Cave of Forgotten Dreams is an illusive documentary, in that it is not really a documentary, it’s a ride. It’s a possible prototype of a set of Disney-theme rides for a more refined age. Wernor Herzog’s rasping and often childishly gleeful narration leads us into a cave discovered in 1994, accessible by only the elite few scientists, and protected with such ferocity by the French Government that is was often restricted to filming for just one hour per day. His crew minute, and often forced to carry the camera himself, Herzog glides through the serene caves with the reverence and awe that the subject warrants, but it is Herzog himself that we are really watching. It’s tight in character with none of the personalities that usually define Herzog’s films. He is the most interesting as he wanders through the cave. The 3D is a novelty, and needing bright light to really work is lost at times, creating a film for a certain generation to enjoy, slow with only pure conjecture to discuss its history. More of a straight historical record than a genuine documentary.
Oranges and Sunshine is the true story of an English social worker who discovers the British Government’s policy of forced child immigration to Australia from the early part of the century up to 1970. Emily Watson plays Margaret Humphreys as a simple, focused and unnerving protagonist. She battles calmly, endures the twisted childhood traumas that seep into her own psyche beautifully, and Watson never cheapens her character to obvious breakdowns. She is stoic and always hopeful in what really is an Erin Brockovich-esque tale of huge numbers of suffering people. The director wisely chose not to attack any one organisation; he follows the people involved in the personal battles endured. Emily aside, it’s greatest success is Jim Loach’s attitude in portraying the male suffering. Men here are reliving pasts that defined them, they suffered terribly at the hands of abusive guardians. Hugo Weaving and particularly David Wenham relive such childhoods of agony,but with optimisim and never-melodramatic blame. It’s an assured first feature from Jim Loach, whose father should be assured the family business chartering social injustice will remain.
Snap follows Sharon (an excellent, Ashling O’Sullivan) though a divided timeline, retelling her version of the kidnapping of a two-year-old boy by her son, to a camera crew. It’s a gamble using devices in film, but here we have overlapping timelines, news teams for exposition and child home movies of an unnamed child, woven into a script that is not sure what it is really tackling. Is it media intrusion, child abuse, kidnapping or a simple dysfunctional family drama? The cinematic devices cover up what is really a weak, unfocused idea, with too many thoughts all crowding each other for space. Ashling O’Sullivan is remarkable given the tired writing and dull locations. It’s a film that will be commended for tacking such issues in Irish film circles (winning Best Irish Director and Best Irish Dilm from this year’s JDIFF) but given wider distribution will fail to overcome more decisive and bold film making.
Tomorrow, When The War Began’s trailer debuted a few months ago to intense nerd sniggering, and rightly so. It a laughable attempt to outdo Red Dawn as the pinnacle of the ‘Guerrilla warfare for teens’ genre. It is, however, obviously not aimed at anyone over 10. It’s the adoption of the first in a series of youth novels from writer John Marsden, chronicling the invasion of Australia by random a Asian country. They purposefully speak an amalgamation of languages to ideally offend no one. It’s a 2 hour film, reminiscent of those great (I was 12!) Australian teenage drama series’ “Ship to Shore”,”the Girl from Tomorrow” and countless others I can describe in great detail without ever knowing the title. Divided up into six 20-minute episodes, is really how this is best watched. It is its knowing, simple, not violent and clichéd but idiot fun and utterly watchable characters. It is a kids film marketed to the wrong demographic, and will absolutely be made fun of, as it deserves, by the same people who will eagerly download the inevitable sequel.
