I've noticed a trend in documentary filmmaking that I find puzzling.
Most current documentaries feel like filmed pamphlets. By that I mean, the filmmakers have a specific point of view (often political) and they set out to communicate this point of view through the medium of film or video. It's understandable why they would turn to this format. We live in an increasingly visual culture dominated by the moving image so if you've got an idea to propagate, best to do it with moving images.
In previous eras, pamphlets were handed out for free in order to promote a political point of view.
Take, for example, the brave members of The White Rose, who protested the Nazi regime in Germany by printing up and circulating thousands of fliers. These brave students were eventually hanged for their efforts but their courageous acts of defiance remain an inspirational symbol of what one can do with limited means. In short, anyone with a mind and a voice can protest what they see as injustice in the world.
What puzzles me about this current crop of docu-phlets, as I like to call them, is: Why are we willing to spend $10 to see them? There have been some examples of the docuphlet as fund raising tool. I think Moveon.org made one a few years ago which they sent out on DVD to all donors at a certain level.
I wouldn't be surprised if eventually the audience really tires of this and refuses to walk into a movie theatre and pay for the privilege of watching a filmed pamphlet. And in turn, I would encourage these maverick filmmakers with a political axe to grind to continue doing so, but to circulate their work free of charge.
This would ultimately serve the purpose at the heart of this kind of filmmaking for it would broaden the audience and thus expand the net for dialogue on whatever given topic is at hand.
What do you think? Am I on to something? Or just woefully out of touch?
