Friday, 27 February 2009

Enemies of Happiness

If anyone is interested in finding out more about the film shown last night 'Enemies of Happiness', please follow the link below.
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1 comment:

  1. Stephen Coleman27 February 2009 at 11:46

    I have two or three brief points to make about the quality of this remarkable documentary:

    1. Unlike in so many recent documentaries, the role of the director was inconspicuous. Instead of being invited to collude with the wit, irony or banality of a narrator, we were allowed to make sense of the film for ourselves.

    2. The film reminded us that democracy - including simple acts like voting - can be very meaningful and indeed exciting. As western politics has become increasingly marketised and staged, this was an important reminder about how some elections really do matter.

    3. The documentary could be interpreted in complex ways - and this suggests to me that post-film discussions would have value. One could read this film as a case for a larger armed security presence in Afghanistan - which would seem to endorse Obama and Brown's recent commitment to more soldiers being sent there. Of course, that might be a rather simplistic interpretation, but, like all good films, this one leads viewers to question other simplistic ideas, such as that there is no need for resistance to the Taliban.

    Anyway, these are some general impressions rather than worked-out views. (That's what blogs are for.) I'd be interested to see what others think.

    Stephen

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