Waltz with Bashir is about an Israeli soldier. The trailer explains to us with text that the subject doesn’t remember anything about the war. Visually, the movie looks very unique, being animated with a comic book-type style. The footage shows violence and war torn scenarios which hint us into what the film will be about. One shot that I liked was when the tank crushes the car and the upbeat music kicks in, it was interesting juxtaposition with the music and violent image.  Shortly after, the quick cuts of wartime violence created a high tension mood reflecting the nature of war. At the end of that montage, the it cuts from a dead animals eye into a clip of a man walking with a one armed person in front of him that also resembled a gorilla or some kind of animal. This shot was odd and unnerving because it makes a human look more like an beast than a person. These shots are all important because they give a look into what we will be experiencing in this chaotic look into a damaged persons life.

The documentary I chose to watch was Baraka. The documentary is very unique to begin with because its narrator is totally separate, encompassed completely as a observer. You are taken all around globe and witness spectacular events. It can be divided in a couple sections that focus on humans, our earth, and life. These sections often interchange, and it shows alot of comparisons between them. Its largest idea is the relationship we humans have with nature, such as when we see deforestation a or slaughterhouse. It also has a large amount of images of our world too, like enormous waterfalls, migrating animals or natural disasters. Life vs death is shown as a theme, as we see the stark contrast of bustling cities and the empty halls of Auschwitz. The points of transition between these parts comes kind of at random, as the film will build up the speed of the audio a lot in preparation for a jarring cut. It is completely non-narrative, and the cameraperson merely watches everything happen, never intruding. The documentary arranges the images in interesting ways, as it usually wants you to draw a parallel between some of them.

The cinematography is also really interesting, as it uses alot of long exposure shots. Especially in the cities where the shots create a really unique effect where the buildings stay still, and we see thousands of pedestrians and cars zooming around. There is many closeups, of people especially. They give detail to the different faces of people we see around the globe that we would never have a chance to in real life. The framing and depth are unique in the way that the camera never really moves from one spot. We often get to view scenes from afar, as a patient observer. Light and dark are often seen, as there is many montage scenes were day and night change intermittently. Color plays a large part too, as many of the spectacles have vibrant and beautiful colors. The film is actually the first film to ever be restored at 8K resolution. The pace of the editing is not frantic at all, and we often have long periods of time to observe whatever is going on. Almost every shot is held for over 10 seconds, except when there is a chaotic event going on, like the dance in the beginning. You could probably greatly analyze the movie and find an overarching narrative, but to me and my friends who watched it with me, it seemed like many of the segments were random. There was obviously related sections, like Religion, that would show various religions from around the globe, but it would end and jump to an unrelated clip of something in nature. Better analysts than I could probably draw conclusions through many shots of the movie but to the first time viewer, it seems scattered.

The documentary definable has messages and ideas it wants to get across. First, it displays the negative effect we have on the world. It shows humans in acts of destruction like chopping down trees, killing animals and acts of genocide. It isn’t all the bad side of humanity though, as we see way more acts of unity in the various tribes shown. Ritualistic dances and chants show how we come together in celebration.  To me, the goal of the filmmaker was to highlight the natural world, and how we humans fit into it. He clearly wants people to see the negative effect that our consumption has on wildlife, where we see thousands of chickens being prepared for slaughter to make the food we eat everyday. The filmmaker definitely takes the role of observer, and is never seen interacting with anyone in the entire duration. The camera is merely there to watch these things happen, and we never see any person that isn’t native to whatever area we are in. You could easily replace yourself with the camera, watching silently to the shots that are happening. I don’t think the director crosses any ethical boundaries in the making of this. They visit a lot of poor areas with impoverished people, but they still treat these areas with respect and highlight the good and bad parts of them.

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