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Reviews
Capturing the Friedmans (2003)
A confusion of mixed stories
It has been a good 18 months or so for the Documentary ouvre. While Etre et avoir stands out as being truly exceptional, 'Spellbound' and 'Touching the void' also achieve much. 'Capturing the Friedmans' falls short of these high standards. It is a very confusing story in which no one comes out well. The Father, the brothers, the mother, the police, the lawyers - none of them seem worthy of our trust at face value; all of them have guilt and our suspicions are aimed at all of them. Ultimately this isn't a story about the case of the Friedmans but rather about who one believes. Do you side with the family (and with which elements of the family if you do) or do you side with the authorities? The narrative of the film chooses to follow this did he? didn't he? theme which seems a little insulting to the victims. If they are guilty then this toying is somewhat in bad taste. I don't like films that predictably attain that awful word 'closure'. But the grey ending style of film is becoming a little predictable too. This just ends with a what happened next to the main players which tells us nothing and we leave with nothing but disappointment.
The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara (2003)
Interesting but limited
It cannot be doubted that Robert McNamara was involved in some of the key moments of the 20th century and this film details them well from his perspective. And, naturally enough considering the subtitle of the film, we only see things through his eyes. Thus, this must be considered as a film about Robert McNamara rather than an authentic history of the times. We see him at his strongest and weakest; we see him at his most influential and least. Most of all, we see him keep his cards quite close to his chest. He can be very unrevealing at times, particularly on Vietnam. As a historical source, this is a valuable insight into the opinions of one of the most powerful men of the 20th century. As a film, it lacks colour and clarity and looks like a educational historical source.
Valentín (2002)
Twee - dull
This was terribly disappointing. I looked forward to seeing this greatly but the sentimentality of it was horrendous. It never missed an opportunity to be saccharine-sweet and this became intensely irritating. Appended to the fact that there is no plot and is merely one twee scene followed by another makes this a very disappointing experience. Not good. Surely, we must evolve beyond the cute kid being cute kind of movie. How about some realism rather than just aiming for the tear-jerking (or giggling hysterically, if you're me) moments of cute kid trying to survive in a world of ignorant adults. That point has been made so many times: it doesn't need to be told again