Discover the Unknown, Unheard, Unseen
Reviewed by Rebecca Lee
February 25th, 2008
It is night and of course very, very dark. The only light seen is the flashes of guns going off and villages being burned and savagely massacred. All around you, the only sounds heard are the pitter patter of feet as people try to escape quietly. This is no action or suspense film, but a more than true experience caught on film by three young filmmakers.
In a world of violence, fear and darkness emerges amazing courage. Although I have viewed this film numerous times, each time I am still amazed and impacted as though it was my first time seeing the film. The message is loud and clear every time and almost always seems to move the audience as well as makes a lasting impression and brings out the activist in you.
Although the film has a rudimentary style, we must remind ourselves that this is the product of the makers’ first documentary, let alone film and was made with equipment bought off of e-bay. Sounds impossible yet amazing yes? We also can’t help but give major kudos and props and whatever else we can give for the efforts and outstanding documentary produced. The three youths have somehow created a movement from something that would be considered a complete failure in all technicalities, and have even inspired others through this film.
The style of this film can be very relatable to the youth of today. In the beginning of the film, we see that the film is very much expository directly addressing the audience and interactive as well. Most of the shots where the filmmakers are included are usually for the sake of fun, keeping the viewer interested and even makes the viewer feel as if they had known the filmmakers for many years. The interviews take on a simple take where the main focus is on the interviewee. No artistic approach is necessary to make the interviews powerful and touching, however by using archival footage; the film seems very much immature. To also make the film much more reliable in a sense, text tracks are used less compared to other foreign documentaries. The sounds of the film are mainly diegetic from music played on the spot or composed of multiple clips to make an audio track of stylistically different music. The audio track also brings an extra something that keeps the viewer on their toes creating suspense and hope. Such as the beginning of the film where a very quick preview is created through multiple clips that begin with a slow and calm scene with drums and voices in the background that slowly incorporates the sounds of guns and scenes of agony are then incorporated suddenly making the viewer alert and awake.
Because this film is a documentary, there isn’t always a resolution in the end. However, the filmmakers brought a sense of hope as well as an amazing truth to the screen that cannot be foiled in any way. This sense of truth and hope is often a reoccurring idea in that of nonfiction texts, such as Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. An almost childlike quality brings out the honesty, truth and hope through the author’s reflection on her past. In Invisible Children, the children and resilience brings out only an unbeatable honesty and hope that cannot help the viewer but to believe. The idea is to keep the viewer thinking and not just pity the people included in the film but to also think of ways to act and then go forward. This film is provoking in the most positive sense and makes one think in ways that were never thought possible. It is an eye opening experience that will almost always change you. There is no possible way that the viewer will not want to act and make a difference.
Just the word “documentary” can bore people directly. The film faults in the area of being humorous in the correct sense. It almost seems as if the filmmakers had tried too hard in this aspect just to keep the audience to keep watching and keep thinking. The story does pick up later in the film but the unnecessary humor only shows the undeveloped filmmakers, not the actual focus of the child soldiers which of course, should be considered in the very beginning. There are some areas where the film does include humor in the correct sense of time, where it didn’t have to be created to keep the audience to keep viewing.
All in all, the film sends a message loud and clear to the audience, capturing their hearts and melting them through the camera lens of people not very different from ourselves, three young people in search of a story that in the end started a revolution. We cannot help but respect and admire the efforts of these three young men. Without the accidental stumbling upon such incidents, the world would be unaware of such a situation, being almost ignorant to such cries of help. Also, getting the attention of the youth today is very difficult. Just the idea that so many of our youth today are involved in the efforts of making a difference in the area of Northern Uganda is encouraging and exciting. This film most definitely brings out the inner activist in you.
