The opening night festivities behind me, it was time to get into the meat of the Silverdocs festival and let me tell you, it was a surprise. Of all the days, the first day was (in my opinion) considered the weakest (or most likely to produce a bad film or two), but I must say each and every film turned out to be a real gem. So here's a quick recap:
La Isla (Archives of Tragedy) - The film has a few missteps and odd choices, but if you come into it with some background on the history of Guatemala, you'll find a very good documentary.
War Don Don - Does 'justice' truly help a society recently marred in civil war? That is the question brilliantly dissected in this case study that asks audiences to reexamine the legitimacy and helpfulness of the UN special courts.
Holy Wars - A bold and enlightened film that desperately tries not to judge its fundamentalist characters. Though it's possible to interpret the filmmakers taking a side in the debate, it's hard to deny this is based more on the characters then the direction - which includes narration to mitigate those feelings.
Odd factoid of the day - two of the three films ended with a rap song about the subject matter. I don't know why, but I found that odd.
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