Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Four-Sentence MIFF Reviews #3-4: The East, These Birds Walk

The East (Zal Batmanglij)

A corporate spy for a private company is sent to infiltrate an anarcho-eco-terrorist group (that's a lot of hyphens, and a lot more beards), and finds her professional detachment threatened as she becomes closer to the individual members.
I have to say OH MY GOD this film was relevant to my interests in all the right "anarchist jams with weirdy sexy-cult overtones" ways (a specific interest, it's true).
Gripping, and balanced in its portrayal of the evils of both corporate and terrorist actions.
I still don't like Ellen Page.

These Birds Walk (Bassam Tariq, Omar Mullick)

A documentary tracing the experiences of several runaway children cared for by the Edhi Foundation (Pakistan's largest welfare operation, which seems to be basically run and funded by one old dude).
An Edhi ambulance driver drops the children home to their mostly indifferent families: one boy's uncle laments the return of a live troublesome boy, instead of his corpse.
Amazingly vivid and heartbreaking, an unsentimental view of a complex country.
"It's easier to drop off dead bodies than return these children to their families."

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