocalise his own feelings or provide idiosyncratic observations throughout the documentary is precisely what makes his films such a joy. His subjects appear to instantly warm to him too, allowing them to relax and open up more, with the helmer only too happy to try and catch them off guard if they veer away from the subject. As one interviewee (who is in an internet rehab facility to cure his addiction to gaming and porn) gleefully bounds across a rickety wooden bridge to greet the camera, Herzog chuckles to himself and states that no further introduction is necessary.

Although the documentary does occasionally ramble, Herzog doesn't allow his own personality to eclipse the subject at hand. He concerns himself with society's increasing detachment from one another as we spend more time in front of a computer screen, and ponders whether or not the internet can dream of itself (some of the reactions to this question are priceless). The film also explores the dark side of the net, telling the story of Nikki Catsouras, the young and beautiful girl who was killed in a horrific car accident, only for pictures of her mangled body to surface on the internet. Nikki's father soon started to receive e-mails with the pictures attached, complete with mocking messages that will make your blood boil. Lo and Behold depicts our brave new world as simultaneously exciting, beautiful and utterly terrifying, reaching as far as exploring our inevitable migration into space. It offers insight into everything from robot development, internet usage and dreams, allowing Herzog to further continue his almost alien fascination with both the beauty and horror of humanity.


Directed by: Werner Herzog
Country: USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,282: 'The Eyes of Tammy Faye' (2000)

The life of Tammy Faye Bakker Messner is one that could have only emerged from America: A life of fame, adoration and excess, and later, somewhat inevitably, of disgrace and notoriety. Armed with a face of make-up apparently applied by shotgun-blast and an unshakeable, endearing optimism, Tammy Faye was once of the most recognisable faces in America as the co-presenter of The PTL (Praise the Lord) Club, part of the Christian Broadcasting Network which she and husband Jim Bakker used to draw audiences in the millions. In 1987, when Jim was accused of raping Playboy model Jessica Hahn and sent to prison for defrauding his audience of millions of dollars, Tammy Faye stood by his side before they divorced a few years later.

She later found love in the man who helped build her ex-husband's Christian theme-park Heritage USA, before he was also banged up for tax fraud. Tammy Faye was diagnosed with colon cancer, before making a full, miraculous recovery, and developed a dangerous addiction to prescription medication. The point of Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato's documentary is that Tammy Faye is a survivor. It's a label often applied to strong women who have endured hardships. Jim J. Bullock, her co-host on The Jim J. and Tammy Faye Show, puts it best when he explains that after the holocaust, all that will remain are cockroaches, Tammy Faye, and Cher. She is a force of nature, her spirit never wavering even when bullying televangelist Jerry Falwell swiped PTL from underneath them, despite having spent most of her waking life in front of the camera with Jim and their two children.

With narration from RuPaul and the film's chapters introduced by hand-puppets in a style akin to Babe, The Eyes of Tammy Faye is clearly embracing the camp appeal of its subject. Her famous eyelashes and impressive set of lungs have made her a gay icon, but there are also old clips of Tammy Faye embracing the gay community and a man with AIDS, topics that were, back then, shunned by mainstream media, never mind the Christian media. It will surely disarm most viewers who go into the film with their noses turned up at Tammy Faye's passion for spreading the word of God, showing her to be a warm and charismatic figure who took an interest in and offered a voice to people from all walks of life. The documentary clearly believes that she is innocent of any wrongdoing in the crimes her ex-husband was convicted for, but it can be criticised for failing to investigate more. Still, this is a fitting tribute to an indomitable woman living a fascinating life. Tammy Faye Messner died in 2007.


Directed by: Fenton Bailey, Randy Barbato
Starring: Tammy Faye Bakker, RuPaul
Country: UK/USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,274: 'Cartel Land' (2015)

The invention of small and easy-to-use digital cameras has had a massive impact on the documentary genre, with film-makers now able to throw themselves into the thick of the action without the worry of having to lumber around an arsenal of bulky and heavy equipment with an extensive crew. Matthew Heineman uses this new weapon to devastating effect in Cartel Land, closely tailing murderous members of the Knights Templar Cartel in Mexico while playing ride along with a vigilante group calling themselves Autodefensas. Heineman clearly possesses balls of steel, as we find ourselves witnessing first-hand explosive gun-fights in the streets and close-up vigilante beatings, all the result of society's reaction to living in fear of cartel violence. It's a scary portrait of a country seemingly locked in a cycle of corruption and brutality, and how its influence has spilled over to the borders of the U.S..

