Paris 1919

Release date: 1 April 2009 (France)

Directed by Paul Cohen, and based on the wildly popular novel by Margaret MacMillan (I say wildly popular, but I'm an historian by training so take that as you may), this docudrama merges archival footage with live action to demonstrate the difficult art of peacemaking that was the Treaty of Versailles that ended World War I. When the armistice was signed on November 11, 1918 the world powers met in Paris not so much to make peace but punish Germany. American President Wilson knew a different sort of peace was necessary and came armed with his League of Nations proposal, but in the end the old ways of Europe prevailed and the Treaty was little more than a land grab for England, France, Italy, Japan and the United States and a brutalizing penalty for the German people in the form of war reparations. Paris 1919 is fascinating look at a time none of us should forget, and a prime example of how we, as humans, never seem to learn the lessons of war.

My rating 8 out of 10.

Rembrandt's J'accuse

Release date: 27 November 2008 (Netherlands)

Super artsy director Peter Greenaway gives us his edition of the DaVinci Code with Rembrandt in the starring role and his famous painting - the fourth most famous painting in the western world we're told by Greenaway - The Night Porter, front and centre in a tale of murder among Amsterdam's military elite in the 17th century. The documentary recounts 30 evidentiary pieces of a puzzle found within the painting that purportedly point to murder, cover-up, a homosexual relationship and revenge. While it is all very intriguing and is certainly perfectly visually constructed as only Greenaway’s can do, Rembrandt’s J’accuse falls short. The documentary is slow and had me nodding a couple of times, I think a failure of the documentary’s non-linear construction and the fact there’s just too many characters to get your head around. Yet, read as a sly comment by Greenaway on our inability to see the forest for the trees, and worse, our tendency to take things at face value rather delve beneath the obvious messaging, Rembrandt’s J’accuse does make one go ‘hmmmm’.

My rating 5 out of 10.

The End of the Line

Release date: 12 June 2009 (United Kingdom)

Blatantly biased, sure, but The End of the Line makes for compelling viewing for all piscivores and ought to change your habits when buying or ordering seafood. Directed by Rupert Murray and based on Charles Clover’s novel of the same name, it traces our impact on the oceans of the world and how, if we continue our current ways, our children will live in a world completely void of fish by 2048. None. Gone. Finished. The message here is clear and succinct and supported by science and demands we each, individually, make a moral decision when sallying up to the fish counter at the grocers. While it’s a lot of doom and gloom, and while you’ll never look at the Mitsubishi Company with any degree of respect again, there is hope. The End of the Line does equip you to be a more knowledgeable piscivore by simply asking questions before you order or buy fish. I for one am hooked on the idea.

My rating 7 out of 10.

The Red Chapel

Release date: 5 May 2009 (Toronto International Hot Docs Film Festival)

A documentary that offers bang for your buck on several levels, the Red Chapel’s initial pretext is a cultural exchange between a small Dutch theatre group and the totalitarian state that is North Korea. The theatre troupe is headed by the documentary’s director Mads Brügger and comprises two Danish/Korean comedians, Simon and Jacob, who is disabled. As they land in Pyongyang they are ferried about by the capital by a very motherly government handler as they prepare for their performance at the National Arts Centre. What follows though is an incisive look inside a brutal regime that begins to take its toll on the teenaged Jacob as he learns other disabled children in the country are simply killed at birth or moved to camps in the wildness. With moments of hilarity clearly lost in translation between the Dutch and Koreans, moving emotion, and cutting commentary on what remains the most horrific military state on the planet, The Red Chapel is a must see. Book a ticket.

My rating 9 out of 10.

Children of God

Release date: 5 May 2009 (Toronto International HotDocs Film Festival)

South Korean Seung-jun Yi directs this lyric and emotional look at a group of young boys in the Kathmandu capital of Nepal who survive by fishing the detritus of Hindis cremated on the steps Pashupatinath Temple on the banks of the Bagmati River. In particular we come to know 12-year-old Alesh and his younger brother and sister. Their mother works the streets as a beggar herself, caring more for alcohol than her children and it is the middle son who acts as a family broker. Alesh is drawn to the livelier streets downtown where money is easier had but falls into glue sniffing with his small troop. Children of God is a difficult documentary to watch, yet remains strangely moving as we see these youngsters with very adult perspectives, living between heaven and hell.

My rating 8 out of 10.

Gin gwai (aka The Eye)

Release date: 9 May 2002 (Hong Kong)

Directed by the Pang brothers, The Eye is a psychological thriller that takes the case of donated corneas to new depths. The story centres on blind Wong Kar Mun (Angelica Lee) who starts seeing all sorts of creepy things after receiving a donated pair of corneas from a young Thai woman considered evil by her villagers. Disturbed by what she is seeing – you think! – she enlists the help (and love) of Dr. Wah (Lawrence Chou) and together they begin to unravel the mystery. There are some great slow and eerie scenes here - particularly when Wong Kar Mun finds herself in an elevator with a ghost - and some genuine shock-the-hell-out-of-you moments. The acting is solid and the soundtrack, mirroring Mun’s profession as a violinist, is pitch perfect. The Pangs lay on the doom far too thickly at the end yes, but their film-making is solid and proof the best horror directors know how to get you scared: by delivering frights without the gore.

My rating 6 out of 10.

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Romeo & Juliet

Release date: 25 September 1968 (France)

Franco Zeffirelli directed this excellent version of Shakespeare's classic tale of romance and tragedy, a synopsis for which is hardly necessary. It starred two relatively unknowns, Leonard Whiting (as Romeo) and Olivia Hussey (as Juliet), a very young Michael York (as Tybalt), and no less than Lawrence Olivier doing the voice over. The film is successful thanks to Zeffirelli’s direction which is bold and immediate and full of mobs and passion and young nudity and even handheld camera work (shocking for 1968). We believe these youngsters truly love each other and despite Hussey’s irritating inability to cry with any degree of belief (a failure mimicked by Claire Danes in Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 Romeo & Juliet effort), the film brings Shakespeare to life like few films ever have. Shakespeare would approve me thinks.

My rating 7 out of 10.