My favourite film of 2010... but have YOU even seen it?

[Josh]

In my opinion, the best film released in the uk, 2010 doesn't feature on the lists of all the top critics.

Which is odd as this film seems to have the concept of INCEPTION, the attitude of KICKASS, the characters of THE SOCIAL NETWORK, the heart that made grown men cry in TOY STORY 3, more politically sensitive than FOUR LIONS, foreboding to rival that of HARRY POTTER 7a, the Banksy like underground movement of EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP, the moral centre of HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON, the human apathy displayed in MONSTERS and the real life unwatchable obscenities of JACKASS 3D.

 
All of these films are great, but this film you won't have watched it wearing 3D specs, you won't have even seen it in widescreen and that's if you have even seen it at all.

 
The film is wikiRebels.

 
A documentary (in 4:3 by the way) covering one of the biggest changes in media journalism, with last years wikileak activists making mainstream news.

For those who paid attention during INCEPTION (or maybe you were never awake, ooh) there was a line that went "the most contagious disease is an idea" 

Not far from the wikileaks philosophy of sharing the truth publicly, their motto 'courage is contagious'. 

 
The doc follows the beginnings of the Internet hacking group that are a cross breed between the multi cultural rebellion from Zion in the Matrix and the intelligently introverted Harvard bods that founded Facebook.

But away from the geekdom of online theft, the truths uncovered follow a much more emotionally complex human story.

A video they released this year shows the view from the monitor of an armed helicopter. It shoots at clearly innocent people as ignorant American voices over the intercom shrug off the rounds fired into a vehicle with children in, owned by a passerby who is trying to help the wounded, bragging of their accuracy. 

The video is evidence of undeniable evil, whatever your take on the policies of this war.

It was this kind of dumbed down CGI mentality to violence replacing plot without being emotionally responsive that led me to do a rare thing, I walked out of the completely uninteresting IRON MAN 2 this year, a recruitment video designed to misrepresent to the mentally shallow.

But the question at hand throughout WikiRebels is should these secret files become transparent to you and me, the democratic public?

The right wing Americans unwaveringly believe not and call for the extradition and death penalty on wikileaks front man Julian Assange, who they call a political terrorist. 

Is it just me or does this feel familiar to the ministries smear campaign and wanted posters of Harry Potter after the Death Eaters take over?
Hmmmmm????

Julian Assange seems to talk sense with the resonance of a vigilante on a righteous course. But the most depressing thing is that while we now all have access to big secrets now, what can we do with them?

I got to hear Gareth Edwards do a q&a about directing the huge success low budget film of the year, Monsters. He interestingly described it as 

"if cloverfield was the sci-fi version of 9.11 then Monsters is Iraq 5 years down the line when no one actually cares anymore"

Which is why WikiRebels is the best film of 2010. As it inspires the apathetic member of a democracy like myself to at least ask, what can I do to help? I encourage you to watch it and feel the same way... 

HERE IS A LINK TO A FULL VERSION OF THE FILM ( WARNING - DO NOT WATCH IF YOU ARE UNDER 15 OR NOT COMFORTABLE WITH DISTURBING SCENES OF REAL VIOLENCE)

Also worth checking out are two films that were made prior last year but only released in the UK in 2010.

ENTER THE VOID is an extremely tripped out French film (English language and set in Tokyo/Limbo though) which has a real time exploration of a man's death with some of the most mind boggling cinematography to date.

The other is PONYO, the latest hand drawn masterpiece from Studio Ghibli which has a childish curiosity on Miyazaki's take on 'The Little Mermaid' - and if you are into animation check out CHICO & RITA and THE ILLUSIONIST (not the Edward Norton one) which is this years Waltz with Bashir, for taking a more conventional and realistic story and choosing to go cartoon.

UN PROPHET, GET HIM TO THE GREEK, SHUTTER ISLAND, 127 HOURS, MADE IN DAGENHAM, CEMETERY JUNCTION, SCOTT PILGRIM VERSUS THE WORLD all deserve recommendation as well. 

THE KARATE KID's ironically kung fu action was mediocre but entertaining to watch with my 11 year old cousin who was genuinely concerned if he'd win at the end (duh) and TWILIGHT: ECLIPSE wasn't as awful as it had the potential to be.

