Colombia in My Arms

I just don't understand what is up with these postmodern documentaries. I get idea that the film makers want to let the subjects speak for themselves, but sometimes people watch a documentary to learn something new. Learning is impossible here because it doesn't provide any history, text, infographics or summaries. It's just people talking. They could be credible. Truthful. Or complete liars. It's up to the audience to decide. Except we are given no information to do this with. This film is a waste of time that will leave you with nothing more than a notion of how the different sides of this conflict "feel".

As a documentary, Colombia in my Arms is professionally done by addressing the extreme points of view of a very complex situation. However, by not providing any background, people are led to confusion. If you don't know who the people are, you wouldn't understand that the politician woman is one of the worst congress women in the history of the country, just to give an example. If the objective of the producers was no to take a stance, it did not fulfill the goal. More information and a narrative could have helped viewers to understand the film, which otherwise was technically a piece of art.

Saw this at the Movies That Matter 2021 documentary festival, normally running in The Hague but now 100% online. An unprepared viewer needs lots of patience to wade through the talking heads of the first 45 minutes, before it becomes clear what is going wrong and what the message of this movie is. One should watch this documentary twice to get its intentions.

That first half is a commendable attempt to show many sides, but it seems to lead nowhere. We see and hear just talking, without a compelling narrative to bind it all together. A pity. Context is needed to follow this documentary and maintain interest in its cause and its message. Viewers like me, from other parts of the world, are not familiar with Columbia and its history hence fail to connect the dots.

The pseudo-philosophical 15-minutes finale about machism does not help in appreciating this documentary.

Beautifully written and directed documentary. It is emotional (but not too much) and represents the reality of almost all the parts involved in the conflict. Loved it!