As an audience we often skip pass certain aspects of a film or documentary as we are often very engaged in the action taking place on the screen. But when you sit back and pick apart certain aspects of the film you start to notice certain ways the director and the filmmakers have attempt to structure the story in front of you, often you can find out personal characteristics about the filmmaker and how he expresses his viewpoint throughout the documentary. The Danish documentary Armadillo (Mentz, 2010) follows a platoon of soldiers as they complete a tour duty in Afghanistan, this essay will dissect and analysis the narrative structure of the documentary and how it is used to advance the narrative. This will be done using specific examples …show more content…
There are several cracks and openings in the film where it gives the opportunity for the real to come through, such as a scene when you see your best mate shot down next to you, the pure emotion on the faces around you and how you are torn whether to go help or keep shooting at the enemy. These sorts of decision help get the filmmakers point of view across about the battle of war and also the element of poetry that war is. It also points out the savagery of war. When played out in documentary it is sure to rise a few eyebrows because the topic is usually so secretive and very unknown. The film Armadillo brings the effects of way to the people in a way that hasn't been done, the filmmaker has expresses his opinion of what he believes war is and we see it very evident in that last patrol when five Taliban are killed and the bragging about it when returning to camp, Mentz in the footage brings out the dark side of the human psyche that being part of a war brings. How the desire to kill and the connection between sex drive and violence and how often the judgement of what is good and what is wrong is blurred by the fact their lives are on the line. In society we can avoid this confrontation of the mind by trying to avoid violence and laws and legislations surrounding war we can keep control over the human mind. Armadillo makes it clear that engaging in war entails a process of brutalisation of our own kind, yet the soldiers and civilians as was as the nations are all engaged in war. We often question why armies and the military do and everyone has their own opinion on how wars should be fought, often the media demonise and attack those the war is against which creates the thoughts in our mind that we
War is seen as a universal concept that often causes discomfort and conflict in relation to civilians. As they are a worrying universal event that has occurred for many decades now, they posed questions to society about human's nature and civilization. Questions such as is humanity sane or insane? and do humans have an obsession with destruction vs creation. These questions are posed from the two anti-war texts; Dr Strangelove by Stanley Kubrick and Slaughterhouse Five written by Kurt Vonnegut.
Laws exist to protect life and property; however, they are only as effective as the forces that uphold them. War is a void that exists beyond the grasps of any law enforcing agency and It exemplifies humankind's most desperate situation. It is an ethical wilderness exempt from civilized practices. In all respects, war is a primitive extension of man. Caputo describes the ethical wilderness of Vietnam as a place "lacking restraints, sanctioned to kill, confronted by a hostile country and a relentless enemy, we sank into a brutish state." Without boundaries, there is only a biological moral c...
Throughout history, war has been the catalyst that has compelled otherwise-ordinary people to discard, at least for its duration, their longstanding beliefs about the immorality of killing their fellow human beings. In sum, during periods of war, people’s views about killing others are fundamentally transformed from abhorrence to glorification due in large part to the decisions that are made by their political leaders. In this regard, McMahan points out that, “As soon as conditions arise to which the word ‘war’ can be applied, our scruples vanish and killing people no longer seems a horrifying crime but becomes instead a glorious achievement” (vii). Therefore, McMahan argues that the transformation of mainstream views about the morality of killing during times of war are misguided and flawed since they have been based on the traditional view that different moral principles somehow apply in these circumstances. This traditional view about a just war presupposes the morality of the decision to go to war on the part of political leaders in the first place and the need to suspend traditional views about the morality of killing based on this
This report aims to make light of certain elements of documentary making that are perhaps more susceptible to influence on the director’s part, and once again explore the effect of these decisions on the audience’s reaction to the information presented.
Therefore through evaluating and comparing each author’s work we will see how each is utilizing this intermingling effect between conflict and innocence to reveal how the horrors of war can affect individuals mentally. To relate how the authors accomplish this effect we will observe how each utilizes specific devices such as scenarios and specific language to engage the reader into viewing a character as more than a construct but rather a multifaceted complex individual that has flaws and mental issues much like many of us.
In the books All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque and The Wars by Timothy Findley, there is clear evidence of the nature of war. With all the efforts of preparation, discipline, and anticipation, false hopes were created for the young individuals, who leave the battlefields with numerous emotional and physical scars. The propaganda and disciplinary training to convince naïve young men to go to battle to fight for their country, the death of their comrades, and the physical breakdown are all part of twentieth century warfare.
