STATE OF SIEGE
If there is one thing I hate when watching movies, it’s not being presented with a bad one – purposely or not – but rather being proposed with the fact that the given film just wasn’t for me. Because as ridiculous as it sounds, I want every single movie I watch to be “for me”, if that makes sense… But we are all different and therefore not every single film falls into your personal taste, however, I do always try my very best to find out what it is a given film has that makes it great to others. I feel like that is a huge importance as a self-certified cinephile, to challenge yourself with all that it has to offer and really dive into the mindset of the movie and the audience it is supposed to appeal to. But for this particular movie, it might be the hardest I have ever tried to put myself up for that challenge… and I failed miserably.
I can’t really say anything that hasn’t already been said, but this is a very bareboned political propaganda film, which presents us with these events and the facts and the people in it. But as a viewer I felt completely uninvited into what was going on. It is clearly a director who had a very strong opinion about something and wanted to use his voice in filmmaking to speak up about the truth. But to me it becomes a thin one-note statement, taking two hours to present, rather than an interesting exploration of the events on display. It doesn’t feel like it has a beginning, it mostly has a middle and sort of an end. It is more about this one event and how it seemingly played out. Told as straight forward as possible to feel authentic and “real” I guess.
While I kind of like the washed out, blueish cinematography, the technical aspects are generally pretty bland or just confused. Yes, there are some fancy camera moves, but not all of them feels earned. It never really becomes a prominent part of the film and neither does the acting. The story is front and center, but that story isn’t really told in any exciting way. I’m not saying they should Hollywoodize the **** out of the script, but once again it seems like it is all about this one story and this one side of that story, which is being told in a very monotone manner for more than two hours. For people who knows a lot about the event and who feels very strongly about it, this is probably a great film. But since I don’t know anything, the film should work to make me care. And it never does. It doesn’t seem to invite people in who aren’t already “a part of it” in one way or another.
Political films can certainly appeal to me, but personally I’m not crazy about politics in general, and it seems like you either have to be very passionate about politics, or the plot of which the film is based upon, to actually enjoy this film. As a movie, it fails completely for me, but as a political statement, I’m sure it did exactly what it should. I guess I just have to admit that I bumped headfirst into a cold concrete wall of political propaganda, which gave me headache more than anything. This movie was the first time in a long time where I felt like – no matter how hard I tried – I just couldn’t give it the chance it probably deserved. I truly struggled with this one and this review was a really long write-up about that very frustration. So as simply put as I can, this movie just hit me in all the wrong places and this type of movie just isn’t for me at all. It is clearly loved and respected by many, so I will respectfully say that “it’s not you, it’s me” … I’m sorry.
If there is one thing I hate when watching movies, it’s not being presented with a bad one – purposely or not – but rather being proposed with the fact that the given film just wasn’t for me. Because as ridiculous as it sounds, I want every single movie I watch to be “for me”, if that makes sense… But we are all different and therefore not every single film falls into your personal taste, however, I do always try my very best to find out what it is a given film has that makes it great to others. I feel like that is a huge importance as a self-certified cinephile, to challenge yourself with all that it has to offer and really dive into the mindset of the movie and the audience it is supposed to appeal to. But for this particular movie, it might be the hardest I have ever tried to put myself up for that challenge… and I failed miserably.
I can’t really say anything that hasn’t already been said, but this is a very bareboned political propaganda film, which presents us with these events and the facts and the people in it. But as a viewer I felt completely uninvited into what was going on. It is clearly a director who had a very strong opinion about something and wanted to use his voice in filmmaking to speak up about the truth. But to me it becomes a thin one-note statement, taking two hours to present, rather than an interesting exploration of the events on display. It doesn’t feel like it has a beginning, it mostly has a middle and sort of an end. It is more about this one event and how it seemingly played out. Told as straight forward as possible to feel authentic and “real” I guess.
While I kind of like the washed out, blueish cinematography, the technical aspects are generally pretty bland or just confused. Yes, there are some fancy camera moves, but not all of them feels earned. It never really becomes a prominent part of the film and neither does the acting. The story is front and center, but that story isn’t really told in any exciting way. I’m not saying they should Hollywoodize the **** out of the script, but once again it seems like it is all about this one story and this one side of that story, which is being told in a very monotone manner for more than two hours. For people who knows a lot about the event and who feels very strongly about it, this is probably a great film. But since I don’t know anything, the film should work to make me care. And it never does. It doesn’t seem to invite people in who aren’t already “a part of it” in one way or another.
Political films can certainly appeal to me, but personally I’m not crazy about politics in general, and it seems like you either have to be very passionate about politics, or the plot of which the film is based upon, to actually enjoy this film. As a movie, it fails completely for me, but as a political statement, I’m sure it did exactly what it should. I guess I just have to admit that I bumped headfirst into a cold concrete wall of political propaganda, which gave me headache more than anything. This movie was the first time in a long time where I felt like – no matter how hard I tried – I just couldn’t give it the chance it probably deserved. I truly struggled with this one and this review was a really long write-up about that very frustration. So as simply put as I can, this movie just hit me in all the wrong places and this type of movie just isn’t for me at all. It is clearly loved and respected by many, so I will respectfully say that “it’s not you, it’s me” … I’m sorry.
An unfortunate end to this HoF for me, but on a positive note I am now done with both the watching and the reviewing... I will send my list shortly.
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/watching movies for mark f/
MovieMeditation's Cinema Reviews // Film Diary 2015 // Letterboxd Profile // MovieMeditation's Top 50 Horror
/watching movies for mark f/
MovieMeditation's Cinema Reviews // Film Diary 2015 // Letterboxd Profile // MovieMeditation's Top 50 Horror