Free Essay

Documentary “We Are All Neighbors”

In:

Submitted By yayaaj15
Words 527
Pages 3
The film, “We Are All Neighbors”(1993) was a result of videoing by the British Granada Television International unit in their series "Disappearing World". It is part of a sub-series of three films made in villages suffering the effects of war. This film specifically takes place in a Bosnian village northwest of Saravejo. I believe that this 52 minute video does fit the definition of a documentary in numerous ways. Unlike fictional film, the people, places, and scenarios presented in this film are all realistic and un-imaginary. Anthropologist, Tone Bringa spent fifteen months coinciding in (and filming) the Bosnian village before any intercultural tensions subsisted. We can see this at the beginning, how pacific the village and neighbors are with each other despite that they pertain to different religions. The close knit community and respect between them are also apparent in the dialogue between two Slavic women, a Muslim and her Catholic neighbor. Being aware of the war and the inter-ethnic hatred, they reassure that “What ever happens, we’ll drink coffee together…as we did in the past, we’ll do in the future,” and that Bosnia will always remain united and include a mixture of Croats, Serbs, and Muslims. Then as the film develops, we see how this village and these relationships are vigorously shaken. Due to the outbreak of the war and all of the raids in their community, relationships begin to deteriorate. We slowly realize how everyone is sucked into the conflict and how their hope for peace slips away. It’s apparent that suspicion, disbelief and helplessness dwells in the villagers. Rumors about the ongoing brutalities begin to raise tensions, fear, and distrust between people who never considered their differences of any importance. When Bringa returns to the village, she sees that trust no longer remains, and neither does the harmonious village it once was. Villagers were changed to refugees, and Muslim houses were destroyed. Personally, I believe all of these scenes and emotions documented were neither re-enacted nor imaginary. They were real people whose everyday life in areas of the world which were undergoing change for whatever reason (war in this case) were recorded. Since this film was made over a long period of time, it becomes more valuable because it’s history. Bringa allowed us to see the unusual intimacy of sighted Muslim women at prayer. We were able to get a closer look and feel of the distrust between the Bosnian community through the daily depictions of the destruction, the plight of refugees, and aftermath of war. Most importantly, the disastrous effects that the outside pressures played upon a community causing the disintegration of the Bosnian village. I also believe it falls under the category of a narrative because we have Bringa narrating what’s happening in this village. She obviously did not include all the footage she took while she was there for 15 months, but rather chose specific scenes to shape the film in a specific manner. In some way I believe it was an attempt to show Muslims suffering from Croat offenses and give the victims a face and a voice, so they could be understood.

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Panopticon

...being watched” (Wikipedia). In the documentary “we live in public” Josh Harris creates something similar to this Panopticon prison. He calls his project “The Quiet Bunker." He finds participants and places them in bunk beds and record everything they do all day long. There is no privacy at all and people are willingly participating. I found this a little extreme and maybe crazy. I was surprised how comfortable people were knowing they were being watch and yet doing everything they want comfortably. I am not sure if Harris did this because he was bored door he wanted to show the world how our privacy will be taken...

Words: 781 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

Mining

...Answer: It has two types: DVD and Online. Entropy can be calculated in the following manner: Entropy(t)= -∑ p( j | t)log p( j | t) Entropy for DVD= -68log268+28log228=0.811 In similar way, Entropy for Online= 0.915 Weighted average = 820x0.811+1220x0.915=0.8734 (d) Compute the Entropy for the Movie Category attribute using multiway split. Answer: Entropy(t)= -∑ p( j | t)log p( j | t) Entropy for Entertainment= -14log214+34log234=0.8112 Similarly, Entropy for comedy= 0.5435 Entropy for Documentaries= 0.8112 Weighted Average=420x0.8112+820x0.5435+820x0.8112=0.70412 (e) Which of the three attributes has the lowest Entropy? Answer: Movie ID has the lowest Entropy. (f) Which of the three attributes will you use for splitting at the root node? Brief explain your choice. Answer: We will use Movie Category to split the root nodes even though the entropy for Movie ID is lowest it is just an identification attribute and a decision tree using this attribute would not generalize at all. Movie ID value is unique for each record. The number of records for each partition are too small to make any predictions. Thus movie id is not a good choice. 2. Consider the decision tree shown in Figure 1, and the corresponding training and test sets in Tables 2 and 3 respectively. (a) Estimate the generalization error rate of the tree using both the optimistic approach and the pessimistic approach. While computing the error with pessimistic approach, to...

