Documentary films: a bit of background
A documentary film is a movie that reflects an aspect from reality. A documentary film is not dramatized or staged in any way. Everything should be true. It is not unusual that a documentary film deals with subjects like history science and nature. Stories about spectacular destinies or political differences also falls int o the norm of documentary films. A documentary can be directed as an ordinary movie with actors. It is very hard to draw a line between a regular movie based on real events and a documentary. When something is portrayed in a movie you can see it as an edited version of something that has happened in real life. It is impossible to recreate the actual happening of the event, but a documentary should reflect the truth as good as possible.
The meaning of the word
The word documentary has been used since the 13th century in England
with the same meaning as med teaching or instruction. This comes from old French
words for document meaning lesson and proof in writing. It is often said that
the word documentary was used for the first time in movies when the Scottish
moviemaker John Grierson wrote the movie “Moana” The moviemaker making it was Robert
Flaherty and the movie was released in 1926. Flaherty also did the movie”
Nanook – s son of cold” in 1922, it is often seen as the first documentary movie.
Often with the makers view and opinion
A documentary often reflects reality and the moviemaker’s way of looking at it.
Many famous documentary film makers can be recognized in their way of filming
and their way of looking at the reality. A documentary film should get a
creative treatment, which means that the viewer gets a look in to the
characters life to get to know them in a way. That Is why you can´t take a surveillance
camera constantly filming and then call it a documentary. No one knows about
the characters background and why they act like they do. All movies are made
with propaganda meaning that the moviemaker, often discreetly, puts his/her
opinions into the movie. When opinions and attitudes are shown in a markedly it
is called a propaganda movie. The risk here is that the viewer will be fed
false information if they don´t have enough knowledge about the subject.
Positive trend for documentaries
Documentary films has had a positive trend in the last few years thanks to the
controversial American moviemaker Micael Moore. He is known for his critical
position on violence, the invasion of Iraq and the George W Bushs
administration in the period 2000 to 2008 when Bush was president in the USA. In
the movie “Farenheit
9/11”, Moore is criticising the administration on their actions after the
terror attacks at World Trade Center, mainly about the war on terrorism.
Michael Moore digs deeply in to the administration and their connection to Saudi
Arabia and the president’s personal connections to the Bin Laden family. The
movie won the Golden palm at the movie festival in Cannes but lacked
distributor. Disney and Miramax, that owned the rights, didn´t want to release
the movie at first since it would be bad publicity due to the criticism and
reveals on the Bush administration. It all ended with a deal being made with a
smaller company that distributed the movie but gave Disney and Miramax large
profits.