There are two stories in Cartel Land, with one understandably receiving more focus and screen-time than the other. In Michoacan, Mexico, surgeon and public speaker Jose Manuel Mireles - known as 'El Doctor' - has formed the Autodefensas, a group of citizens who have lived under the cartel's tyranny for too long. They move from town to town, successfully driving out the gang members and receiving the adoration and support of the residents in the process. The government has labelled them a dangerous vigilante organisation operating outside of the law, but in one scene they manage to drive away the military with the backing of fellow citizens as their power and influence rapidly increases. In the U.S., Tim 'Nailer' Foley heads the Arizona Border Retcon, another vigilante group with the task of stopping illegal immigration. As cartel violence spilled into their towns, their job became significantly more difficult, hampered further by the government's inability or unwillingness to help.

Despite your personal views on vigilante justice, Cartel Land begins with painting both Mireles and Foley as men with good intentions. They both live in a lawless land where the government have either abandoned them or actually contributed to the growing issues. Yet their actions also have consequences. Mireles' 'Robin Hood' persona soon starts to peel away with suggestions of infidelity and a ballooning ego, and the solidarity of the Autodefensas starts to wobble as in-group power plays and cartel infiltration emerge. The goals of Foley and the Border Retcon attract the most right-wing nutcases with questionable motives, and although he is happy for the help, it has led to the group being labelled an extremist organisation. There is an imbalance to the amount of screen-time given to these parallel stories, but Cartel Land succeeds as an honest and eye-opening account of how people can rally together when their supposed protectors have abandoned them, but also how vigilante justice amidst widespread corruption can have devastating consequences.


Directed by: Matthew Heineman
Starring: José Manuel 'El Doctor' Mireles, Tim 'Nailer' Foley
Country: USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,233: 'Icarus' (2017)

Say what you will about Netflix, the multi-million dollar streaming service used the world over that has come under intense scrutiny in the past year for its debatable participation in the Cannes Film Festival, but its ability to fuel water-cooler chit-chat has done wonders for the documentary genre. The 10-part true crime series Making a Murderer became a phenomenon, proving so popular that it managed to cast doubts over the guilt of its subject and on the American justice system as a whole. The service's most recent conversation-starter is Icarus, directed by amateur cyclist Bryan Fogel, which started out like a Super Size Me expose on the world of doping but evolved into something else entirely. While it certainly has its flaws, it's an astonishing tale that would have been missed by most on a limited cinema run, but in the wide-reaching hands of Netflix, it has a chance to cause a stir.

Director Fogel's only previous directorial credit is 2012's little-seen Jewtopia, a gross-out comedy which does little to suggest he is a natural fit for a crusading documentary filmmaker. But, in the early stages of Icarus, he proves himself adept chronicling his journey from amateur cyclist to doped-up competition-winner. Hoping to replicate the process adopted by the likes of exposed drug cheat Lance Armstrong, Fogel spends much of the films first half-hour injecting testosterone and God-knows-what-else into his thighs and buttocks, and hitting the gym to prepare to win a gruelling seven-day cycle across France. He seeks guidance from Grigory Rodchenkov, the head of anti-doping in Russia, who seems to know every trick in the book on how to cheat the drug tests and avoid detection by WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency). Yet while his tests show a huge improvement on his physical prowess, he struggles to make any impact on the race, with a huge margin remaining between him and the top 10 racers. It seems his entire documentary is crumbling around him.

Then the news breaks of Russia's participation in a doping operation that dates back decades, and Rodchenkov starts to worry for his life. When his friend and colleague dies under mysterious circumstances, Rodchenkov flees to America to turn whistle-blower, and Fogel, having formed a close friendship with the charismatic, larger-than-life filmmaker's dream, gets the scoop. The director wisely relegates himself into the background as Rodchenkov's story and personality take over, and the film takes on the tone of a thriller. It's a story you have no doubt read about in the media, but Icarus boasts the opportunity to hear it directly from the horse's mouth, and Fogel is happy to let his subject talk. Having stumbled upon a goldmine, it's a wonder why Fogel chose to keep so much of his original narrative in the movie. While his lack of vanity in accepting his failure is admirable, it would have worked better with 15 minutes or so shaved off, and the film feels baggy and overlong as a result. Still, Icarus has the ability to shock, revealing that the scandal goes all the way to the very top, and may have been employed as a politic tactic by Putin to justify his invasion of Ukraine.


