Hot Docs 2011: May 6 (Friday)

Reviews of screenings from the 2011 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, Toronto, Canada.

Project Nim (Dir: James Marsh)

I went into this with some trepidation, not having enjoyed Man on Wire, Marsh's previous effort, and near the start I thought this one might be heading in the same direction. Like Man on Wire, this is a historical story being told with a mix of archival footage, new interviews and some re-creations holding it all together. Although there were a few points where the re-creation footage stuck out like a sore thumb and really pulled the viewer out of the movie, everything else on offer here really held together to tell an excellent story. The titular Nim Chimpsky was a chimpanzee taken from his mother two weeks after being born and raised among a family of human hippies. Taught to use sign language, Nim was then raised further by a team of scientists, eager to see how far a little human nurturing could go. His life after that took many mostly-tragic turns — anyone uncomfortable at the sign of footage of animal medical experimentation will be made uncomfortable. While looking at the complications of doing rigourous science in a social environment — power relationships among the humans and with Nim were always interestingly in flux — the film raises questions galore. Most notably: what duty of care do we owe to someone to whom we ascribe some semblance of personhood? But beyond that, this is a fascinating and emotional ride, worthy of being seen with an upcoming wide release.

At Night, They Dance (Dir: Isabelle Lavigne & Stéphane Thibault)

I was primarily interested in this to see something new from directors Lavigne and Thibault, whose Junior was a highlight of the 2008 festival. Using the same unobtrusive verité method from that film they take us into a very different world, following the lives of a family of belly dancers in Egypt. Unfortunately, this film never reaches the same level of fascination, feeling fragmented and under-explained. Matriarch and manager Reda is the most sharply-drawn character here, but too many scenes devolve into shouted telephone conversations about who should go where to pick someone up. There's some nice atmosphere and some kickin' music at the men-only club that the dancers work at, but this grazed up against dullness too frequently to earn a recommendation.

Love Crimes of Kabul (Dir: Tanaz Eshaghian)

Half of the inmates in Kabul's prison for women are there for crimes of violence or terrorism. The other half are incarcerated for "moral crimes", including premarital sex, adultery or generally any non-submissive behaviour. Whether following through on a moment of passion or just being caught unescorted with a man, the state has a lot of business in Afghan bedrooms. Although local opinion seems to be that these are bad women who have been given too much freedom and need to be punished to send a lesson, the constraints on women's freedom shocks the conscience. Here, we meet some of the "moral criminals" and follow them through the justice system. This succinct documentary (a very short feature at 72 minutes) shines a light on the justice system where the prevailing elements are shame and honour. (Passingly, I noted that the prison had a sign on its front door indicating that it is funded by Italian foreign aid money — one wonders how Italian women feel about the brand of justice being dispensed on their dime. And given that men are also subject to the same moral penology, one wonders if those much-discussed Canadian prisons are being used to warehouse these prisoners of a most illiberal mentality.)

Cinema Komunisto (Dir: Mila Turajlic)

To be honest, I headed into this one expecting a bit of light-hearted Eastern Bloc kitsch, but this turned out to be a different sort of movie. Though there were some amusingly earnest clips of happy youths building railroads and partisans gunning down squadrons of nazis, this film takes a more serious point of view, examining how the history of movies in Yugoslavia tied in to the changing fortunes of the nation itself. Besides meeting some of the significant players in front of and behind the camera, we also meet Tito's personal projectionist, a position required for a leader who liked to watch a movie nearly every night. In fact, Tito had a hands-on relationship with the film industry — which was Europe's second-largest — approving a series of increasingly lavish historical epics while commenting on scripts with handwritten notes. But beyond recounting the glory days of international co-productions, the film is ultimately about culture, memory, and forgetting, as this entire era was quickly swept under the rug as the country that produced them fragmented out of existence.

Vinyl: The Alternate Take (Dir: Alan Zweig)

A companion-piece to Zweig's Vinyl — or, as he introduced it, "a glorified DVD extra" — this consists of unused footage from the same source material. There's a more direct focus of the music and the collections of the subjects, meaning there's less of a throughline here, and less time for Zweig's preoccupations and self-loathing. That makes it amusing in its own right — and have no doubt, this is frequently hilarious and thought-provoking — but packs less of an emotional punch. Absolutely worth seeing if you get a chance.