I Am Because We Are (2008/Virgil Films DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C+ Film: B
Madonna
continues to be a major force and survivor in music, but her affiliation with
any kind of filmmaking has been very much the opposite. However, her newest approach has been with
documentaries and she does everything but direct a look at a horrible crisis in
Malawi, a once healthy and promising part of South Africa where over a million
children have been orphaned because their parents died of AIDS. Nathan Rissman’s I Am Because We Are (2008) is written, produced and narrated by
Madonna in some of the most vital work of her career and fine work by Rissman.
The
situation is a crisis, yet amazingly, it takes a thorough work to really show
what is going on when the world media is MIA in what should be their
journalistic responsibilities. There is
no sewage system, AIDS is just the worst of the many diseases they have to deal
with (in part because of no sewage system), the majority live on less than a
$1.00 a day, they eat once a day if that and education is out of reach at a
$10.00 a term. How did things get this
bad?
The
documentary covers what happened down there for conditions to go from promising
to disaster and we get United Nations statistics, yet they are never blamed
(nor are any superpowers, the G-20 and/or any corporations) for this mess. With all of the wealthy, intelligence and
science out there, Malawi is a red alert of how bad the irresponsibility and
geopolitics have decimated places that should be left alone or have a chance to
grow. Guess the renaming of Third World
Countries as “emerging markets” only counts if you can make a fortune at the
grave expense of others.
Important
figureheads like President Bill Clinton and Bishop Desmond Tutu are among those
interviewed, along with some well-spoken experts on the situation, but the most
important are those of the children (subtitled) telling the truth about how bad
things are and some of the ugly stories are outrageous and include nightmares
that are intolerable.
To its
credit, the film never relies on illicit pity tricks and Madonna is very
thorough about dealing with what is happening, starting with how she got a call
that got her permanently involved. She
even asks a question about the people there versus here, saying she does not
know the answer. I wonder if she
does. Either way, it is one worth
thinking about and when you get to it, you’ll say the same thing.
As the
situation gets worse and similar situations surface in other places, this will
turn out to be a very important work.
See it as soon as you can.
The anamorphically
enhanced 1.78 X 1 image uses a little stock footage, but is composed for the
most part from newly taped interviews and location footage to show how bad
things can get. The Dolby Digital 2.0 is
simple stereo at best with location recording better than usual. Extras include more interviews, stills and
deleted scenes.
I found
it a problem that Malawi was not specifically anywhere on the front or back of
the DVD case, but this is solid journalism and you can find out more at this
link:
www.iambecauseweare.com
- Nicholas Sheffo
