This is the first year I’ve ever seen all the documentary nominations- normally I only get to about one or two. I don’t know that it was the best year to do this, as 4 out of the 5 dealt with war in some regard (all but Sicko) and only one of them was mildly uplifting (War/Dance) with the other four being wildly depressing. I thought I’d lump them all together, marked with the numbers in which I saw it out of the 39 nominations, rather than giving them each individual reviews.

#23 Sicko
Michael Moore’s latest attempt to reveal scandal and present often out of context facts is effective in making America’s health care system look abysmal. I’ve always enjoyed Moore’s documentaries, but at the same time taken their info with a grain of salt. This film reveals less about America’s health care system (because, let’s face it, we all know how horrible it is) and more about what it’s like elsewhere, such as Canada, England, France, and Cuba. There is one aspect of Moore’s style of filmmaking that I generally detest, and that is the stunts he likes to pull (see the Charlton Heston interview in Bowling for Columbine). In this film, he takes a group of 9/11 rescue workers with various job related ailments to Guantanamo Bay to receive the same top of the line treatment that the detainees are offered. He gets in a little motorboat and there’s a black screen stating that the government won’t allow the public to see how he actually got there, and next thing you know he’s on a bullhorn asking for the same treatment as the terrorists and alarms start to sound. Whoa, that sounds bad. So they get out of there and that’s that. Absolutely pointless in my opinion- it doesn’t say anything about the health care provided, but about the security that surrounds the area, and with dangerous (mostly…see Taxi to the Dark Side below) prisoners being held there, I would hope so. This stunt is slightly less annoying than most he has pulled, mostly because he corrects it by bringing his gang to a hospital in Cuba where they receive good, free medical treatment and a woman purchases a ton of her inhalers which cost her around $100 each in America…for about $.05 a piece. Despicable. Moore redeems himself, but only for a moment as he ends the film with a piece about a man that runs an “anti Michael Moore” web site who Moore anonymously donated $12,000 to pay for his wife’s pricey medical treatments. Not so anonymous anymore, are we? Just couldn’t stand to be the silent hero? I would have loved to see that guy’s reaction when he found out that his family’s health came from Mr. Moore himself.

#26 Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience
A program called Operation Homecoming encouraged soldiers in Iraq to write about the war in any way they could: poem, fiction, non fiction, letters, etc. This is a collection of those writings, read by actors and set to images, broken up by interviews with the authors. Each piece has an individual voice and look to it. There are touching short quips such as "Taking Chance," which follows a soldier as he accompanies the body of a fellow soldier that he had never met to his hometown for the funeral and is told through photographs of Chance’s hometown and graveyard. "Men in Black" is a detailed account of one soldier’s experience of being caught in an ambush, told with comic book style animated drawings. "What Every Soldier Should Know" is a poem, told in a haunting manner with lines like “You will hear the RPG coming for you. Not so the roadside bomb,” written over innocent looking images of Iraq. I had a hard time enjoying any of these war documentaries, but I do believe this one was very relevant and well done.

#29 War/Dance
This is the only uplifting documentary we get this year…and it’s really only to a certain extent. It follows a school in a displacement camp in northern Uganda that sends a group of children to compete in a national music and dance festival. The film focuses specifically on three children: Nancy, Dominick, and Rose. All of their lives have been directly affected by the rebels: Rose’s parents were killed, Nancy’s father was killed, and Dominick and his brother were captured, and only he managed to escape. While it was very touching to hear their sad stories and see the joy that music and dancing brought to them, at times I felt this documentary was so invasive. There is a moment where Nancy goes with her mother to their father’s grave for the first time, as it is in open, rebel territory, and Nancy has an emotional breakdown while the camera stays fixed on her. It’s so uncomfortable to see this poor young woman grieve over her father and not be able to look away. At one point her mother looks at the camera while she consoles her daughter and you can see in her stare that she wishes they were alone.

#32 No End in Sight
This documentary has a very relevant title- while its subject matter is the war in Iraq having no end in sight, I felt the same way while watching the film. It’s comprised of a bunch of talking heads and documents the beginning of America’s war with Iraq and uncovers how few people were actually involved. I couldn’t help thinking of Charlie Wilson’s War, and how it took just three people to end the Cold War. This is similar, as it points out the handful of people involved in all the decision making, and how most of them have never even been to Iraq. It’s unsettling for sure, but they could have used a more interesting way to present the information. I felt like I was watching the news for two hours.

#33 Taxi to the Dark Side
This was another talking heads documentary that aimed to uncover the mistreatment, and at times wrongful imprisonment, of Iraqi prisoners. While it was very informative and disturbing, I felt that this documentary's sole intention was to shock. The images it showed of the prisoners – naked, hands cuffed to the ceiling, hoods on their heads – were so offensive to see. While I understand that it’s purpose is to confront you with these facts, I felt they overdid it by showing these images, consistently, throughout the two hour duration of the film, often reusing images like that of soldiers smiling next to naked Iraqi prisoners. Disgusting, yes. Necessary for two hours, I don’t think so. Their information and facts were often muted by their choice of images and footage.

Prediction:
War/Dance. Not only is it this only somewhat uplifting doc amongst the crop, but it’s also the best at balancing its subject matter and expressing the tragic environment in which it takes place. It’s juxtaposition of the music and dancing with the children telling their stories is inspiring.

What Should Win:
Operation Homecoming. I felt it was so creatively done, and displays the everyman’s perspective of the war with these stories that could have been told by anyone.