Angelo

A high school student could have done a better job with the rest of it. Poor camera work (4:3 old-school TV aspect ratio format). Poor sound. Poor directing. Poor editing. Poor script (except for the King's monologues, and the occasional gem of wisdom from Angelo, the title character.)

The only thing in this film where any real effort for authenticity was made was in the very believable costumes and hair, and some of the interior sets. But one set was truly bizarre, where we see the slaves lined up for inspection by the Countess in a modern concrete warehouse with shiny galvanised steel air-conditioning ducting and fluorescent light panels clearly visible overhead, like the director just couldn't be bothered attempting to create some sort of simple neutral background or focusing in on the characters to obscure the background. Remember, this is supposed to be set in the 18th century.

The acting was mostly awkward and stilted due to the sparse and poor script with long periods of confused and unnatural silence. The dialogue also randomly switched between French and German for no apparent reason. Well done to those talented multi-lingual actors but it only makes the bizarre story-telling even weirder.

The jolting incongruous scene changes used no panning, fading or editing techniques for either audio or video and appeared to have been done by someone who had never before worked with a video camera or editing software.

In the light of recent migration history of people escaping various forms of misery and suffering in Africa in the hope of a better life in Europe, such an important subject exploring the 17th century life of an African boy, who was brought into the cosseted life of the ruling aristocrats, should not have been handled in such an amateur way. This story deserves a better treatment by a more qualified film maker and might hopefully be re-told at some time in the future. Seen at 2019 NZIFF Wellington.