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Monday 29 August 2011

5 Days of War


Okay. Here's another movie based on a true story about journalists... well the plight of journalists while covering a war. My wife and I just watched The Bangbang Club, about photo journalists in South Africa during the fall of Apartheid - more on this one in the September edition of Film Quips. The Whistleblower, though not about journalists, also covers a war that the western world watched while it was happening with both horror and indifference.

In another life I taught an ESL (English as a second language) class. I befriended a student. His English was very good and his French, even better. He was from Rwanda. We spent a winter and early spring drinking coffee and talking about the state of the world after class (he did most of the talking). He told me that soon he would be going back home to Rwanda to take back what was rightfully his. I didn't really know what was happening in Rwanda and frankly, thought he sounded a bit fanatical when he spoke of his home. Without a good-bye, he left.

Later that year we started to hear about a civil war in Rwanda. I don't know what became of Jean-Batiste. The film Hotel Rwanda gave the west a glimpse of the genocide, well after the fact.

What I'm trying to say is that while atrocities around the world are being covered by the media as they happen, the "truth" sometimes seems to surface years after the fact. It's like history is being taught to us in palatable portions, on film, 2 hours at a time. Once digested, they can be forgotten.

Despite my first impression, I don't remember even hearing of a war between Russia and the Georgian Republic. In the trailer someone mentions that the "Olympics were happening at the same time so nobody was paying attention." Messed up!

The trailer looked very good. It gave away a lot, but not enough to anger me. One of the bad guys is Boris the Blade from Snatch. Loved that movie.

I will see this film, but likely as a rental.


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