Evil and Joy

The Sassistas!^TM here dishing from day two at SILVERDOCS, the American Film Institute/Discovery Channel Documentary Festival.

Ethnic cleansing. That's the "polite" way to describe genocide. The more accurate way is, of course, to call it what it is: race murder or "a problem from hell," the title of Samantha Powers' Pulitzer-Prize winning book. Today we saw two films about genocide that could not have been more different.

The first was, "Milosevic on Trial," a 70-minute film about the former Serbian president and his trial in an international court for "crimes against humanity." During the trial, he acted as his own counsel, finding incredibly ingenious and tedious ways to delay the proceedings. His most masterful move was when he died from a heart attack before the verdict. At the viewing, much was made of the short full-color video clip of Milosevic's personal hit squad, "The Scorpions," lining up one young man after another at the edge of a deep pit (dug by the young men themselves) and then methodically machine-gunning them in the back.

It was horrible.

The true achievement of the film, however, is that in capturing Milosevic's monotony in the courtroom, the film captures a more profound horror or what Hannah Arendt in Eichmann in Jerusalem termed "the banality of evil." Milosevic, according to General Wesley Clark (who testified against Milosevic and was a member of a panel after the viewing) "was the consummate bureaucrat." Clark is right. Every time Milosevic opened his mouth, he spewed out some form of jargon that continues to dehumanize municipal, state and federal governments, not to mention, corporate America.

Our spirits soared, however, at the premiere of "Four Seasons Lodge," a sweet look at a group of Holocaust survivors who, for decades, has met every summer at a bucolic Catskills bungalow colony, despite their ever-dwindling ranks. The lodgers cook, flirt, argue, dance and share stories of loss and survival. The Sassistas!^TM fell in love with them – and many were in the audience. The achievement of this film is witnessing their joy for life despite past horrors that were symbolized in the tattooed numbers still visible on the inside of their arms. How delightful to see those arms now raised in prayer, song and laughter! What can we say except, La chaime!

Comments

[Westsista]

Great stuff. I'm very envious. Wish I was there too! Thanks for your great reporting.

[Flannista]

Thanks, Westsista for sasspreciating our dish from SILVERDOCS. We, too, wish all of our sistas and mista sistas could be viewing with us. We are learning so much -- not only from the documentaries themselves, but also from the filmmakers.

(And I'm whispering now -- don't tell anyone -- but we're surreptitiously placing Sassistas! business cards which include our URL in strategic places all around the conference like camera lenses in the projection rooms and taped to presenter's microphones. It's just a matter the time before someone will make a documentary about the sassosphere!)

[half-a-sista]

What could Milosevic possibly have said that further dehumanized corporate America? Hard to believe such a thing could happen at this point in American corporate history.

Milosevic didn't see that he had done anything wrong, just as his men who shot the "enemies" didn't see that they were doing anything wrong. They weren't killing people. They and thousands of other people in history were killing "things"
lumped into that category of "other" which allowed/allows atrocities like this to occur around the world.

Americans must always remember that we were not above genocide. We almost wiped out the aboriginal people in this land. We killed thousands of slaves. The lesson is that every culture is capable of genocide and we must be vigilant that it doesn't happen here.

A Thomas Jefferson quote I came across:
"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them."

Thanks for the reviews of the documentaries.

[Matissta]

"Four Seasons Lodge" was truly an uplifting film. A line that appears on the movie's website is from Fran Lask, 82, a survivor of Bergen-Belsen that sums of the belief of the group:

"This is our revenge on Hitler. To live this long, this well, is a victory."

[PEACEsista]

Thanks for taking us all to the movies this week. I wish I was in the seat next to you. Instead, today, I am learning to use my new MacBook laptop. It would be more FUN to be with the Sassistas!

[Flannista]

Congrats on getting the same laptop used by the Sassistas! PEACEsista! We wish you were here, too. At the moment, we are catching our breaths between films.

half-a-sista: never read that Jefferson quote. Thanks for adding it to the reflections on today's post. Jefferson's observation is the fuel for many of the documentaries the Sassistas! are viewing. And you are welcome for our review of just a few of them. Documentary is such a powerful form of art. We are in awe of it, and feel very fortunate for the opportunity to see so many different expressions of it.

[ybonesy]

I seem to recall your being at SILVERDOCS last year. Is that right? How fun!!

[Flannista]

Yes, ybonesy. SILVERDOCS began in 2002 and now has become a HUGE festival. I first began "marathoning" the festival last year.

Spike Lee showed up last evening (Thursday) to talk about documentary filmmaking. He was very disappointing as he did seem to just literally just show up and appeared to be very disinterested in the whole thing. But in his films -- particularly his documentaries -- the man has such a fierce and fearless voice.

We're back again today for another 10-11 films! Thanks for checking in!