Friday, September 13, 2019

Analyse and research a complete full length documentary film (from the Essay

Analyse and research a complete full length documentary film (from the list); be sure to cite specific examples from within the film - at least two major scenes should be analysed in detail - Essay Example In this film, Morris deviates from the usual features of a documentary and uses a non-narrator approach and a dramatic technique, so that he can depict the thin blue line between appearance and truth, a line that can either result to justice or injustice. Morris diverges from the usual norms of documentary films and follows an expressionistic rendering of the testimonies. First, in this film, a clear narrator does not exist, and instead, Morris relies on his viewers to digest the testimonies fed to them, so that they can ascertain the truth. He prefers to call his film a â€Å"non-fiction feature† than a documentary (Hunter 1995, p.65). The viewers become the narrator, because they have to sift through the material of testimonies provided to them (Hunter 1995, p.65). Chapman (2009) believes that this self-reflective nature of the film helps viewers to find the truth (p.p.24). Second, the film is constructed using dramatic techniques. Williams (1998) asserts that Morris abandoned â€Å"cinema verità © realism† for â€Å"studied, often slow-motion, and highly expressionistic re-enactments of different witnesses’ versions of the murder† (p.383). These re-enactments define the difference between the truth and biases. The editing and sequencing, using cuts and diverse symbolic items, such as newspaper clippings, the Dallas map, â€Å"Voluntary Statement† and the TV schedule, depict meaning through what these objects mean and how people use them to attain their purposes. When Adams signs the â€Å"Voluntary Statement,† he believes he offered the truth. For the homicide detectives, this statement, however, becomes a confession for his crime. Ponech (2005) believes that the map stands for the inability of Adams to understand the corruption of the justice system (p.85). The map stands for the irony of being lost in a society, where deception and scapegoating undercut

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