Words: 1378 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Prison Town Film Analysis

...The documentary Prison Town USA portrays the socioeconomics of the prison town Susanville, CA. The prison was opened in a rural town with hopes of changing the economy and providing jobs. Prior to High Desert State Prison, there wasn’t much industry in Susanville with good pay and benefits. This in turn convinced the citizens to advocate for the building of High Desert State Prison. The documentary depicts what it was like in the Prison Town after the hype had settled down and a decade had passed. It appears as though, the disadvantages outweighed the benefits. In fact, the course reading “An American Seduction: Portrait of a Prison Town” by Joelle Fraser talks about and this very prison and the impact it left on Susanville, CA. According...

Words: 1168 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Dark Girls: Duke & Berry

...“Dark Girls” is a documentary produced by Bill Duke, and Channsin Berry in 2011 in the U.S, and remote countries such as Ghana, Senegal, and South Africa (Duke& Berry, 2011). Duke got the idea for “Dark girls” when an incident occurred with one of his friend’s 10-year old daughter. “In the incident, the 10-year old young girl was in tears because a classmate didn’t care for her chocolate skin tone, and the worst of all, she was called a monkey” (Carter, 2011). After that particular incident, the project for “Dark girls” began. In the documentary, Duke& Berry wanted to explore the deep biased attitudes of skin color, predominantly dark skinned women that are within, and outside of the American culture. Furthermore, they hoped to deliver messages...

Words: 1094 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Documentary Reflexivity In Brazilian Cinema

...Although documentary reflexivity and the blurring of boundaries between the documentary genre and fiction were arguably present in Brazilian cinema from the outset—from the docudramatic travelogues of filmmaker-adventurer Silvino Santos (1886–1970) in the 1920s to Nelson Pereira dos Santos’s (1928-) urban chronicles of Rio in the 1950s, and the genre-bending work of the 1970s, such as Orlando Senna (1940-) and Jorge Bodanzky’s (1942-) Iracema, uma transa amazônica (Iracema, 1974), Aloysio Raulino’s (1947–2013) Tarumã (1975), or Glauber Rocha’s (1939–1981) own Di-Glauber (or Di Cavalcanti, 1977)—I would argue that it is only in the 1980s, with Eduardo Coutinho’s Cabra, that reflexivity becomes the dominant mode of documentary filmmaking. The historical experience of struggle and traumatic loss provides Coutinho a matrix for seeking formal...

Words: 1256 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Holocaust

...Alexia Gonzalez Political Science 4823: The Holocaust/ the Shoah Final Paper December 12, 2013 The Comparative Analysis of the Holocaust Ethnic cleansing and genocide are considered to coexist in a spectrum of assaults on nations or religio-ethnic groups. These threats were more prominent during the 20th century which caused massive violations of human rights and jeopardized the overall security of humans. Determinants of ethnic cleansing and genocide root from socio-political factors influenced by deeply embedded ideologies which are manifested by political leaders of specific regime types. During World War II, German authorities targeted Jews and other minority groups like the gypsies and Pols due to their perceived racial inferiority. The German ideology in attempt to eradicate these auxiliary groups led to the conflict known as the Shoah. The Shoah is the biblical word meaning destruction and it is the standard Hebrew term for the murder of European Jewry. The Shoah was the systematic, bureaucratic and state sponsored persecution of six million Jews. Comparable to other ethnic based genocides, Germans believed they were racially superior and that Jews were inferior; and deemed a threat to the “German racial community” resulting in their mass murder. Various interpretations of the Shoah has given rise to similar attitudes and opinions regarding its historical events. The Holocaust Survivors and Victims Database, is one of the largest resources of its kind which includes...

