A Mother Brings Her Son to be Shot

"The Troubles" in Northern Ireland came to an end with the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. But the conflict behind "The Troubles" didn't go away, and not all the gunmen disarmed. Not all the violence stopped. Even during "The Troubles" paramilitaries used their guns for non-political purposes and today in Derry it seems that many of the shootings by paramilitaries are non-political.

A Mother Brings Her Son to be Shot is a documentary by Irish journalist Sinéad O’Shea (RNZ interview) about the "punishment" shooting of 19-year-old Philly O’Donnell by Republican gunmen in the back of the knees in 2012 (kneecapping). His mother Majella had taken him to the alley in a taxi. The gunmen had accused Philly of drug dealing and being rude about them on Facebook. Sinéad wanted to find out why Majella had cooperated with the gunmen and what happened to the family after the shooting. What was intended to be a short background piece for a news report became a documentary that covers 5 years of the O'Donnell family life.

The main character in the film is Hugh Brady, a Republican ex-paramilitary who now works at the Rosemount Resource Centre and acts as the middleman between various paramilitary groups and the local population. He claims to deal with over a hundred cases a year where gunmen want to "punish" locals, many of which he claims to defuse but in other cases such as Philly O'Donnell he passes messages and instructions from gunmen to the targets and their families. Hugh is a matter of fact storyteller with a dry sense of humour. During a phone call, he is asked if it is private and responds that it is "private to you, me, and whichever branch of the British security services is listening in". Hugh provides much of the background to the situation in his part of Derry.

Of the O'Donnell family, Kevin Barry (11 years old at the start of the filming) is the most talkative and frank. Whether he is showing off his arsenal of weapons, analysing the motives of the gunmen or mouthing off at his mother he is a documentary makers dream. He is also the member of the family who changes the most over the 5 years of filming.

One thing that struck me is the use of the word "community". Everybody in the film uses that word at least every third sentence. The story they tell is that some Republican communities have not seen any improvement since the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. There are few jobs, an increase in drug use, crime and hopelessness. They refuse to cooperate with the police (despite police reforms) and dissident republican gunmen decide who gets punished and how. Given that punishments include extorting "fines" of thousands of pounds, there is strong suspicion that the gunmen fund their lifestyle by use of these "fines" backed up by the threat of shootings.

Sinéad points out that the number of suicides in Northern Ireland in the last 20 years exceeds the number of violent deaths during The Troubles and some people claim they want to go back to the past because even though it was a bad time at least was more exciting than present-day Derry!

Ian's rating 2.5/5

Jirga

I was really looking forward to Jirga but  watching it was a disappointment. It has a great trailer but you don't get anything more from the film than the trailer gives you. The basis for the story is an Australian soldier returning to Afghanistan to compensate the family of a civilian he shot in error. I thought we might get some insight into what motivated him to come ( is that the only civilian he's ever shot, is that a common problem, does the army help you deal with that?)  but we didn't. And the leading character came across as a bit of a wet blanket, and not like someone who has been in the military. I mean , how many people are on a car journey in a hot country without a bottle of water in hand?

The director did a Q and A at the showing and it seems there were various aspects of Afghanistan he wanted to showcase including the lakes of the Band-e-Amir National Parkand the supportive and communicative relationship that groups of Afghani men enjoy. It feels like the plot is an afterthought and the story doesn't live up to the scenery or the actors.

I suggest you watch the trailer and then go to a different film

Anne's rating  2/5

In the Aisles

In the Aisles is a gentle, slow-moving love story set in an East German supermarket. It's much larger and more dimly lit than we're used to in New Zealand and fork-lifts and power jacks (which feature prominently in the story) roam the aisles along with the customers.

Christian is a new recruit, and assigned to work in beverages with Bruno, who might be twice his age. Keeping the customer-level shelves stocked is a key element of the job and so is retrieving pallets of good from the stacks above the shelves (think Pak'n'Save on steroids) and attaining competence with the departmental forklift is key.

Christian falls in love with Marian, who works in sweet goods and the romance unfolds slowly along with the minutiae of Christian's days at work. Taking fifteen (which equates to taking a break) with Bruno and sometimes with Marian provides opportunity for the narrative to develop.

 In the Aisles is about the redemptive power of work, and how powerful the support of your co-workers can be. Everyone who works at the supermarket is tolerant, slow to judge, happy to help  and kind. There's really only one character who's a figure of authority, (although presumably there's a whole layer of management from "upstairs" that we never meet) and he is a guy who believes everyone is allowed to stuff up at least once.I think I'm making the film sound unfashionably Polly-anna-ish but it doesn't come across that way. It certainly emphasizes that it's "not all about you". You can provide support to a co-worker even if you're at a low point in your own life.

In the Aisles has likeable characters, excellent music and great visuals and is worthy of your viewing time, unless you're in an impatient frame of mind

Anne's rating 3.5/5

American Animals

Psychologist Nigel Latta says "teenagers are not right in the head" and this is especially true of teenage boys. American Animals gives you an idea what it would be like if, instead of driving their cars too fast, or drinking too much and doing something foolish, some teenagers you know decide to steal some very valuable books from their university library, sell them on the black market and make millions.It's a  hybrid of a morality tale, a tale of an elaborate uni student prank, and a bank-robbery film. 

A dramatic reconstruction of the events performed by actors is interspersed with the real-life perpetrators recounting what happened and the real-life parents recounting how they felt about it.They're well-presented and articulate and still relatively young (early thirties) and so the story has a kind of gruesome fascination - the archetypal American student goes bad. They did succeed in stealing the books but were later apprehended and served prison sentences as a reuslt. They are universally penitent and I guess the film is to show you that not all crime is committed by hardened criminals and people from under-privileged backgrounds - sometimes it's committed by misguided ordinary people who crave excitement, who have doubts while they're doing it and planning it and feel almost instantaneous regret.

At times American Animals has the feel of a movie that you'd be shown at high school to put you off committing crime but fortunately the entertainment value is greater than that.

Anne's rating 3/5 Victoria's rating 3/5