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Checklist for Your Documentary Review
· * Include summary of the basic arguments of the
film, but that summary should not constitute the bulk of your story. I want
your analysis.
· * Evaluate the effectiveness of how the film makes
its argument through selecting credible sources. Specifically, what about those
sources makes them seem credible?
· * Evaluate the effectiveness of how Kunze uses the
techniques of filmmaking to buttress his argument. The quality of the lighting,
the sound, the compositions, the editing, the use and quality of graphics can
influence the acceptance or rejection of his argument.
· * As Menand’s New Yorker essay suggests,
documentaries aren’t “objective” in the common definition of the term. Many
don’t try for even the semblance of “fair and balanced.” However, we might
judge a documentary so one-sided, so far beyond fair and so far beyond balanced
that it begins to work against itself, to turn us away from its arguments.
Where does Mobilize fall on that spectrum? Some documentaries leave us feeling
manipulated to the extent we dismiss their argument.
· * In any case, I would not much like your coming
out of any documentary saying that you are now completely convinced of its
point of view and are ready to act on its recommendations without further
study. Where does Kunze’s documentary leave you? So indifferent to its
arguments you have no interest in further inquiry? Intrigued enough to do some
research on the topic? Ready to adopt its recommendations after a
little/some/much further study?
· * Kevin Kunze told the class his is essentially a
voice-of-God documentary. That is, he does the voiceover. Consider analyzing
how often he, as narrator, tells us what to think and do and how often he
merely provides the context for his sources. Also, apparently at least once in
this documentary he appears as a participant. Does that affect your reaction to
the documentary for good or ill?
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