Words: 3519 - Pages: 15

Free Essay

Babies-the Film

...I really enjoyed the documentary, Babies. What struck me initially was the lack of any dialogue, yet it was not necessary to be able to follow the film. It was really incredible seeing the different lifestyles and parenting methods in the various countries, yet all of the babies were still developing and reaching their “milestones.” I thought that the movie did an excellent job organized each developmental stage for each of the babies’ lives (we see each one learning to crawl, hand eye coordination, feeding, interacting with others, etc.) While each culture brought its own uniqueness to the development stage, the actual milestone remained the same. An example would be with Ponijao from Namibia. In that culture, it was not uncommon for other mothers to breastfeed other children where as in the other cultures shown, breastfeeding was between a mother and her child. Even though Ponijao was breastfed by other women, he was still able to recognize and attach with his mother. Another thing that was interesting was Ponijao’s culture did not have many resources/material items (toys, diapers etc.) the children there seemed to be the happiest children featured. They did not seem to mind playing with rocks or their lack of clothes. IT seemed like their mother took the primary active role in parenting and kind of had a “this is what we have, make the most of it.” This leads to my next example with Mari and Hattie. I was surprised with the amount of similarities displayed to these two...

Words: 607 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Fracking

...Lameka Thomas C. Arena Outline Paper C April 7, 2014 Fracking involves the extraction of natural gas from underground layers of shale. Through high-pressure injections wells dug deep into the ground, water mixed with toxic chemicals is used to create fissures in the shale through which the oil is then retrieved. This practice has made America the largest producer of energy in the world, yet the industry has its share of critics (np). In the article off, THE WASHINGTON FREE BEACON “ Fact-Checking “. They talk about the movie Gasland Part II and the things they discovered while filming the documentary. The areas impacted by this are Texas, Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and many more. Majority of the complaints are chemicals getting into the water of residents home and lands (np). Fracking is a growing industry that poses a number of troubling issues at the same time that it has increased American’s energy production considerably. 1. Topic Sentence: The Industry Defense talks about companies involved and what the future hold in the Industry. a. America's Natural Gas Alliance, Ardent is a privately held, independent oil and gas company headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Marcellus Shale). b. America's Natural Gas Alliance exists to promote the economic, environmental and national security benefits of greater use of clean, abundant, domestic natural gas. c. The benefits of oil and gas development extend throughout the state in increased...

Words: 815 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Investigation of Child Abuse

...Child Abuse Investigation Introduction Child abuse is a criminal offence where the physical, sexual or emotional mistreatment or neglect of a child or children and in other word child abuse can be defined as causing or permitting any harmful or offensive contact on a child's body; and, any communication or transaction of any kind which humiliates, shames, or frightens the child. Some child development experts go a bit further, and define child abuse as any act or omission, which fails to nurture or in the upbringing of the children. Child abuse is also defined in federal law. The world is now more advanced in the fields of economics, science and technology but the problem of child abuse is also increasing on par with world progress. Even there many laws implemented against this offence but there is no much effective result or improvement shown by the society. There are few factors contribute to child abuse such as the parents background, their economical level, psychological problem, improper caregiver, unintended pregnancy and some other factors. Types of Child Abuse Child abuse is a common given name when children get disturbed through mentally or physically. So it is divided into several categories such as physical abuse, child sexual abuse, psychological / emotional abuse and neglect. Physical child abuse is an aggressive action of an adult toward the children such hitting with a hand, stick, strap, or other object; punching, kicking, shaking, throwing, burning, stabbing...

Words: 2754 - Pages: 12

Premium Essay

Love Love Love

...spend 7 hours, 180 days a year for 13 years in a public school classroom (Fast Facts). Every parent, every morning is putting faith in the people who run these public schools that their child will receive a proper education that will prepare them for college and eventually their career. School comes at a critical time of a child’s life where their brain development is crucial to their intellectual and emotional capabilities. Without these skills, children are more likely to drop out, work at dead end jobs, be on public assistance or end up in prison. But, if we can help to fix our education system, we can help fix our economy, our neighbor hoods, and our country. Out of 28 developed countries, the United States ranks 20th. In Alabama, only 18% of eighth graders are proficient in reading, and in states across America only 20 to 35 % of students are reading at grade level according to Waiting for Superman, a documentary directed by David Guggenheim. The problem begins between the 5th and 7th grade. This is where students being to go from B students to C and D students. By the time they have reached the 7th grade, they feel as though they are stupid. But are the students less intelligent? Or is there a bigger problem, asks Geoffrey Canada, a leader of education reform and founder of the Harlem Children’s Zone, a charter school that guarantees its student’s will graduate despite being in the heart of the worst school district in New York. Dr. Robert Balfanz of Johns Hopkins...

