mdcaton Reviews

The God Who Wasn't There (2005)

Interesting and surprising

[10/10 · 26 May 2005]

This is an interesting film for Christians and atheists alike, and not at all what I was expecting. Rarely is faith approached in such a commonsense, factual way. The film maker's personal investment in the documentary is a big part of what makes it compelling. The first half of it is basically a summary of the known historical facts around the figure of Christ. The second half of it delves into modern Christians' (particularly American Christians) knowledge and understanding of the origins of the modern religion. There are some pretty tense moments when the film maker discusses the foundations of the faith with his former school principle. All in all, an interesting film well worth watching.

Last Cannibal World (1977)

My (good) surprise of the year

[6 September 2004]

I have to say, this movie was my Netflix surprise for the year. Not only was it not the total laughable mess I expected it to be, it was actually a decent film, and it's even better if you subtract out the seventies-ness of it (they couldn't help that). First, yes, the cruelty to animals, the rape-sex, are all offensive to us. This is what goes on in neolithic cultures, so you have two choices – be a cultural imperialist and demand that fictitious people on Mindanao subscribe to Western morality, or recognize a somewhat accurate portrayal of life in the forest when you see it, absent any silly Rousseau-ian idealizations that detoxify non-whites for us Westerners. I should also add that showing a neolithic non-white people as warlike cannibals puts them right in there with the modern USA . . . there are more than enough documented cases of American cannibalism in Vietnam and Korea, if you pay attention, and the implication of the film is exactly that while this certainly is an ugly side of life, we can live in it just as well as these guys in Mindanao. Indeed, the most unrealistic thing about it was these white guys lasting for more than five minutes in the forest. And from a technical anthropological standpoint, there is no such thing as a human culture that doesn't use language as much as any other human culture, as is stated by one of the characters, though personally I found that to be a way of calling out one character's naivete and reliance on academic theory rather than actual experience; I didn't get the feeling that the director agreed, or wanted us to agree. After all, you're only really horrified by these people unless you recognize exactly how similar to you that they are.

Most of all, it struck me as a gritty documentary-like reality to it that really appealed to me and suited the story well (although the cannibalism and rape were a bit compressed compared to how often they occur in the real world). I should add that having a naked and very beautiful Me Me Lai running around for most of the film didn't hurt either.