How many of you exercise your right to vote? How would you feel if this right were taken away; perhaps you would be relieved because you always thought that there weren’t really any great candidates anyway? You may be devastated that you now no longer have a choice to make even though you didn’t necessarily choose to do anything about it? You may even possibly think that a single voice, your voice doesn’t make a difference? One thing is for sure however, in the free world, we DO have a right to vote for those who we wish to be governed by and watching Mai Iskander’s latest and first-rate documentary “Words of Witness” will certainly make you feel this way.
Not so long ago, people in Egypt had no choice except to vote for one candidate and for all intents and purposes they were ruled by a dictator. For decades, people neither had the right to free elections nor were allowed to vote for any other candidates other than Hosni Mubarak. Inspired by the uprising in Tunisia in the spring of 2011, protests in Egypt began on 25 January and ran for 18 days. Despite the government’s best efforts to curtail these protests, the people prevailed and finally on 10 February, Mubarak ceded all presidential power to Vice President Omar Suleiman.
Overthrowing a dictator took Egyptians from all walks of life—many of them in their twenties and thirties to come together and social media such as Facebook and Twitter were powerful tools in allowing them to gather to call for universal human rights such as dignity and freedom. “Words of Witness” tells the powerful and touching story of 22 year old Heba Afify, a newly minted passionate and driven journalist at the English edition of Almasry Alyoum, Egypt’s leading independent newspaper.
Iskander manages to expertly merge Heba negotiating the boundaries of her life with her sympathetic – yet overprotective – mother whilst all around her the boundaries of her country are shifting both societally and politically. “I know you are a journalist, but you’re still a girl!” Heba’s mother reminds her every time she leaves the house. We watch Heba take to the streets to report on an Egypt in turmoil, using tweets, texts and Facebook posts. “During the Revolution, all the rules were broken,” Heba exclaims. “My mother needs to understand that the rules that were broken during the Revolution will remain broken”.
This is an effective documentary that takes us right into the heart of the action where change is occurring and shows us the heart of this amazing young and inspiring journalist who wants to make a change not only for her country but more importantly to the life that is expected of her by her family. In speaking with the director, it is also clear that this story is not a million miles from her own, I think this is why the viewer is left with such a powerful and inspiring message of being the change you want to be
“Words of Witness” is currently playing in Los Angeles Laemmle Noho 7 week of 27 August 2012 but check local listings for other screenings.
Has our very own Techwalla gone bad? Certainly not! Our one movie this week stars Matthew McConaughey, as a cop and contract killer. Our first NC-17 rated movie review of the year. It certainly deserves its rating, but is it one worth watching?
A provocative title indeed. Adapted from his book of the same name, Peter Navarro’s opinionated documentary works hard to get its point across.
Death by China sets out to convey its key message which is “…the problem facing America today is its increasingly destructive economic trade relationship with a rapidly rising China.”
The point is made several times early on in the film which ultimately ends up feeling a tad repetitive. The documentary works arduously to present data to support its various assertions that trade policies with China are inadequate, even negligent, but it is difficult to escape the sense that this movie is seeking simply to imbue the viewer with a sense of impending doom instead of presenting a balanced and informative perspective. Martin Sheen’s urgent narration combined with slick graphics depicting “Weapons of Job Destruction” (and the like) compound the problem – effectively turning Death by China, at times, into a cold war style propaganda film.
The movie draws interesting parallels between the bleak situation of American workers who have lost their jobs and the Chinese workers who have jobs but have little in the way of labor protection laws to prevent their exploitation. The filmmakers are unambiguous about who they hold responsible for the situation – the Chinese Government, along with the usual suspects of US politicians (of both persuasions) and the multinational corporations.
Death by China is a competently constructed documentary with a very defined point of view. Indeed, the passion of the filmmakers may even make you rally for political action if you are so inclined. If you are not, you may find the tone overwhelming.
Death by China opens this Friday, August 17 at Laemmle’s Playhouse 7 in Pasadena – Peter Navarro will be at the Playhouse 7 for Q&As on both Friday and Saturday – on Saturday following the 7:30PM show there will be a Q&A with special guests from the Chinese, Vietnamese, and Tibetan Dissident communities.
