CAMBODIANS STRUGGLE IN A RIVER CHANGES COURSE
Although publicized as a documentary, A River Changes Course films actual rural Cambodians, who no longer can count on nature to make their lives secure. Directed by Kalyanee Mam, Cambodians explain their plight to the camera as they live and work. Where once there was plenty of fish, the rivers are being overfished, and they do not have enough food to feel full after meals. Where once there was a rainforest, permitting subsistence slash-and-burn agriculture, loggers are denuding the landscape, cutting down trees for export. Some rural residents have felt sick for a decade but lack medical care; they take medicines, presumably prescribed by unscrupulous vendors, which they cannot afford. When they borrow to pay their debts, they lack sufficient income to pay off their debts. Rural children would like to go to school to improve their lot, but their labor is needed at home, working for the Chinese, or in urban factories to earn money for their mothers, who need cash to pay back loans, while the rural adult men (mostly absent from the film) drown their frustrations in alcohol. Rural residents then sell their lands to the Chinese, and thenceforth must sell their labor to the Chinese. Who or what is responsible for the human suffering, environmental degradation, and unsustainable development? Clearly, the shift from the subsistence economy of living off the land to unregulated capitalism. What can be done? A handout upon exiting a screening explains that A River Changes Course is to be viewed in a series of 60 screenings throughout Cambodia during 2014 so that the people can “respond to this rapid change.” The film, named for the fact that the Mekong changes direction from the rainy to the dry season, is thus a quintessential consciousness-raising film, presenting problems. But the premise behind the screenings is that the people have the power to change their situation. The handout asks filmviewers in developed countries to contribute funds for the screenings. Yet absent from the film (and thereby critiqued for their insignificance) are the roles of the Cambodian government, foreign aid programs, intergovernmental organizations, and nongovernmental charities (including the film’s sponsor, the Documentation Center of Cambodia), all of which might have the power that those in the 60 villages lack. Accordingly, the Political Film Society has nominated A River Changes Course for best film of 2013 on human rights. MH
THE FIFTH ESTATE CONTRIBUTES TO THE FOURTH ESTATE
Directed by Bill Condon, The Fifth Estate is a biopic of Julian Assange (played by Benedict Cummerbatch), who is interviewed making contradictory statements at the end of the film in the Ecuadorian embassy in London. Assange admits to a strange upbringing, which supposedly prompted him to want to expose secrets of businesses and governments. He begins with exposure of bank malfeasance, tries to bring to light death squads in Kenya, but leapfrogs into big time with the leaks of Bradley Manning, all the while working with the Guardian newspaper. His continual fast pace, mumbling, and weird dance floor antics give the impression that he acts without reflecting, and his onetime partner Daniel Berg (Daniel Brühl) unsuccessfully tries to stop him from revealing secrets that might jeopardize lives. The purpose of introducing U.S. State Department officer Sarah Shaw (Laura Linney) into the film is unclear, except to pretend that she has a favorite spy and downplays the diplomatic damage. Nevertheless, the Political Film Society has nominated The Fifth Estate as best film exposé of 2013. MH