Documentaries are the least popular film genre. They don’t showcase special effects or superstars. The protagonists are usually ordinary people dealing with extraordinary circumstances. The films don’t play in big suburban theaters, nor can they compete at the box office. But through political and social exposes they can change hearts and minds the world over. Dick Kirby’s Oscar nominated documentary The Invisible War is a gut-wrenching expose on rape in the U.S. military. The film contends that since 1991 about half a million military men and women have been sexually assaulted by their peers, and the U.S. military has done nothing to punish the culprits. “The more we did these interviews, the more we really felt this is a film we had to really make and finish," said Dick Kirby. Like Kirby, most award-winning documentarians reveal hard truths that make their films tough to watch. The Gatekeepers is a critics' favorite. Israeli director Dror Moreh interviewed six former heads of the Shin Bet, Israel's domestic spy agency, responsible for gathering intelligence in the occupied West Bank. They said fighting Palestinian terrorists meant they had to bend the rules of morality and justify collateral damage. The film exposes Israel's internal divisions and offers a grim prediction of the country's future if it doesn't make peace with its enemies. Five Broken Cameras by Emad Burnat, a Palestinian villager, and Israeli filmmaker Guy Davidi, is a video diary of Emad's life under Israeli occupation in the West Bank. |