Ruben Aguilar
Of the documentaries what I saw in 2024the ones I mention below are the ones I consider to be the best. In this space that I publish on Saturdays in Political Animal reviews of these works appeared.
The production of these documentaries is from Chile, the United States, Ukraine, Great Britain, Syria, Lebanon, Germany, France and Mexico.
The infinite memory (Chile, 2023) is directed by Maite Alberdi, who also writes the story. It is the life of the journalist Augusto Góngora and the actress Paulina Urrutia. After 25 years of living together, he begins to suffer the effects of Alzheimer's, which he has suffered for eight years. She is aware that one day, he will no longer recognize her. The camera, from intimacy, follows the relationship between them in the process of memory loss. There is enormous respect in the shots, but at the same time it is the record of a real event.
Patty Smith: Dream of life (United States, 2008) is a documentary by Steven Sebring who, for eleven years, from 1996 to 2007, accompanied this poet and singer-songwriter in all facets of her life. From what Sebring filmed, he made the camera, this documentary is built with scenes of all kinds. Those that record daily life, concerts and recitals. And also the interviews with Smith and people around him. The documentary records Smith's way of life and becomes a powerful manifesto of his artistic proposal. It tells about the life and artistic work of this charismatic and very original singer-songwriter.
20 days in Mariupol (Ukraine, 2023) is a work of war correspondent and director Mstyslav Chernov (1985). The film tells the story of the twenty days, between February and March 2022, of what happens in the besieged Mariupol after Russia begins its invasion of Ukraine. Journalists Mstyslav Chernov, Evgeniy Maloletka and producer Vasilisa Stepanenko record the events. Chernov records the images together with the Frontline and Associated Press (AP) team. They document the disastrous effects of war.
The Secrets of the Neanderthals (Great Britain, 2024) is a documentary directed by Ashley Gething, narrated in English by actor Sir Patrick Stewart. It is a tour and an update on what archaeologists and a group of scientists from various disciplines have discovered in recent years about Neanderthals. The documentary shows how these specialists work and investigate the origin, life and extinction of this group of hominids that lived from 300,000 BC to 40,000 BC.
Of parents and children (Syria-Lebanon-Germany, 2017), by Syrian director Talal Derki, tells the story of a radical Islamist family from Syria headed by Abu Osama. Derki, who lives in Germany, returns to Syria, his country of origin, and manages to gain the trust of Osama and his family with whom he shares his life for two years. He poses as a journalist who sympathizes with the fundamentalist cause, who has decided to report on the daily life of a jihadist family.
fire of love (United States, 2022) by American director Sara Dosa, tells the story of the French volcanologist couple Katia and Maurice Krafft. The director articulates the story in four interwoven planes: The relationship as a couple; their pioneering research work as volcanologists; their efforts to disseminate what they discover and their influence in preventing disasters. Katherine Joséphine Conrad (1942), Katia, and Maurice Krafft (1946) met while studying at the University of Strasbourg. They become companions and never separate.
Oasis Marino (United States, 2000) is directed by the American Soames Summerhays, the script is by Michael Parfit and the photography by James Neihouse. It is a tour of the richness of the deserts of the Baja California peninsula and the Sea of Cortez. Desert and sea are related and inseparable. The script explains and articulates the extraordinary images, all very good, but the aerial ones and those filmed below the sea are spectacular and of great beauty.
Lee Miller: On the other side of the looking glass (France, 1995) tells the life of the model and great American photographer Lee Miller (1907-1977), who lived a good part of her life in England. To construct the story of this extraordinary woman, far ahead of her time, the director interviews three fundamental people in Miller's life: Anthony Perose, her son; Davis Sherman, photographer for LIFE magazine, who worked with her, and was her lover, and Patsy I. Murray who raised Tony.
The echo (Mexico, 2023) is a documentary by Salvadoran-Mexican Tatiana Huezo, her script is also hers. It records the daily life of a family in a small community in the mountain region of the state of Puebla. The material comes from an 18-month intermittent shoot. The camera is inside the home, but it is not invasive, and life goes on as if nothing were happening. The husbands, the grandmother, the children are at home and continue with their daily routines. The family cares for the grandmother until she dies. The children go to school, but they also work in the fields.
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