celluloidnotes

NPR recently did a feature piece on the Nina Davenport’s new documentary Operation Filmmaker - which I reviewed here. If you didn’t hear that piece it is included in this week’s NPR: Movies podcast.

But it was an interesting piece that takes a look at what is happening now to the people involved in the film. It didn’t just talk about what the film is about and play some clips, they allowed Muthana to express his regret about his involvement in the project (he is still living in London, waiting tables).

I think the most interesting part of this feature was how they portrayed the clashes between Davenport and Muthana as a filmmaker’s worst nightmare. Which, of course, they are in a way. She had to take on her subject on a personal level of conflict. Which lead her to express some regret about the film. She talks about how it saddened her that she wound up portraying an Iraqi youth as an unsympathetic character, and that had she known at the outset of Everything is Illuminated that events would progress the way they did she would have never made the film.

I know I’m paraphrasing a longer piece here, but it was really interesting to hear the aftermath of a very powerful documentary. And I think that this sense of regret and the unexpected happening is what makes this documentary so powerful. It, on a micro level, reveals the complexities of international conflict (particularly the war in Iraq) on both a personal and international level. The notion that if she would have anticipated the difficulties of this multi-cultural project she would have never embarked on the journey is a somewhat poignant coda to the parallels of the film and the war. It’s a difficult situation that doesn’t lend itself to easy solutions, as much as we like to divide all political thought into a binary of yes or no (Democrat or Republican), it’s never really that simple. Especially in an election year where many of the issues are codified in this manner (for or against the war, pro-life or pro-choice, Democrat or Republican, Universal health care or privatized health care) it’s very easy to lose sight of that, as much of the media often does.

Operation Filmmaker is out in theaters this week. Highly recommended viewing for cinephiles looking for an alternative to the next big superhero flick.

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