While GULLIVER'S TRAVELS is a film I can guarantee you will regret paying to go and watch, as it feels like it was made by a board meeting who knew if they spent x amount on advertising and Jack Black they would make some profit. Please don't go and see it and prove them wrong.

But all in all, a pretty golden year for filmmaking with the best trilogy ever being made... TOY STORY 3!

Knowing that my favourite film isn't even long enough for Oscar nomination, I hope Pixar pioneer by getting best film and best animation proving that animation can be a contender.

ANYWAY - watch WikiRebels on the link above if you are old enough - and happy 2011. 

Be interested in the comments to know your favourite film and your thoughts on wikirebels.

[Josh]

I agree a lot David - I believe they are underway making the dramatised version of the wikileaks Assange story at the moment which might take the madcap plot and do it cinematic justice...

Thanks for the links to the other docs  - did you know Julien Temple - director of Requiem for Detroit is the patron for the Engine Room - he's about from time to time!

I'll check out The Pacific on your recommendation - but if you like Requiem for Detroit check out Treme, great slow moving drama about the post hurricane Katrina New Orleans community - shows TV can be better than film and great soundtrack...

[David Adam Clarke]

I watched wiki-rebels for the first time last night and whilst being what i would call an average production, the story of wikileaks and founder Julian Assange as well as the content of Leaked files and documents is ten times that of a script of a blockbuster movie. Despite this though i think whilst a solid factual film documenting important happenings in modern political history i would not rate this personally as one of the highlights of recent film.

 

"WHY?" You might ask!

-Firstly because i believe Wikileaks rather than a tool for purely transparency in the world in truth not, but instead a form of Political Strategic Communication dictated by Julian Assange

-Secondly i believe so much more could have been done with this film

 

 

Instead i think there are various other more important issues which could have been covered and would make for great viewing and amazing focuses.

 

1. emphasis could been better placed in looking at leaked information overall online- and the power of the internet. examining information which exposes power structures wrong doings and information that the public previously may not have caught on to as well as examining the development of web 2.0, the impact of social/participatory media and Sousveillance online up to the point of the idea of wikileaks and initial success as a social news outlet to the adaptation of it to a private club run by Julian Assange.

 

Information in general on Social media, web 2.0, sousveillance and strategic political communication can be found at this link:

Sousveillance, Emergent Participatory Media & Strategic Politic...

A Paper written by current Bangor university journalism lecturer Vian Bakir

 

2. Another approach to topics within this documentary could have been to examine previous coverups, crimes, actions or inactions of the American government. examining the ways in which the illegal actions of theFrom the era of Nixon and Vietnam (The pentagon papers-Daniel Ellsberg, Use of Napalm on Villages, Watergate), to looking at the USA's Inaction in Bosnia and the Balkan Region to the leaked stories on the middle-east in terms of America's influence on war (weapons sold to various nations, oil, reasons for war etc.) to the revelations made by Wikileaks today and the growing battle of the public to keep the internets freedom of speech and the battle of the american government to gain control and censor it.

 

FILMS

(WARNING: FILMs MENTIONED MAY CONTAIN IMAGES OF A VIOLENT AND GRAPHIC NATURE)

 

whilst not necessarily from 2010 my pick of short factual films are nearly all of the Channel 4 Unreported world series. Which really do offer insight into historic events and places which are seemingly inaccessible to and taken for granted by, the majority of people in the western world. 

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/unreported-world

 

My pick of this bunch for 2011 so far would be both:

Mexico: living with hitmen

&

Inside the Battle for the ivory coast

 

 

Another TV production to mention is HBO series "the Pacific", the counterpart series to 'Band of Brothers'. As a collective piece this is well worth a watch simply for the scale and quality of production over a mammoth 10 hour-long episodes. (IF BRAVE: TRY WATCHING THEM ALL AT ONCE)

 

Various films of 2010 which i would recommend as my best selection include (see links):

 

GASLAND

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZe1AeH0Qz8

 

COUNTDOWN TO ZERO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mn-1LuLhrw

 

REQUIEM FOR DETROIT

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00rkm3y

 

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