A question that arises from documentary is how to capture the everyday situation of the subject of the film without too much manipulation? With Name me Lawand director Edward Lovelace decided that the best way was to bring the audience into the perspective and point of view of the main character Lawand. It is a portrait of Lawand, a deaf child born during the Iraq war, who fled with his family as refugees to London. The theme of the film is about belonging and how impactful communication and language becomes at expression. It is also about the impact of trauma and isolation. Lovelace creates an expressionist documentary using archive footage, simulated POV, Musical score, sound design (capturing sounds through a cochlear implant like the one Lawand has) and ariel shots of Lawand walking alone and casting his shadow on the earth. He also get rid of any voice over narration by just having the audience see through Lawand's perspective. Some people will object to the manipulation of these tactics for a documentary but Lovelace believes that is the way to bring the audience to experience Lawand's world. He is using cinematic techniques to tell this story. It does becomes a fine line to balance but for a portrait I believe it works well. You can see the shot reverse shot of some conversation or the cut to perspective of Lawand that was clearly shot separately to make a seamless transition. For historical facts these tactics would tread on propaganda and manipulation but I think Lovelace is creating a portrait more that a typical documentary.
