While  I personally was thoroughly moved by 211: Anna, the documentary about the murder of liberal Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, for reasons I’ll get into in just a second, I can’t imagine how anyone else in the audience managed to sit through it. 

In terms of film making, 211: Anna was just plain boring. Even though directors Paolo Serbandini and Giovanna Massimetti accumulated great footage–some of it very exclusive– as well as interviews with Anna’s husband, children and co workers, I was very disappointed by the disengaging arrangement of their material. About 80% of the movie features talking heads–individuals mumbling into the camera in Russian accompanied by what I noticed to be very poorly written subtitles, which took away from both the personality of the person speaking, as well as the inflection of their words.

The filmmakers also used interviews with folks off the street, to demonstrate the Russian peoples reluctance to even acknowledge, let alone criticize the actions of their government. All in all these interviews were effective, but they were conducted by the directors themselves, in a thick Italian accent. While I understand their logic behind this, assuming Russians would be more comfortable talking to members of foreign media, without fear of being “caught” issuing a negative statement to Russian reporters, I feel that interviews would have been more candid, more passionate, had they been conducted by a native speaker. Russians, especially those in Moscow, have a tendency to be somewhat condescending to foreigners, so as a result their statements came across as rather patronizing. More effective would have been the approach taken in another documentary, Quest for Honor, about honor killings in Kurdistan, in which the American film maker allowed her Arabic speaking camera man to interview her subjects (who also were in great danger of being exposed), resulting in a higher level of trust and honesty.

Lastly, despite having startling archival footage of the events around which Politkovskaya’s contraversial career was centered, such as the hostage situations in Belsan and Nord Ost, they assumed the viewers were familiar with these tragedies, which received little coverage in the US. In assuming this, they devoted no time to a concise chronological explanation of the events, before jumping into footage and interviews regarding them. In general, there was a sense of disorganization throughout the film. From the poor subtitles to the scattered style in which the film makers tried to present Russia’s political history, current situation, specific events, as well as Anna herself, turned what could have been a thrilling documentary into, what can most simply be described as a tedious mess.

Me?  I GOT what the film makers were trying to do. I even found myself opening crying on several occasions, shaken by both love and shame for my country. I was in Moscow during what happened at Nord Ost, in fact I sat in that very theatre just one week before the tragedy. Ironically because of my proximity to the even, I never saw the footage from inside the theatre, which was revealed in the documentary, because Russian news outlets never released it. It was also painful to see some of the interviews, taken in recent months, in which Moscow residents nervously laughed off Politkovskaya’s murder, and sheepishly dodged answering questions about the governments involvement in it– illustrating not the only death of free press, but free speech as well, in modern day Russia.  

Speaking Russian, I didn’t need to follow the subtitles, I know the situation my country without needing it explained to me, and being from Moscow, I found entertainment in recognizing the locations. So, I guess what I was most upsetting to me was that I wanted everyone to understand the significance of the documentary. The film makers could have shed more light on the deadly media control in Russia by simply making it more concise, and had viewers more angered, more animated about the issue, by arranging the documentary in a more entertaining fashion. I hate to say that such a serious political documentary should have been flashier, featured more music,more action, but Politkovskaya’s story actually has all the makings of a juicy political thriller. I so badly hoped the film makers would make both her story, and their portrayal of Russia more engaging, thereby achieving a more informative and powerful film. Unfortunately, I fear that many viewers will find their dry style forgettable, and as a result forget about Anna herself.

Tags: Anastassia Smordinskaya, sundance

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 21st, 2009 at 4:41 pm and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.