Directed by: Bryan Fogel
Starring: Bryan Fogel, Grigory Rodchenkov
Country: USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,185: 'Cocaine Cowboys' (2006)

Anyone familiar with the story of Pablo Escobar and the Medellin Cartel will know how the mass manufacturing and distribution of cocaine turned Colombia into a war zone, with top politicians and judges routinely assassinated, and gang wars spilling violence onto the streets on a daily basis. Billy Corben's documentary Cocaine Cowboys focuses on the effect the most fashionable drug of the 80s had on Miami, which was the main entry point for masses of imported cocaine. Soon enough, the city once seen as the holiday spot for retired old folks was turned into the richest place in the world, with luxury car dealerships and expensive jewellery shops popping up all over, and of course, lots and lots of banks. The sudden boom was all down to cocaine consumption, and this came with a heavy price.

Corben tells the story using a variety of interviews, news reports, archive footage and photographs, lending a voice to everyone from smugglers, enforcers, politicians and law enforcement. The most fascinating insight is given by pilots Jon Roberts and Mickey Munday, who decided to get into the drug trade early on, making an unfathomable fortune in the process. They offer entertaining anecdotes about their experiences, and were making so much money that they lived in little fear of getting caught, even buying their own airports to import the goods in complete secrecy. Roberts and Munday were just regular guys who never dreamed that they could ever become so wealthy, and made sure to enjoy the high-life while it lasted. The main threat came from the cartel itself, which was so powerful and far-reaching that one foot out of line and you were dead, often by way of horrific torture.

The film's final third focuses heavily on the 'Cocaine Wars' that became so out-of-hand and brazen that it led to military intervention. This segment is told through the recollections of the deceptively charming inmate Jorge 'Rivi' Ayala, a former hitman for crime family matriarch Griselda Blanco - known as the 'Godmother' - a woman capable of unspeakable cruelty and brutality. If she didn't like your face, you were a goner, and often entire families, including young children, were wiped out in order to leave no witnesses. It's a mind-blowing tale of how one drug can have such a devastating effect on a country, and it's told in a fast-paced, almost coked-up fashion, with the clever use of subtle animation to make stills feel alive, and a wealth of shocking and revealing archive footage to paint a clear picture of a city in crisis. A 'Reloaded' edition was released in 2014, which adds over 30 minutes of footage and provides updates on some of the subjects. I've seen both, and the original, shorter version tells a much tighter story.


Directed by: Billy Corben
Starring: Jon Roberts, Mickey Munday, Jorge Ayala
Country: USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,169: 'Unknown White Male' (2005)

What if you could wake up one morning and re-boot your brain, rid yourself of all the emotional baggage built up throughout the years and sever relationships with those who you perhaps feel are holding you back or influencing you in a negative way? If you could somehow throw away 30 years of your memory, would this change the person you are, and perhaps even shape you into a less cynical and all-round nicer person? This is the question pondered by first-time filmmaker Rupert Murray in his documentary Unknown White Male, a film that follows his good friend Doug Bruce following a sudden attack of amnesia which left him wandering the streets of New York without knowledge of who he is and where he was.

In 2003, Doug woke up on a subway train in Coney Island with only a backpack full of seemingly random objects and a scrawled telephone number to offer any clue to his identity. Stumbling into a police station, he rang the number and spoke to a lady who had no idea who he was. Moved onto a psychiatric hospital, it felt like Doug would never be allowed to leave until the daughter of the lady on the phone recognised him as an old boyfriend and quickly picked him up. Despite being able to remember certain facts such as the names of a few cities in Australia, everything was gone, and suddenly his friends and family became strangers. Murray joins him as he pieces the puzzle together, reuniting with his loved ones who accept the new Doug with open arms. When he was once 'cynical' with 'an edge', he now has a more optimistic, untainted view on life.

There's a lot riding on whether or not you actually believe the story being told, as although I would like to believe that it's true personally, there are some faintly questionable moments. Is it sheer luck that Doug was a photographer who decided to capture his first week with memory loss on film, or that one of his best friends was a budding documentary filmmaker? Perhaps. Regardless, Unknown White Male is a clumsily put-together and amateurish piece of work which places you in the company of a bunch of people who aren't particularly likeable. With the loose approach taken, it would have worked better as a short, but as a full-length feature, it would have been improved with more scientific background into the rare condition and expert analysis. There are moments that work well, such as Doug's amazement at the crowd gathering outside Buckingham Palace to witness the changing of the guard, but the sheer sloppiness of the film makes it a wasted opportunity to tell a fascinating story.


