Hot Docs 2010: May 9 (Sunday)

Reviews of screenings from the 2010 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, Toronto, Canada.

American Radical: the Trials of Norman Finkelstein (Dir: David Ridgen and Nicolas Rossier)

Sometimes you can say something wrong, but sell it with charming words. Sometimes you can say something right, and make it seem wrong with the way you say it. Somewhere in the middle of all this is Norman Finkelstein, American academic. By his own admission not easy to get along with, Finkelstein refuses to sugarcoat or mediate his views, and the way he uncompromisingly delivers them bothers people as much as what he is saying. And given that his areas of focus include a critique of Zionism and strong support for the Palestinian people, there are plenty who don't like what he has to say.

Ridgen and Rossier follow Finkelstein on his travels, as well as sit down with him for lengthy conversations. We also hear from his supporters (including Noam Chomsky) as well as his opponents (including Alan Dershowitz, with whom he started a nasty tussle over academic standards). The latter incident seems to be one where Finkelstein exhibits a poor ability to pick his battles. Or, perhaps, here is a man who will knock at any pillars of injustice that he sees, without fear that the the ceiling may collapse upon him. Ultimately as much a psychological portrait as reportage of his positions, we are left with a complicated view of an uncompromising man. Interesting stuff.

Land (Dir: Julian Pinder)

There's a long history of los gringos coming to Nicaragua, and their past record is bad enough that when the developers arrive on the coast to start building luxury resorts and retirement residences for those from el norte, they were viewed with suspicion by the locals. In this doc, we watch from a variety of perspectives along the would-be "Nicaraguan Riviera". Besides the developers, we hear from another wave of Americans, who had come here to get off the grid and away from the frontier that they now see encroaching on them. Plus, there are the locals, some of whom think that the developer that is also building a school is on the right track — until they are told that it's not a school for the local children, but one for them to be taught to be waiters and chambermaids. All of this is set against a backdrop of the national elections, where former Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega is making a comeback, and everyone holds their breath, wondering whose side he is now on in protecting land rights.

An interesting story, generally well told, with close access to all involved — the developers especially are given enough rope to hang themselves rhetorically. But the narrative is a little fragmented, and the soundtrack, while nicely done with an elegant string quartet, is occasionally overbearing. And you know that overly literal approach where someone says something like, "a hard rain's gonna fall", and the filmmaker makes a jumpcut to a rainstorm? There's a bit too much of that. But on the whole, a good job.

Paired with the eight minute short Basin (Dir: David Geiss), a sort of "our home on native land" rumination on Alberta's notorious oil sands. Juxtaposing images of pristine wilderness with aerial moonscape shots of the oil sand developments, the movie strikes a there's-something-wrong-here chord. But it doesn't really linger long enough to make that much more of a point beyond that.