Billionaire giving away 99% of his wealth, just a change or a revolution?

Simply Complex

“There is an old story from Indian scripture about a blind man heading towards a well, and there is a guy who’s watching. If the blind man falls into the well, who gets the blame? Is it the blind man or is it the man who is watching?”

-Billions in Change.

Say, you watch a trailer and it comes out to be a documentary. ‘Billions in change’, at first, you really want to skip it but you are so indulged in the trailer that you just cannot skip it. That is a sign telling you that there is going to be a change in the world and this is what this trailer is all about.

Manoj Bhargava, founder and CEO of 5-hour Energy drink. Mr. Bhargava gave away his 99% of the net profit of $4 billion for this project.

To be honest, I skipped the…

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Powerful Stories of Struggle and Survival at Human Rights Watch Film Festival

Cinema Axis

TIFF® and Human Rights Watch co-present the 13th annual Human Rights Watch Film Festival in Toronto, with a galvanic lineup of eight films that recount empowering stories of survival, resilience and hope. The festival showcases brave cinematic works at the forefront of the human rights movement, from countries including China, Chile, the United Kingdom, South Korea, France, Australia, the United States, Ukraine and the Netherlands.

Running from March 30 to April 7 at TIFF Bell Lightbox, the festival kicks off with an opening night fundraising reception followed by the Canadian premiere of I Am Sun Mu — a documentary about a former North Korean propaganda artist turned outspoken artistic dissident — and closes with the Terrence Malick-produced Almost Holy, which chronicles the work of a controversial Ukrainian pastor committed to helping children. Additional highlights include the Palme d’Or-winning immigrant drama Dheepan from celebrated director Jacques Audiard, and Patricio Guzmán’s…

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The World Before Her (2012, Canada)

What does it mean to be a woman in modern India?

The World Before Her looks at the clash of cultures in India. As the film puts it, there is the Western world vs. Hindu traditions.

To emphasize these competing cultures, the filmmakers present us with two very different options available to Indian women. One is a girls’ Hindu nationalist camp; the other is the Miss India beauty contest.

“Every year thousands of girls attend camps run by Durga Vahini, the women’s wing of the largest Hindu nationalist group,” says the film.

The filmmakers were the first ones allowed to film inside this camp. The girls, mostly teen-agers, are devout and enthusiastic. (For example, these girls train for 2.5 hours each day, in the heat!) They learn self defence; the reasoning being if they can defend themselves, they can defend a nation.

“Where has the self-respect of Indian women gone?” asks one girl. “We don’t know who we are any more.”

This question is actually a swipe at the Miss India contest, where 20 young women compete each year. These women also undergo training; they have a strict diet, exercise and grooming routine for 30 days.

“In India, few avenues offer women financial stability or equality with men,” says the film. “The beauty business is one of them.”

These women are intelligent and well-spoken. This experience, they feel, gives them the respect they need to get by on their own in life. More than one girl says she wants to make her parents proud.

“Women need to be given the choice,” she says.

The cultural pull is strong and hangs heavy over both the training camp and the beauty pageant. One of the filmmakers asks a father if he’s considered what his daughter wants. His reply: “I don’t know what she wants or doesn’t want and it’s not important. Marriage is her duty.”

This is a thoughtful film that tries not to take sides. What it will do, though, is leave you cheering for women who try to find their way.

The World Before Her (2012), 91 mins. Written & directed by Nisha Pahuja. Kinosmith, Telefilm Canada and The Rogers Group of Funds through the Theatrical Documentary Program.

The Peacekeepers (2005, Canada/France)

 It’s easy to pick on the United Nations.

It’s a large, relatively well-funded organization that seems to have a wide scope of global influence. It hasn’t been perfect; it’s made mistakes. Some of the criticism thrown at it has been well deserved.

However, the Canadian-French production The Peacekeepers (Le Prix de la Paix) shows us the extraordinary efforts UN staff employ negotiating peace in specific regions of the world.

In this film, the region is Ituri, in the eastern half of Democratic Republic of Congo, an area rich in diamonds and gold, where murderous warlords kill rivals and innocents with impunity, and the people live in poverty.

