Tag Archives: Hot Docs

Cheer Up

When it comes to sports movies in general, and cheer leading ones in particular, we’ve seen the gamut: we’ve seen big, decisive wins, tragic near misses, hard-earned second places, and undeserved firsts. Canadian-born director Christy Garland shows us the side rarely seen in movies but always there in real life; she shows us the losers.

cheerup In Cheer Up, we meet Finland’s second-worst cheer leading squad. On the heels of a humiliating loss, Garland explores what it takes to keep going in the face of defeat. Where will the girls find motivation? The documentary follows three of the women in particular – coach Miia, and team members Patu and Aino. We soon realize that their struggles and failures are not just confined to the gym. Miia’s personal life is on the rocks, Patu is grieving her mother while her father impregnates a new girlfriend, and Ainu follows the highs and lows of first love, and all the teenage angst that comes with it.

Actual cheer leading is quite minimal in the film, but team practices tend to be full of CfJ8RVBW8AQ8j2K tears, tumbles, and bloodshed. Miia travels to the cheer leading mecca of the world, Texas, to seek inspiration but finds that their aggressive, winner-takes-all spirit just doesn’t translate back home.

The sum of all these parts is a stark look at the emotional toll of constant failure. Cheer Up isn’t just a title, it’s an admonition. These girls are the bleakest, saddest, most serious cheer leaders you’ve ever seen. Smiles are a scarce commodity. Despite their lack of success, Garland never loses respect for her subjects. The young women are shown to be complex, thoughtful, and strong – a big stretch from the sport’s usual Texas-sized cliches of empty cheer-up-movie pep and ponytails. It’s refreshing to remember that not everyone goes home with a trophy. For these women, and many others, success will have to be defined elsewhere.

This movie premiered at the Hot Docs film festival in Toronto; this review first appeared at Cinema Axis, home of many more excellent Hot Docs reviews.

Gun Runners

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I was a little uncomfortable when I discovered that this documentary about Kenyan warriors had a pun in its title.

With armed cattle rustling getting out of hand, the Kenyan government introduced a disarmament program in 2004 to end the violence. Warriors like Julius Arile and Robert Matanda were encouraged to turn over their guns in exchange for amnesty and a pair of running shoes. With their new shoes, many Kenyans decide to leave their life of violence and begin training as marathon runners. Hence the title of Anali Nayar’s documentary.

The transition from warrior to athlete isn’t an easy one. Arile and Matambo, friends since boyhood, got their first guns when they were in primary school and have grown accustomed to the seductive feeling of power and fearlessness that they bring. For Atale, who has been fortunate enough to never have had to kill anyone, the notion of putting all those years running from the police to good use by racing is an exciting one. For Matambo, who has earned much more of a reputation for violence, turning in his weapon is a much scarier decision because he risks retribution for his past crimes.

So they both begin training for the Tegla Loroupe Peace Race. Arile shows tremendous potential and gets to compete in Prague and at the New York City Marathon. Matambo, on the other hand, can’t quite keep up and stays fighting the good fight for peace at home, eventually getting involved in politics. The more opportunities come Arile’s way, the more Matambo feels that his friend has forgotten where he came from and the more jealous he becomes. Filmed over 8 years, Nayar’s film follows the impact on a lifelong friendship when their two paths diverge. No fiction could feature story arcs that are more epic.

As much as I wish that Nayar had thought of a better title, Gun Runners is a untitled wonderful documentary. Its gorgeous cinematography looks better than most features do. Better yet, as likeable as her subjects are, Nayar resists the urge to portray Arile and Matambo as one-dimensional inspirational symbols and doesn’t try to hide the fact that these are real and flawed human beings. She makes them easy to relate to and impossible not to root for.

This post first appeared at Cinema Axis as part of their Hot Docs coverage.

God Knows Where I Am

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Directors Jedd and Todd Wider know how to create suspense, even from an old news item that probably raised too few eyebrows at the time. The facts are these: unwilling to take her medication or receive any treatment for a mental illness she didn’t believe she had, Linda Bishop was discharged unconditionally from New Hampshire Hospital. To protect patient privacy, her family was not notified. With no support, no housing, and no access to money, Linda wandered until she chose an abandoned farm house in which to hole up. Over the brutal winter months, Linda slowly starved to death, mere feet away from help if she wanted it, without her sister or daughter ever being aware that she was missing.

God-knows Wider and Wider have used Bishop’s case to exemplify the broader problem of how mental illness is addressed both in medical and justice settings, but also take the time to ask intelligent questions regarding individual rights. Because Linda Bishop was in fact an individual: a mother, a sister, a gardener, a knitter, a reader. She died tragically, needlessly, but in life, when she was well, she was vibrant and engaging. Wider and Wider treat her with dignity, and are able to do so in large part because of detailed journal entries she left behind at the time of her death.

While interviews with her closest friends and family members are illuminating and home movie footage sheds insight on happier times, it is her own ghostly words that prove invaluable to uncovering the truth about what happened to her alone in that farmhouse. Did Linda intend to die? Did she give up hope? Did she wait for rescue? Question her choices? Acknowledge her disease?

While Lori Singer gives voice to Bishop’s words, Jedd and Todd Wider paint us a picture of God_Knows_Where_I_Am_1 what her last days would have looked like with truly stunning, poetical cinematography rare in a documentary. Hopelessness and beauty intermingle, making for some stirring if haunting images. Did I sometimes find it a little pretentious? Sure I did. But even an Asshole like me can admit and admire when a documentary is trying to elevate itself. Combined with her journal entries read aloud, these images make her story all the more personal. God Knows Where I Am is both an intimate portrait and a rousing call to action.