War can be defined as conflict and battle. Wars are waged intentionally to destroy bonds between relationships, however, there are also wars that occur within oneself. These wars negatively affect the mentality of humans as it is able to manifest conflicts within the mind. Through the use of literary devices such as: tone, mood, imagery and pathos, writers Paul Boyer, Tim O’Brien, and Kenneth W. Bagby are able to convey the idea that war has a substantial impact on the self. In the texts written by these authors, the notion that war is affects the self the most is apparent.
For the great lesson which history imprints on the mind…is the tragic certainty that all wars gain their ultimate ends, whether great or petty, by the violation of personality, by the destruction of homes, by the paralysis of art and industry and letters…even wars entered on from high motives must rouse greed, cupidity, and blind hatred; that even in defensive warfare a people can defend its rights only by inflicting new wrongs; and that chivalrous no less than self-seeking war entails relentless destruction.
Conflict is constant. It is everywhere. It exists within one’s own mind, different desires fighting for dominance. It exists outside in nature, different animals fighting for the limited resources available, and it exists in human society, in the courts. It can occur subtly, making small changes that do not register consciously, and it can occur directly and violently, the use of pure strength, whether physical, social, economic, or academic, to assert dominance and achieve one’s goals; this is the use of force. Yet, with the use of force, the user of force is destined to be one day felled by it. “He who lives by the sword will die by the sword.”
War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, written by the talented author Chris Hedges, gives us provoking thoughts that are somewhat painful to read but at the same time are quite personal confessions. Chris Hedges, a talented journalist to say the least, brings nearly 15 years of being a foreign correspondent to this book and subjectively concludes how all of his world experiences tie together. Throughout his book, he unifies themes present in all wars he experienced first hand. The most important themes I was able to draw from this book were, war skews reality, dominates culture, seduces society with its heroic attributes, distorts memory, and supports a cause, and allures us by a constant battle between death and love.
As a viewer, the documentary’s intention to inform is more completely fulfilled by research conducted beyond the scope of the camera lens. Had I never written this paper, for instance, the reason for all the violence embedded within the subject matter would remain as enigmatic as the documentary itself.
Rascaroli, Laura. "The Essay Film: Problems, Definitions, Textual Commitments." Framework: The Journal of Cinema and Media 49.2 (2008): 24-47. JSTOR. Web. 08 May 2014.
The physical effects of war overwhelm the naïve causing pain and suffering. Initially, war entangles the lives of youth, destroying the innocence that they experience as an aspect of their life. The girl “glid[ing] gracefully down the path” (1) and the boy “rid[ing] eagerly down the road” (9) have their enjoyable realities striped by the harshness of war. Likewise, war enters women’s lives creating turmoil. The woman who works “deftly in the fields” ( ) no longer is able to experience the offerings of life. The “wire cuts,” ( ) pushing her away from the normal flow of life. In addition, man undergoes tragic obstacles as a result of war. “A man walks nobly and alone” ( ) before the horrible effects of war set in on his life causing disruptions. War enters the life of man destroying the bond man shares with his beloved environment ( ).
First, war is universal due to its violent nature, violence in its application knows no bounds, and it is the common factor that identifies the war and without it the war is nothing more than a diplomatic effort to reach the end. However, wars blow out only when the diplomacy fails. Violence is the war engine. Although the application of violence evolved through time and its severity varies according to communities, cultures, and the means and methods used. Demonstrating the violence through the application of force to subjugate the enemy is the central idea of war. “War is a clash between major interests,
One of the integral things that must be addressed when making a film is the ethics involved. Ethics are a constant issue that have to be carefully considered when filmmaking. This difficult decision-making is highly prevalent in that of documentaries, because of the difficulties associated in filming ‘real people’ or “social actors, (Nichols, 2001).” More importantly, the issues faced by a filmmaker differ between each of the documentary modes. Each particular documentary mode poses different formal choices that must be made in order to operate in an ethical fashion. Two films that have been made both display examples of how ethics must be considered when embarking on a documentary are Etre at Avoir [To Be and to Have], (2001) and Capturing the Friedmans (2003). These films have been made in different documentary modes, highlighting that there is not one mode which is easier or has fewer ethical issues associated with it. Additionally, what must be considered is how these style choices in these different modes affect the power relationships between the filmmaker, the subject and its audience, (Nichols, 2001).