Body Team 12

Tribeca award winner Body Team 12 was one of my top three films nominated for the International Documentary Association (IDA)'s best short film of the year. The courage required to capture this story at the center of an ebola outbreak is almost inconceivable. Not only did the filmmakers rise to the occasion to 'get the goods' for their story, they managed to capture quiet, soulful moments that enriched the film. The overall effect is uplifting in the face of immense tragedy and hardship--a stunning feat.

This is not mere journalistic storytelling, but something more artful. Watch for visual themes and motifs, subtly textured into the edit, that emphasize the spiritual and earthly sacrifice these brave workers are making for their fellow human beings. Hauntingly beautiful, terrifyingly real.

If you like true stories told very well, but briefly, and you'd like to get a leg up in an Oscar pool, then this review is for you! In my continuing effort to see as many Oscar nominees as possible, I took advantage of the opportunity to see the shorts.TV theatrical presentation "Oscar Nominated Short Films 2016: Documentary" (NR, 3:00 – with 10 min. intermission). Here's a brief, spoiler-free summary and evaluation of one of those five films...

"Body Team 12" (13 min.) – This film follows one group of Red Cross Workers whose job it was to collect bodies of the victims of the 2014-2015 Ebola outbreak in Liberia. We see the daily task through the eyes of the team's only female member and hear her discuss the importance and challenges of her task. This documentary short is an eye-opening and personal look at a huge news story. It spares us the most gruesome visuals of the team's work, but also fails to go deeply into the underlying story. "B+"

The other four films in the shorts.TV theatrical presentation "Oscar Nominated Short Films 2016: Documentary" are… "Chau, beyond the Lines" "Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah" "A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness" "Last Day of Freedom" We have posted our articles about each of those other films on their respective pages on this website.

This is the shortest of the Oscar-nominated documentaries and was shown first at this year's special showing of the five nominees. The film is about folks who work for the Red Cross in Liberia and their job is to clean up the dead bodies from Ebola and then incinerate them. You see a few corpses in the short but, thank God, the footage is actually rather tame and the story of these courageous people inspiring...but depressing beyond believe. After all, what is more depressing than Ebola?! Well made and not as depressing and awful as it could have been. I am glad these wonderful people and their work are being celebrated...but when the special showing starts off with an Ebola film, you know it's going to be a long day! Tough to watch and not for kids or the easily disturbed.

UPDATE: "A Girl in the River" took the Oscar for Best Documentary Short.

David Darg's "Body Team 12" focuses on the Red Cross workers of Liberia during the Ebola outbreak. The story gets told by Garmai Sumo, a woman who worked as a nurse during the outbreak. Through the documentary, people are forced to bury their loved ones of all ages. Even amid this horror, people do what they can to continue with their lives.

I doubt that people unaffected by the Ebola virus can truly know what it was like. This documentary, nominated for Best Documentary Short Subject at the Academy Awards, is probably the closest that the rest of the world will come to it. The main thing to note is that the people who collected the dead bodies performed an invaluable service just as much as any medical professional who tended to people. I recommend the documentary.