Statler-Waldorf Reviews

Herr Bachmann und seine Klasse (2021)

Surprisingly captivating

[9/10 · 21 November 2021]

A look at the life of a group of grade 6 students and their teacher in a medium sized town in the middle of Germany's industrial heartland. It sounded a bit dull but went along with an open mind to see this during the NZ International Film Festival.

There's no narration and no script. But the cinematography and sound are flawless enough that it feels like you're actually there experiencing life in this town and in Mr Bachmann's class.

It's a fairly personal fly-on-the-wall look at what initially appears to be the slightly unstructured work of a teacher nearing retirement who sometimes struggles with the requirements of educational bureaucracy while doing everything he can to patiently guide his students development of evidence based critical thinking and understanding of the complexities of the wider world without just filling them with academic facts to pass tests. While Mr Bachmann's style appears unstructured, there is clearly a purpose and objective that is being crafted by his gentle but firm wisdom, knowledge and musical skills to establish and build a positive, supportive and educational rapport.

The film makers have sensitively and delicately captured a point-in-time glimpse into the world of a very diverse group of students during a rapidly changing time in their lives. I'd like to thank Mr Bachmann, his students, the parents of the students and the school for allowing this candid and insightful look at their world to be recorded. While this is a long film, it didn't feel like it, and I felt like I had spent a year living in Stadtallendorf, and felt the emotional connection Mr Bachmann had formed with his students who all seemed to have developed a great deal of respect for him during their time in his class. Actually cried at the end of the film when the class left for the Summer to go on with their lives and Mr Bachmann had said goodbye to them.

Would strongly recommend this film to any teacher, or anyone thinking of becoming a teacher, or any parents with children approaching or going through their adolescent years. Hopefully this film will eventually reach a wide audience on international streaming platforms where viewers can pause for 'comfort' breaks.

One Child Nation (2019)

Thought provoking and emotionally confronting

[8/10 · 2 August 2019]

A deeply thought provoking and emotionally confronting look at some the people affected by, or tasked with enforcement of China's one child policy established in 1979. The narrative is mostly driven by the film maker's recollections of her experience, and interviews with her family and others in the area where she grew up.

Excellent film making, use of imagery, narration and examination of a number of different perspectives. Very sensitively approaching the subject, she was able to gently yet persuasively coax some truly shocking admissions of guilt from some of her interviewees. Be prepared for some awful images, but thankfully these scenes are not dwelt on for long as macabre voyeurism was not the intent, but to solidly make the point of what happened to many babies. The story told indicates that the one-child policy was implemented in a harsh, cruel, uncompromising and unforgiving way, although it seems the government eventually recognised the need to protect and find new homes via international adoption programmes for babies that were abandoned by their parents trying to avoid the harsh penalties that they would face.

The only criticism is that there is not much in the way of analysis of the reasons that led up to the point of the introduction of the policy in China. This was hinted at by interviews with her mother, but not much else. For an example of a country that should have, but hasn't introduced population control measures, take a look at India. There, they have well over 100 million people enduring appalling, squalid, miserable poverty and hundreds of millions more struggling daily to eke out a meagre existence. Religious dogma and lack of understanding about environmental impact regarding unrestrained human reproduction are at least partly to blame for the coming crisis of over-population in most parts of the world. If the human race is to avoid large scale wars over food, water and climate change induced migration in the next 30 years, then global population controls need to be carefully introduced and incentivised, but not the way the PRC did it. Seen at NZIFF Wellington by a parent of one child.

Angelo (2018)

10/10 stars for the costumes.

[4/10 · 29 July 2019]

A high school student could have done a better job with the rest of it. Poor camera work (4:3 old-school TV aspect ratio format). Poor sound. Poor directing. Poor editing. Poor script (except for the King's monologues, and the occasional gem of wisdom from Angelo, the title character.)

The only thing in this film where any real effort for authenticity was made was in the very believable costumes and hair, and some of the interior sets. But one set was truly bizarre, where we see the slaves lined up for inspection by the Countess in a modern concrete warehouse with shiny galvanised steel air-conditioning ducting and fluorescent light panels clearly visible overhead, like the director just couldn't be bothered attempting to create some sort of simple neutral background or focusing in on the characters to obscure the background. Remember, this is supposed to be set in the 18th century.

The acting was mostly awkward and stilted due to the sparse and poor script with long periods of confused and unnatural silence. The dialogue also randomly switched between French and German for no apparent reason. Well done to those talented multi-lingual actors but it only makes the bizarre story-telling even weirder.

The jolting incongruous scene changes used no panning, fading or editing techniques for either audio or video and appeared to have been done by someone who had never before worked with a video camera or editing software.

In the light of recent migration history of people escaping various forms of misery and suffering in Africa in the hope of a better life in Europe, such an important subject exploring the 17th century life of an African boy, who was brought into the cosseted life of the ruling aristocrats, should not have been handled in such an amateur way. This story deserves a better treatment by a more qualified film maker and might hopefully be re-told at some time in the future. Seen at 2019 NZIFF Wellington.

Banished (2015)

Excellent Series

[7/10 · 4 January 2016]

I can't believe the people slagging off this TV series as being historically inaccurate. If it was to stick to the true letter of historical accounts then it wouldn't be called a "drama" series, it would be a rather dull documentary. Instead this series attempts to draw the viewer into a plausible set of scenarios and relationships that develop as the convicts and marines get to know each other in their new home. Having watched the behind the scenes from the DVD, the writer explains that the absence of Aboriginal contacts in the show was to avoid only paying token reference to them here and there and focus on the narrative of the main characters. Perhaps if a second season is able to get funding then there may be more scope to introduce the aspects of interactions with the aborigines and hopefully show them to be the peaceful people that they are, albeit conflicted by the encroachment of their resources and lands, and the abuse of their women at the hands of brutal marines. This was a really enjoyable series and I only hope an opportunity arises for season 2 to be produced. Great acting by all involved and very realistic sets. Curious to know where the outdoor scenes were was filmed. It's a beautiful area.