Film Festival Film #1: Sin Tregua ("Unwanted Witness")

[bcholmes]

The first film was a documentary film about journalism in Colombia. Hollman Morris is a veteran journalist in Colombia, and the film focuses on his life. He spends time trying to document the ongoing conflict going on in the country. He takes camera crews to sites of recent conflict, or to observe the digging-up of mass graves.

I thought it was an okay film. But I think it tries to do to much to build up how hard his personal choices are in a telling-not-showing way. The film spends too much time trying to highlight the difficulty of Hollman's career choices on his family. And the more-direct victims of conflict -- people who don't have as many choices as Hollman has -- they're nothing more than metonym's for Hollman's cause. Their losses or grief seldom get as much exposure as the various award ceremonies we get to observe. And there were too many moody shots of the city at dusk. Pacing was just off.

My friend put it best: "it was an easy topic to have strong feelings for, but I didn't really feel much."