Directed by: Rupert Murray
Starring: Doug Bruce
Country: USA/UK

Rating: **

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,167: 'O.J.: Made in America' (2016)

On June 12th, 1994, Nicole Brown Simpson, the ex-wife of lauded American football player and all-round superstar O.J. Simpson, was murdered, along with her friend Ron Goldman. Both were stabbed multiple times, with Nicole's injuries so severe that her head was almost completely severed from her body. The crime scene was appalling and was clearly the aftermath of a frenzied attack, with all evidence pointing to O.J.. What followed was truly the biggest media sensation of our time; a circus in the ugliest sense of the word which divided America between blacks and whites. The case continues to fascinate, and despite the many documentaries covering the trial, Ezra Edelman's O.J.: Made in America finds new ground to cover, interviewing practically anyone caught up in the trial and juxtaposing O.J.'s story with that of the horror of growing up black in Los Angeles.

Released as a five-part mini-series on ESPN for their 30 to 30 series, Made in America also made a limited appearance on cinema screen, and received its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. Controversially, this qualified it as a feature and for the Best Documentary Academy Award (which it won), and watched as a whole the film runs at a whopping 7 hours plus. But anyone who states it was undeserved needs to watch the film again, as this is about as detailed, powerful and utterly gripping as documentary film-making gets. It seems to cover just about every angle, bringing in anybody who was anybody in the events leading up to the murder and the aftermath for revealing interviews, as well as boasting a stunning collection of archive footage. It's meticulously researched stuff, and even if you know the long-studied case back to front, you will still find something new. 

Starting way back, we are taken through O.J.'s rise as a star college football player, leaping over or barging through anybody who stood in his way. He was worshipped almost like a God, and took this success to an unhappy period as a professional playing in Buffalo, where he was away from the glitz and glamour of Hollywood. We move through his tearful retirement to his move into acting, where he appeared in the likes of Capricorn One (1977) and The Naked Gun (1988), and his successful run as the face of Hertz. There's also his initially sweeping love affair with a beautiful young blonde named Nicole Brown, before the reports of domestic violence began. We witness a black man becoming a superstar in a white world that falsely preached equality, and he sat comfortably in that world while his fellow African-Americans were suffering terrible abuse at the hands of the law. Time and time again we witness a black man, woman or child murdered, beaten or treated like a dog by the police, only for them to be acquitted of the crime. Payback, it would seem, was on the cards, as the trial of O.J. Simpson began.

We are left in no question as to whether or not O.J. did it. He comes across as a master manipulator, ready to throw anybody under the bus - and have them be grateful at the same time - if it will give him a foot forward. A controlling, egotistical bully who would leave visible prints of his boot on Nicole's face, he is truly the worst kind of scumbag. The outcome of the trial certainly isn't excused (the prosecutor reminds the court late on that nobody seems to remember than Nicole and Ron were the actual victims), but it goes some way to explain it. You can feel the anger brewing as the film goes on, and through some truly disturbing footage of the Rodney King beating and the murder of Latasha Harlin, makes you angry with them. It portrays an entire country divided, with the trial playing out as an obvious metaphor for a nation in complete disarray, while the disgusting flaws in the American Justice System are exposed to a bleary-eyed prosecution. It's a work of true scholarship and unyielding ambition, and a frightening indictment of just how little has changed. 

Directed by: Ezra Edelman

Starring: O.J. Simpson, Nicole Brown Simpson

Country: USA

Rating: *****

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,147: 'My Scientology Movie' (2015)

It was only a matter of time before BBC documentary film-maker Louis Theroux made the leap from the small screen to the big. With his unique brand of investigative journalism and interview techniques, as well as a splash of oddball charm, Theroux managed to put his subjects at ease in his presence and allow them to reveal startling inner truths. Much like Werner Herzog, he is fascinated by the weird, and seemed to carry weirdness with him wherever he goes (within minutes, Theroux randomly comes across a bikini-clad Paz de la Huerta who offers her services for the film). So when he announced that his next focus would be on the closed-off world of scientology, it didn't come as much surprise. However, the timing of it did.

A decade ago, the majority of the general public may have only heard the term 'scientology' in relation to Hollywood stars such as Tom Cruise and John Travolta, but many were unaware of just how bizarre and brutal their beliefs and institutional set-up truly is. A hilarious and enlightening episode of South Park later, combined with Alex Gibney's revelatory and in-depth feature-length documentary Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief (2015), and the lid has been lifted on David Miscavige and his rule of tyranny. Does Theroux have anything new to say on the controversial 'religion'? Not at all. In fact, the only thing saving his debut feature from being a complete misfire is the way he approaches the subject, along with some genuinely spooky imagery.

