Saturday screening

On Saturday, I was present for the screening of the documentary "The River of Life."  The film flows from event to event, without having a main focus. It moves on without stopping, like a river. 

In all honestly, the documentary wasn't to my liking. The project is highly personal, and at times I didn't connect with it. It wasn't a cultural barrier, as the film dealt with the universal themes of life and death. It's a very long home video, and like home videos, the person filming it will get more out of it than a external viewer will. 

I did like the concept of a man turning the camera to his family and filming every monotonous moment in his life.  It's reality T.V in it's purest form.

The River of Life is not a technical marvel. The footage is gritty and the editing is elementary. But that wasn't the point of it. The film comes from China, where governmental restrictions limit people's options for an opinion. The importance of this film lies in it's raw style of shooting. To me, it says that anyone with a camera has a voice.