Unfortunately, it could have been about 25 minutes shorter. Like I said, Finkelstein is a complex personality and someone I didn't know anything about--the perfect docu mix. A tight hour would have done the job without all the filler that dragged this film down at times. It's a problem with a lot of documentarians. This may be a strange criticism, but I think they focus too much on "making a film" instead of simply tackling a subject as efficiently as possible. It's what gives good documentaries a bad name. So, no, I wouldn't necessarily recommend this film so much as I would suggest reading up on Finkelstein. Don't worry, online reading counts, too.
I agree with your criticizm...there are way too many documentaries out today...most I think are people who just want to make feature films and this is their way to show you how they "made" it or how they "changed" the subject by being their..."My kid could paint that" was like this
ReplyDeleteI did not see The Kid Painting one, but it sounded like it would be annoying.
ReplyDeleteAmerican Radical would have made a good 1 hour cable show. History Channel? I don't even know since every channel is the same now and showing reality shows.