Rather than regurgitating Gibney and with the knowledge that he was going to get nowhere with the incredibly secretive organisation, Theroux has chosen to hire actors to play out archive interviews of Miscavige and Tom Cruise in the hope of persuading former Scientology enforcer Marty Rathbun (who accompanies Theroux for most of the film) to open up about his experiences. This technique was so successfully and devastatingly used in Joshua Oppenheimer's The Act of Killing (2012), but Rathbun remains a frustratingly closed-off figure, and eventually flips when Theroux asks one probing question too many. The most entertaining scenes involve Theroux's clashes with various members of the group but they offer little other than to remind just how loopy these people are. John Dower's film is certainly funny and entertaining, but lacking originality and insight (although I feel I must highlight the performance of Andrew Perez as Miscavige, who is electrifying).


Directed by: John Dower
Starring: Louis Theroux, Marty Rathbun, Andrew Perez
Country: UK/USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,082: 'Into the Abyss' (2011)

In 2001, teenagers Michael Perry and Jason Burkett were arrested and charged with a triple-homicide shortly after an intense shootout with the police. They were convicted of murdering 50-year old nurse Sandra Stotler, her sixteen year old son Adam, and his friend Jeremy Richardson. They shot and killed Sandra with a shotgun in her garage so they could steal her valuable red Camaro, and later murdered the two teenagers to obtain the keys to the gate of their middle-class community estate. As a result, Perry was sentenced to die by lethal injection, and Burkett was given a life sentence.

Just how one culprit can be slated to die while the other gets to spend their life behind bars for the same crime is just one of the many questions raised in Werner Herzog's objective documentary on capital punishment. We meet Perry early on, child-like and God-fearing, just 8 days before he is due to die. During this meeting, Herzog reveals his own feelings about the death penalty (he's strictly against it) and even tells the inmate that he doesn't like him very much, but that he also respects everyone's humanity and point of view. The film is not a condemnation of Death Row, but a meditation, and Herzog simply sits back and allows the story to tell itself through interviews from all sides and sporadic narration.

Although it does cover the crime itself in detail, Into the Abyss is not a re-investigation, but tells the story of the horrifying events back in 2001 juxtaposed with interviews from 2010 to allow us to make up our own mind and absorb the devastating affects such an act of brutality can cause. The most heart-breaking moment comes from the interview with Burkett's father, a prisoner himself, as he comes to terms with his own role in his son's fate. We learn of the events that attributed to his boy's character and eventual destiny, and wonder if society failed him. We then see how the crime left Sandra Stotler's daughter completely alone in life, and wonder why such a monster like Burkett should be allowed to live. You may find yourself discussing the topic in depth afterwards, but on hearing Perry's final words to the victim's families before he was given a lethal dose, I could not bring myself to believe that watching him die would ever bring them inner peace.


Directed by: Werner Herzog
Starring: Werner Herzog, Michael Perry, Jason Burkett
Country: USA/UK/Germany

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,062: 'Paragraph 175' (2000)

Despite the wealth of documentaries and factual dramas covering the atrocities committed by the Nazis under the command of Adolf Hitler, there is always another story, as equally horrifying as it is unbelievable, to come out of the woodwork. This harrowing documentary by Rob Epstein (The Times of Harvey Milk (1984)) and Jeffrey Friedman (Howl (2010)) focuses on the social persecution and mass murder of approximately 75,000 German homosexual men under Nazi rule. Paragraph 175 of the German Criminal Code forbade homosexual activity, placing it on the same level as bestiality and paedophilia, and the law was broadened by Hitler during his rise to power as he sought to 'purify' the German race. The law remained in place until 1994.

Early scenes show a 1920's Berlin in full swing, where the young danced, drank and experimented sexually without fear of persecution. Paragraph 175 existed but was rarely enforced, and the young partied freely in a country relieved to come out of the carnage of World War I in one piece. As the Jews were starting to be rounded up and placed in ghettos ready for the concentration camps, homosexual men were under the impression that simply being German would be enough to save them. Similar to what they did with the Jews, the Nazis did nothing at first, allowing the men to congregate in their night clubs and hot spots, only to be rounded up later once they finally felt safe. The emphasis here is on homosexual men as Hitler thought lesbianism to be curable, and why waste a perfectly functional carrier of future Aryans?

The interviewees taking part in Paragraph 175 have been largely quiet for decades, with the German government largely resistant to acknowledging the mass-murder of gay men and many countries oblivious to what took place. They often talk in hushed voices, with one man describing the 'singing forest', a place that sounds like some kind of haven he escaped to amidst the madness. Instead, it was named for the screams that echoed throughout, as victims were hung from hooks and left to die. Others describe of seeing their friends being torn apart by dogs, while another, more animated than the others, tells of how he was he was raped with planks of wood by Nazi officers while under questioning. It's a shocking, important tale largely ignored even by World War II enthusiasts, eloquently told by the two filmmakers.


