Children of God (2008, Nepal/Korea)
Rating: Fresh 8 out of 10 tomatoes
I can't say this is among the best or most moving documentaries I've seen, but it is intriguing in its odd subject matter and I was taken by the candid and honest manner in which it is presented. It's about a group of street children in Kathmandu, Nepal, who live on the riverbank of the sacred Bagmati River, where there is a hospital where apparently people with terminal illnesses are brought ("7 out of 10" people don't come out alive). And I suppose they are brought there because it is right next to a Hindu temple whose primary purpose is to serve as a crematorium for said dead people. The street urchins make their living off cremations, scavenging for anything worth anything left behind by mourners of the dead.
There is no narration and the Korean filmmaker lets the children and the subjects speak in their own words, although sometimes questions can be heard being asked, indistinct in the background. However, the documentary nature is not hidden as the subjects sometimes make reference to the Korean filmmakers.
I guess it's easier to get candidness when you're dealing with children, and I think that's what I found most compelling about this documentary. These are children in difficult circumstances, but some are on the cusp of adolescence and they have an idea about what the future is, and they have no idea what it will bring. They have an idea of what hopelessness is, but it hasn't sunk in what that means or what it will bring as an adult.
I highly recommend this documentary to anyone interested in the Himalayan region or developing countries or social justice. It won't change everyone's lives, but it's definitely worth viewing.
Rating: rotten 3 out of 10 tomatoes
Oh well, so much for my Korean fetish. I guess it was just a matter of time before I hit upon a Korean film that was less than a disappointment. The first words that come to my mind to describe this film are "clumsy" and "hopelessly directionless".
I guess this film is supposed to be a comedy of sorts, a farcical view of the initial days of broadcast radio in Seoul, Korea, in the 1930s during the Japanese occupation, but that's where the problems start. It's not a particularly interesting foil for a comedy, and a farce involving the Japanese occupation just sounds like bad taste.
Aside from the story surrounding the radio station's staff developing a drama to broadcast, a subplot is introduced involving revolutionaries who have been trying unsuccessfully to find a way to subvert the Japanese for 10 years. They find a way to infiltrate the radio station staff when the leader finds he has an uncanny ability to create sound effects, thinking they can use the radio station for their purposes.
Elements are clumsily introduced through the film that go no where or have no future relevance. The main storyline, as well as problems with it, are just pushed on through, sense be damned. There are a few redeeming qualities, it isn't a total fail of filmmaking, just a fail of storytelling. Camerawork and lighting are fine, as are the period costumes and the acting. Many times you can see what the filmmaker is trying to accomplish and there's no problem, but I couldn't even get through a second viewing of this film.
