People love to rail on the Best Documentary category at the Oscars, and while it’s mind boggling that something as innovative and fresh as “Stories We Tell” couldn’t make the cut, it’s quite often that the final crop is never so terrible.
This year the branch diversified their picks with some crowd pleasers, profiles, surreal experiments and important political statements. And what’s really fortunate is that four of the five nominees (“20 Feet From Stardom” excluded) are all streaming on Netflix.
Here’s a brief rundown of each of the nominees and my own prediction of who might take Oscar gold.
The Act of Killing – 4 stars
One of the early great scenes in “The Act of Killing” shows Anwar Congo, a former gangster and executioner in Indonesia who alone murdered 1000 individuals and lives to boast about his former glory, demonstrating how to strangle a man while minimizing the blood splatter. It’s absolutely harrowing how casually he performs it with a spring in his step, but when Director Joshua Oppenheimer shows Congo the footage, he feels nothing and isn’t phased in the slightest. “The Act of Killing” takes us deeper down the rabbit hole by allowing these evil men to stage recreations of their horrible crimes. People act with bravado in surreal scenarios, and the film crosses the border between movie making fiction and reality. It’s darkly funny and disturbingly beautiful at times, and it pulls the miraculous trick of actually making us sympathize with this wretched man, someone we smiling and even petting ducklings. To see him purge his horror at the film’s end is magnificent.
Cutie and the Boxer – 3 ½ stars
I imagine Director Zachary Heinzerling set out to make a documentary on the famed Japanese artist Ushio Shinohara and discovered that the real heart of his genius is his wife Noriko. They say that standing behind every great man is a great woman, but Noriko becomes the focus, the heart and the nuance behind “Cutie and the Boxer.” Shinohara was a famous, but hardly wealthy or successful artist in the ‘60s who came to New York with his American pop art style of wacky cardboard motorcycle sculptures and invigorating “action art” paintings. The documentary finds him preparing for his latest art show. Ushio is now 80, and he and his wife make for an adorable elderly couple complete with quirks, chemistry and self-deprecation. But whereas he’s a spontaneous brute who doesn’t intellectualize a thing, the documentary finds its heart in Noriko’s simple, personal sketches. Heinzerling employs splashes of light and color in the way Ushio would and makes a truly gorgeous looking film.
Dirty Wars – 2 stars
“Dirty Wars”, a documentary about America’s war on terror and a series of covert operations, feels presumptive and exaggerated at best and irresponsible and misleading at worst. Director Rick Rowley’s film turns investigative war reporter Jeremy Scahill into a noble, Jason Bourne like detective through cliché conspiracy thriller techniques and staged recreations. Either through Scahill’s reporting or Rowley’s editing, the film dives down a rabbit hole when it smells blood on the leaves before asking some important contextual questions. It begins as an investigation of a cover-up in Afghanistan, then a reveal of the JSOC covert ops group responsible for killing Bin Laden, before finally exploring the deaths of individuals as a result of Obama’s controversial drone strikes. Scahill’s own narration and ominous anonymous sources throw out some strong language condemning America as a nation obsessed in a war on terror run amok. Scahill suggests America is trying to “kill its way to victory” by eliminating supposed and eventual threats of its own creation, but he fails to identify what the “future repercussions” of these actions are, neglects case-by-case details about specific drone strikes and sees no end point or rationale to our actions beyond it being self-destructive behavior. “Dirty Wars” is a documentary that invites more fear rather than stimulates discussion.
The Square – 3 stars
Shortly after the corrupt Egyptian President Morsi is forced to step down from his rule, the Egyptian revolutionaries were again gathered in the streets of Tahrir Square to celebrate the overthrow of yet another dictator. Ahmed, “The Square’s” main figure, says with a bittersweet smile, “We’re waiting for the next one. This is our life now.” “The Square” is a social unrest documentary that digs deep into the dilemmas, bloodshed and animosity in Egypt over the last few years. That the film makes everyday from 2011 to mid 2013 a period of agitation is part of its power, but it wavers in tone significantly and feels as chaotic as the events captured. A better, yet similar example is “5 Broken Cameras,” about a Palestinian protester who makes the destruction of each of his cameras in the event of the protests a part of his life experience.
20 Feet From Stardom – 3 ½ stars
“20 Feet From Stardom” documents the work and life of some of the most iconic pop culture figures you’ve never heard of. They’re the voices of The Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter”, of David Bowie’s “Young Americans” and Tina and Ike Turner’s Ikettes. They’re the unheralded backup singers all throughout rock history. Morgan Neville’s film is insightful because it does more than give a few people a platform to shine; it delves into the complicated nuances of this job, this industry and the effect it has on these individuals’ lives.” – from my full review of the film
Best Documentary Predictions
People would like to assume that the culturally important documentary always wins, the one that signifies the moment in time or has a noble cause behind it. “Inside Job,” “The Cove” and “An Inconvenient Truth” are all good examples of that, but just as often the Academy can select the one that feels the warmest (see: “Man on Wire,” “Undefeated,” “Searching for Sugarman”). And when there are so many movies to catch up on, who finds the time to see what is always a factor.
This year’s buzziest may be “The Act of Killing,” but an on paper description of that movie makes you wonder why a stodgy branch even felt they had the constitution to watch it. Like the not nominated “Stories We Tell,” it blurs the lines between fiction and documentary, and that tends to be a no-no for this group.
The more likely winner is the one that followed Sugar Man’s trajectory. It was a rock-doc that came from obscurity at Sundance and has a great story to tell. That movie is “20 Feet From Stardom,” and it’ll feel wonderful if all those women get their moment at the center of the Oscar stage.
Will Win: 20 Feet From Stardom
Could Win: The Act of Killing
Should Win: The Act of Killing