Directed by: Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman
Narrator: Rupert Everett
Country: UK/Germany/USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,057: 'Deliver Us from Evil' (2006)

When I first saw Amy Berg's powerful documentary Delivery Us From Evil back in 2006, the film's revelations shocked, angered and utterly appalled me. Ten years later, the film still packs an emotional punch, despite the quite unbelievable extent of child abuse throughout the Catholic Church now being common knowledge. The Boston Globe's 2001 investigations into the systemic abuse in Boston alone led to widespread news coverage, and, of course, Tom McCarthy's film Spotlight which dramatised these events won the Best Picture Oscar just earlier this year.

The power of Berg's film lies within the raw emotion laid out on screen. Interviewing both Father Oliver O'Grady, an Irish priest who raped an estimated 25 children in California between the 1970's and 1990's, and some of his victims, the film reveals the rippling affects the abuse has had on the individuals themselves as well as their families. The most powerful scene is the moment where Bob Jyono, the father of one of the victims, breaks down with anger and guilt, explaining how he invited O'Grady into his home only for the priest he trusted to repeatedly rape his daughter. O'Grady not only destroyed his family, but broke his faith in the church.

O'Grady himself speaks openly about his experiences. He apologises and expresses his regret over his actions, but there is a startling disconnect in his confessions. However, O'Grady is not the only one on trial here, as Berg expands the focus to the Church itself, and especially Cardinal Mahony, the man who knew about O'Grady exploits and did nothing to stop it. Rather than expelling the priest for his actions, the Church simply shifted him around the California area. The Church's cover-up is perhaps the most sickening thing of all, and the revelation that an estimated 10% of Catholic priests were known to be abusers is simply unforgivable. This is an agonising, yet necessary watch.


Directed by: Amy Berg
Starring: Oliver O'Grady
Country: USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,028: 'H.H. Holmes: America's First Serial Killer' (2004)

Anyone who shares my own morbid fascination with serial killers know that finding a well-made and thoroughly researched documentary feature on the Ted Bundy's and Jeffrey Dahmer's of this world is extremely hard to come by. The grisly subject matter tends to attract the attention of daytime crime channels that churn out hour-long true crime stories that sensationalise the horror to admittedly entertaining degrees (they're a good way to pass an hour), or no-name directors who substitute anything resembling a psychological character study for something all the more exploitative (although there is the odd exception, see 2000's Ed Gein or 2002's Bundy for examples of the kind of duds I'm referring to). John Borowski's H.H. Holmes: America's First Serial Killer is a crude mixture of both.

H.H. Holmes, the notorious mass-murderer made all the more infamous for his carefully constructed 'castle' of labyrinthine corridors and winding staircases that led to various torture chambers and rooms rigged for death, arrived in Chicago in 1886. Landing a job at a chemist, Holmes eventually purchased the business when the owner died, promising the widow to pay her in monthly instalments only for her to never be seen again. Amassing a tidy sum of money through various conning schemes, Holmes constructed his house of horrors, regularly firing the workers after a short period of time to ensure that only he knew the true structure. When the World's Fair arrived in 1983, Holmes preyed upon the tourists who flooded into the city, killing up to an estimated 200 people during his spree.

Running at little over an hour, this cheap-as-chips documentary feels like a stretched-out TV special, repeatedly using the same stock footage and photographs as narrator Tony Jay blandly reads from his script, informing us of facts and theories that a better director than John Borowski would have wound into the narrative in other, more intelligent ways. As Holmes operated so long ago, the little that is actually documented about his activities and the lack of forensic analysis now so taken for granted only adds to the mystery and sheer creepiness of this terrible man, but the documentary, somehow, fails to exploit this, using laughable re-enactments that even fail in comparison to the likes of the Born to Kill? true crime series. If you have a spare half an hour and internet access, you would learn more from Holmes's Wikipedia page than you will from this movie.


Directed by: John Borowski
Narrator: Tony Jay
Country: USA

Rating: **

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,023: 'The Act of Killing' (2012)

The 1960's saw great political upheaval in Indonesia, with then-President Sukarno being overthrown by Suharto, and the Indonesian Communist Party finding themselves the subject of a widespread propaganda smear campaign. Death squads were created to systematically wipe out the Communist party and anyone suspecting of sympathising with the organisation. Between 1965 and 1966, it is estimated somewhere in between of 500,000 and 1 million Indonesians were murdered in a massacre widely ignored by Western countries. Shockingly, the heads of the death squads still hold power and influence in their country, with many now employed as high-ranking military officers.