Words: 1028 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Mentorship In Nursing

...The World Health Organization (WHO) oversees all nations and they report on all aspects of care and issues. Their definition of mental health is excellent and thinking along these lines can bring about improvement project evolution. According to www.who (n.d.): Mental health is an integral and essential component of health. The WHO constitution states: "Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” An important implication of this definition is that mental health is more than just the absence of mental disorders or disabilities. Mental health is a state of well-being in which an individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and is able to make a contribution to his...

Words: 1295 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Ted Talks: Poverty

...out. When the last of the food, despite her best efforts, ran out. She had to watch her youngest son Peter, suffer from malnutrition..." According to Haugen, 35 years ago 40,000 children died everyday due to poverty. Now, however, the number has dropped to 17,000 children a day. The number of people in our world living in extreme poverty (defined as living off of a $1.25 or less a day) has fallen from 50 to 15 percent; although that massive drop is fantastic, there are still so many people dying everyday because they do not have enough money to support themselves or their families. "So why are so many billions still stuck in extreme poverty?" Through speaking with Venus, Haugen learned that the day after her husband died, their neighbor, Brutus, came into her house and kicked Venus's family out, took their land, and robbed them; Venus was thrown into destitution by...

Words: 674 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Traditional Skinheads

...love for reggae and ska music but began to sport shaved heads ( in part to counter the popular hippie movement), Levi jeans and steel toed boots which is what many of the youths wore to their factory jobs and thus the “Skinhead” was born. At this time there was still nothing racial about being a Skinhead. Jennifer Abbots wrote an article about skinheads titled True 'Skinheads' Are Not the Racist Thugs of Media Fame in the New York Times saying that, “Instead of opting for the flamboyant, fancy-dress escapism of the Mod and Teddy Boy youth cults before them, the skinheads embraced working-class fashion… They also borrowed from their working-class West Indian neighbors, adopting trilby hats and crombie jackets, peg-legged striped suits and love for ska… The original skinheads loved to dance to these ska beats, often frequented all-black nightclubs” (Jennifer Abbots).Black and white unity in the scene was inevitable. The Skinhead was a direct result of the Jamaican...

Words: 1535 - Pages: 7

Free Essay

Latino Culture and Baseball

...Latino". In contrast, athletes are often judged before they ever speak to the media. Our perception is formed based on how these individuals are portrayed or personified by the media. For this reason, it can be said that athletes have "Latino thrust upon them". Of all the major sports, Latinos have had the greatest impact on major league baseball. Today nearly 25% of the players in the major leagues were born in Latin America (Berry, 1). As such baseball provides a unique perspective on Latinos in the media. Players rarely provide insight into their personalities rather our perception is based upon what the media wants us to believe. In this regard, baseball media artifacts enable us to see how differently Latinos were personified in the media over time. In the end it will become apparent that while their growth and achievement on the field has escalated, media perceptions have remained relatively unchanged. Over the past century, there have been countless Hispanic players in the major leagues. Television has captured their advancement on the field and has created hundreds of media artifacts. For purpose of analysis herein, two media artifacts were selected. The first artifact was the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary, FernandoNation. This 30 for 30 media artifact is...

Words: 3631 - Pages: 15

Free Essay

Book Review of a Midwife's Tale: the Life of Martha Ballard

...Ulrich, Laurel Thatcher, A Midwife’s Tale, The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812, (New York, Vintage Books, A Division of Random House, INC., 1990). Reviewed by: Amanda Doran A Midwife’s Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard was written by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. Ulrich was born and raised in the Rocky Mountain West and moved to New England in 1960 where she has resided ever since. Laurel is the author of many articles, essays and books including The Age of Homespun (2001) and Goodwives (1982). Her articles and essays were written on early American history. Laurel’s book, A Midwife’s Tale, won her the Pulitzer Prize for History in 1991. She also assisted with a documentary production of her book which aired on PBS. Her work can also be found on the award-winning website, dohistory.org (Ulrich, 1990). In the eighteenth century women didn’t play a role in politics or hold any high position in their community which was worth noting. Because of this, the lives of these women are left somewhat a mystery. Ulrich uses the diary of Martha Ballard, a midwife who practiced in Hallowell, Maine, along with other documents such as: prison logs, newspapers, court documents, and town records to bring to life the lives of late eighteenth century women. Ulrich’s purpose for this book is simple, she shows the day to day lives of women in the late eighteenth century and how they played a crucial role in their society. Ulrich organizes her book into chronological chapters providing...

Words: 1838 - Pages: 8