bob-the-movie-man

I saw this documentary at the Film Critic screenings prior to the opening of the London Film Festival. "The Spectre of Boko Haram" covers the impact of violence on young children's' lives.

The documentary follows three young children in a refugee town in Cameroon: Falta, a studious and hardworking young girl, and her classmates, eight-year old Ibrahim and his 11-year-old brother Mohamad.

Positives:

• The director, Cyrielle Raingou, herself a Cameroon native, adopts an 'observational' view with their camera. Apart from some introductory and final captions, there is no overlay commentary. We just sit and observe what's going on. This makes the documentary feel highly intimate and engaging.

• The documentary packs several emotional gut punches, starting with an initial description by Falta of her father, and several other members of her family, being blown-up by a suicide bomber while selling a chicken. It is also gut-wrenching to see the children's school drawings and model-making reflecting the horrors of war they've witnessed. As they paint and model, heavily armed soldiers patrol the school perimeter in case of trouble.

• We get very engaged in the story of Mohamed and Ibrahim, who appeared to have been members of the terror group and witnessed atrocities themselves. But how much have they seen, and how much are they fabricating for effect? At one pont Mohamed describes seeing 'witches' transform into cats and then back into witches! Notwithstanding this, the pair are clearly damaged, unable to engage at school, threatening other children with knives and being constantly truant. They story takes a sinister turn half way through the film.

• Above all, you can't help but be struck by how 'normal' life is against this backdrop. Life just goes on: parents trying to do their best for their kids; the extraordinary dedication of teachers trying to give the kids a better life through learning, albeit with limited resources; doctors fighting both malaria and the "anti-witchcraft remedies" pushed by the locals; and the kids, desperately trying to make sense of it all.

Negatives:

• In physics, there is an effect called the "observer effect", which basically says you can't observe any system without changing it. You can sense that at work here. The armed soldiers seem to be sucking in their guts and being hyper-vigilant given that the camera is on them. And both Falta and young Ibrahim both start asking questions about their parents. Unprompted? I doubt it! You can't help feel some prompting by the director going on.

Summary Thoughts: I love documentaries that give us an insight into an alien world. "Electric Malady" was one such documentary from earlier in the year that did that. And this was another. You can't easily imagine what effect war has on young minds. But this does a good job at showing you. It's sad, moving but not without a quiet drumbeat of hope for the future in Falta's diligent school work.

Not an easy watch, but a recommended watch.

What an entertaining short film! Perfectly acted by Sigrid Kandal Husjord, who I would love to see in more stuff.

It nicely straddles the genres of comedy (particularly at the start - - the random pressing of those buttons!) and drama, with some realistic and unsettling scenes of discrimination adding a bit of unexpected grit to the piece. The finale as well - even though you can gleefully see it coming - is gloriously satisfying.

It is unusual for me to enjoy a short film (just 15 minutes) so much. But I really did! Carve out 15 minutes to watch this one.

(My ful review will be part of my review called "Best Short Film (Live Action)" Nominees, 2023." at onemannsmovies dot com.)

I saw this as a preview and it is due for release on March 3rd.

Positives:

• A good documentary should shine a spotlight on a topic that you have no idea about, and "Electric Malady" did just that. Although I vaguely remember a lot of concern about holding mobile phones up to your head, way back when they first became mainstream, I was not aware of this as a 'condition'.

• William seems to be an extreme case, but you can't help but me moved by his plight: shuffling around his little remote cabin, blankets over his head looking like E. T. at Halloween; his poor parents trying to help in whatever way they can; his obvious despair that his once girlfriend Marie now has a new life, with a husband and kids. It's heartbreaking. And Marie Lidén catches all of that perfectly.

• The opening is cleverly done: the father showing a 'cage' he has built for his own son. Without knowledge of the background, you wonder if you are going to be watching "The Elephant Man" or something!

• At just 84 minutes - a novelty for most of the 'award films' this year! - the film doesn't outstay its welcome.

• It's artfully shot, with nice shots of the Swedish countryside and interesting uses of colour flashing on some of the edits. This is a talented female filmmaker, taking good subject matter and making it great through well-thought-through editing.

• A quote from the WHO in the closing moments is a jaw-dropper and well done.

• Loved the score by John Lemke, especially the quietly persistent piece over the end-titles.

Negatives:

• This is a factual representation of William's life, but it only goes that far. It left me with a lot more questions than answers. Above all, was this "real" in a physical sense? Or were his symptoms purely psychological? As a former scientist, it left me longing for some of the scientific background behind the claims - some talking science heads might have added more to the background. Or even some practical guinea-pig (or perhaps canary) research. I longed for one of the visitors to quietly turn on a wi-fi router inside his Faraday Cage to see if that really did make him feel pain. (By the way, post-watching I was doing some googling and papers seem to certainly suggest this is a real thing, affecting possibly millions of people around the world to a greater or lesser extent).

• Often when I watch a documentary like this, I think of Heisenberg's theory of observation. That is, where research involving measurement or observation directly alters the phenomenon under investigation. There are a few moments in the film - a car reversing out of a drive; the father walking up to the hut and then in through the door, etc. - where (assuming there was only one camera) you saw the filmmaker's camera set-ups. "OK sir - I'll film you coming up to the dooe. Then let me go in and I'll film you coming into the hut". (Echoes of William Hurt's single-camera teary interview in "Broadcast News"!).

Summary Thoughts on "Electric Malady": This is a cracking debut feature from Marie Lidén, and a well deserved BAFTA nomination. The film is unsettling and thought-provoking and makes you suddenly appreciate your health and freedom and fear for how quickly both can get ripped away from you.

(For the full graphical review, please check out One Mann's Movies at onemannsmovies dot com. Thanks. )