A straight-forward documentary covering the topic would have no doubt been a powerful and upsetting experience, but director Joshua Oppenheimer, along with co-directors Christine Cynn and somebody listed as 'Anonymous', have rejected this approach and, with The Act of Killing, have subverted the genre entirely. Obviously appalled at the countries failure to highlight the atrocity and punish those responsible for the crimes committed, Oppenheimer has instead opted to give the killers the opportunity to tell their own story. Yet rather than talking-heads juxtaposed with archive footage, Oppenheimer gave them a film crew and the freedom to depict their acts in a movie of their own making. The results, quite frankly, are utterly astonishing.

Portraying their war crimes in a variety of genres that range from musical numbers and film noir to westerns and bizarre dream-like sequences, their cinematic vision is naturally cheesy and poorly handled, complete with bad acting and stodgy dialogue, with one gangster over-eager to dress in drag in an effort to lighten the tone (and succeeding in the process). However, Oppenheimer isn't interested in the final product (which we don't get to see), but how the film-making process affects those involved. At first, these killers, rapists and torturers are utterly loathsome, demonstrating absolutely no remorse whatsoever about their actions. One, Anwar Congo, gleefully displays his efficient method of murder, which involves strangulation by wire, while another boasts to his friends about the delights of raping a 14-year old girl.

Yet Congo, who is viewed as a sort of celebrity in his country, starts to reflects on the pain and suffering he has caused. In one scene, he plays a victim being interrogated while tied to a chair. When the wire is tied around his neck, the experience has a profound affect on him, sitting motionless in silence as his friends look concerned and baffled. He later watches it back, transfixed, and starts to break down. The Act of Killing is careful not to sympathise with its subjects (Oppenheimer quickly points out to Congo that his victims' experience would have been far worse), but at least tries to understand them. It's less about the atrocities Indonesia experienced than the act of killing itself, and what could possibly drive anybody to such cold-blooded barbarity. It's a powerful and moving experience like no other movie I've ever seen, and it is no overstatement to hail this as one of the greatest documentaries ever made.


Directed by: Joshua Oppenheimer
Starring: Anwar Congo, Herman Koto
Country: Denmark/Norway/UK

Rating: *****

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,021: 'Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country' (2008)

In 1962, the Burmese government was overthrown in a coup by the socialist military, who maintained control of the country until 2011. During this time, Burma deteriorated into poverty, while any protests or statements made against the ruling government were quickly crushed through intimidation, torture, outlandishly long jail sentences and executions. In 1988, a series of marches, rallies and protests now known as the 8888 Uprising were brought to a bloody end as the military killed 3,000 civilians in the streets.

With the media controlled by the state and a ban on any footage leaving the country, the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) has trained its journalists to work as guerrilla cameraman, working in the shadows to capture any acts of oppression or revolution. They work as a network but rarely meet, communicating using mobile phones and internet chatrooms, and frequently putting themselves at great personal risk. Being captured could mean death, with our narrator, known as 'Joshua', having his footage wiped early on by secret police and being forced into exile. Clever reconstructions of Joshua receiving updates on a new uprising now known as the Saffron Revolution, led by the Buddhist monks, forms a tense narrative.

The footage captured by the DVB is astonishing, with the action taking place right before your eyes. It is also, at times, incredibly intimate. Early on, the monks distrust the DVB, suspecting they are secret police. When the cameramen are attacked by plain-clothes military, the monks protect them and trust is immediately solidified. You are instantly swept up by the protesters elation and feel their incredible sense of hope, so it's absolutely shattering to see it all torn away. Director Anders Ostergaard weaves the footage together expertly, and the film is wholly deserving of its Best Documentary nomination at the Academy Awards in 2010 (and probably deserved to win). It's as close as you could get to being on the streets of a country under a crushing regime, and the results are frustrating and terrifying.


Directed by: Anders Østergaard
Country: Denmark/Sweden/Norway/UK/USA/Germany/Netherlands/Israel/Spain/Belgium/Canada

Rating: *****

Tom Gillespie

Review #968: 'Amy' (2015)

When the news broke on July 23rd 2011 that singer and songwriter Amy Winehouse had been found dead of complications brought on by years of drug and alcohol abuse, there was almost a "told you so" response by the public, or at least the people who I interacted with. People certainly mourned the passing of a truly great artist, but there was an air of inevitability, almost as if this was the natural end to her brief career. Her life played out in front of the tabloids and no doubt played a key part in her sad demise, but Amy, directed by Asif Kapadia of Senna (2010) fame, explores a wealth of home footage previously unseen in an attempt to unravel just what drove the young lady to such self-destruction.