One UN worker talks about the frustrations of her job, and the guilt of not being able to act quickly enough to save lives.

There’s reason to feel guilt. For example, the camera takes us inside a hospital to introduce us to a survivor of a massacre. A soft-spoken woman sits on her decades-old cot, and shows us a long, thick machete scar that encircles half her neck. As the camera pulls back, we see she is also missing her right hand.

The camera also focuses on child soldiers drafted by the warlords; some boys look no older than 10 or 12. They cradle their AK-47s, and stare with defiance and suspicion at the filmmakers. Childhood in a war zone.

The Peacekeepers is a dated film. It ends with the hope that a new transitional government (formed in 2003) will bring peace and stability to the country. But, a decade later, the region remains volatile and its future uncertain.

Still, this is a meaningful, relevant film that shows us the effort that goes into building peace – even when it’s only temporary.

The Peacekeepers (2005), 83 mins. Written & directed by Paul Cowan. National Film Board of Canada and Arte France.

Living on One Dollar (2013, USA)

Imagine life on a budget of $10 per day.

After rationing food for your family, there wouldn’t be much left for the utility bill or gas for the car.

According to Living on One Dollar (2013), approximately 1.1 billion of world’s population survive on only $1 a day.

If they’re lucky.

Living on One Dollar is about four young American men who move to Pena Blanca, a small Guatemalan village, for a summer. They spend 56 days in the village, and their entire budget for the summer is $224.

But to make the experience more authentic, the men add a twist: To see how much they earn each day, one of them draws a single-digit number out of a hat first thing in the morning. If they draw a 2, they will “earn” $2 that day.

This means that no matter how hard they work, they earn nothing if they drew a 0 that morning.

It’s a tough life for a single person, let alone a family. As one of the neighbours says, “When there’s no food, the kids don’t grow. They don’t even have the energy to play.”

Another neighbour talks about her dream of being a nurse. Here is a beautiful young woman who could easily be a self-aggrandizing celebrity if she lived in the U.S. Instead, she longs to work in a hospital so she can help others.

No matter how hard the residents of Pena Blanca work – and they work hard – they may not earn enough money to keep their children in school. Even a broken stove can be a disaster; traditional banks in the city are reluctant to give loans to those who have “informal” jobs.

Yet, these people take pity on the hapless Americans by showing them basic things like how to prepare food with more calories and how to plant radishes.

Living on One Dollar is a beautiful film that shows us the lush Guatemalan countryside and the determined, generous residents of Pena Blanca. You can view it on Netflix.

Living on One Dollar (2013), 57 mins. Directed by Zach Ingrasci. Indieflix and Living on One. 

Secret State of North Korea (2014, USA)

When you see official footage of Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, you’re struck by how clean everything is. (The shiny floors, for example, even on the subway, are fascinating.)

Traffic is orderly, people are fashionably dressed, and the city seems to hum with a sense of purpose. Don’t believe us? You can watch a state-approved tourism video here.

Of course, the tourism video is not representative of all of North Korea. It’s not even representative of Pyongyang.

In January, 2014, the PBS program Frontline aired a documentary containing smuggled footage of the real North Korea, filmed by ordinary citizens with hidden cameras.

Filming of such nature is regarded as treason by the North Korean government, and is punishable by death.

The documentary contains some surprises. A woman at lunch openly complains about the North Korean leadership. A man in a fully-stocked department store is told, oddly, that the items are not yet for sale.

The most disturbing scene shows orphaned children scouring the streets for a bit of food. Their ill-fitting clothes and shoes look hardly suitable for winter weather.

We also meet people we can’t help but admire. A middle-aged woman screams at a police officer before shooing him away. Another woman defies authorities on the street by wearing pants. (Pants.)

The documentary also shows North Korean refugees working to effect change in their homeland by using some ingenious methods.

Secret State of North Korea is a sobering, yet hopeful look at the world’s most isolated country.

You can watch the PBS Frontline documentary HERE.

PBS Frontline: Secret State of North Korea (2014), 59 mins. Written and directed by James Jones. Hardcash Productions for WGBH Frontline.