The home footage that has been uncovered is often extremely intimate stuff. We at first meet Amy as a teenager. Pretty, loud and full of life, she and her friends are just lounging about being regular teenagers until Amy suddenly bursts into a rendition of Happy Birthday. The soundtrack then kicks in with her youthful version of Moon River, and it's difficult not to be bowled over by such a soulful voice coming out of the then 19 year-old. As her career begins to pick up, she is asked how she believes she would react to fame. She replies that she doesn't believe she could handle it. Following the release of Frank, her first album, the excessive drug and alcohol intake begins, just as two key male figures re-enter her life.

Kapadia avoids laying the blame on anyone in particular, as the two people who come across the worst in this documentary - her father Mitch Winehouse and husband Blake Fielder-Civil - are heavy participants in the film. It was Fielder-Civil who first introduced Amy to crack, and when her friends gathered around her to try and put a stop to it, her father told her that she didn't need help. This, of course, was the inspiration for the song Rehab. It is at this point, around the half-way mark, that Amy becomes difficult to watch. We all saw the pictures of her bloody and red-eyed at the end of one particularly heavy binge in the newspapers, but its the revelation that Amy told one of her friends everything is boring without drugs during a clean spell that hits home the most.

However, this is not just an extremely sad tale of a talented artists death, Amy also celebrates the music and, in particular, her song-writing ability. During most of the stunning performance footage on show here, her vocals are accompanied by her lyrics written on-screen, which are not only extremely important in helping to understand Amy, but help sculpt the narrative of the film. She is praised as one of the finest jazz singers of all time by Tony Bennett, and it's difficult to disagree. The praise lavished upon her here makes it even more difficult to watch the footage of various comedians mocking the troubled singer. In an age of instant reactions on social media, I guess it has now become socially acceptable to make jokes about a woman in her twenties crippled by mental illness and addition. It's an extremely upsetting story, and when the credits roll it genuinely feels like you have lost a friend.


Directed by: Asif Kapadia
Starring: Amy Winehouse, Mitch Winehouse, Blake Fielder-Civil
Country: UK/USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #932: 'Man on Wire' (2008)

On the morning of August 7th, 1972, in New York, something occurred that brought shock and exhilaration to the city's inhabitants. Eccentric French acrobat Philippe Petit wire-walked between the two towers of the World Trade Centre, as onlookers watched in awe and the police waited patiently at either side. Not only did he walk between the towers without safety precautions, but he also tip-toed gleefully back and forth, beckoned for the helpless police to come and catch him, and even found time to have a lie down in the process. With Robert Zemeckis's The Walk currently in cinemas, with Joseph Gordon-Levitt starring as Petit, it seemed a perfect time to re-visit James Marsh's miraculous documentary Man on Wire.

After encountering Petit on a radio show, what struck director Marsh so much about the story is how the meticulous planning that went into this highly illegal act and the round-up of Petit's assisting crew resembled that of a heist movie. With thrilling reconstructions, cleverly played out with silhouettes and shadows, we witness the intense research that went into making this extremely dangerous stunt feasible and safe, the various undercover operations done in plain sight to gather visual information on the building, and of course, the job itself. At one point, Petit and a colleague hide from wandering security officers under a plastic tarp for what feels like an eternity. Ever wondered how they got the wire over that tremendous drop? Well, now you'll know, and it's probably not how you thought.

The central spectacle aside, Man on Wire is very much about Petit himself. Narcissist, egotist, attention-seeker - he is of course all of these things (what great performers aren't?) - but he is also highly intelligent, charismatic, and uses beautiful language when he talks. From a young age, he dreamt of walking in the clouds, and his early life was neatly synchronised with the construction of the World Trade Centre, to which he kept close tabs on over the years. Dazzling crowds with a unicycle and slight of hand tricks, Petit trained for his ultimate goal by walking between towers at Notre Dame Cathedral and Sydney Harbour Bridge. But the World Trade Centre remained an almost mythical entity to Petit, something that was built for him and something he was born to conquer.

Anyone who suffers from a fear of heights may perhaps want to avoid the film. While his climactic walk in New York is shown only with still photographs (no video footage was taken from the top), his previous walks are caught in all their vertigo-inducing glory. Yet these stunts aren't designed to terrify, and although they certainly forced my heart into my mouth, they create an almost transcendent sense of wonder. When recollecting the World Trade Centre walk, many of Petit's accomplices break down in tears. This was a truly special thing - a man literally walking in the clouds - and it is something that can never be done again. It's also fitting that the 9/11 attacks are not mentioned in the movie, as this is as a much a love-letter to the memory of the twin towers as it is to the human spirit of Philippe Petit.


Directed by: James Marsh
Starring: Philippe Petit
Country: UK/USA

Rating: *****

Tom Gillespie