Nina Davenport: "I've Never Encountered Anyone Quite Like Him Before" | GreenCine
Nina Davenport: "I've Never Encountered Anyone Quite Like Him Before" | GreenCine
Whatever the merits of the American documentaries about the Iraq War made so far, all of them are clearly made by filmmakers convinced they're on the side of the angels. Not so for Nina Davenport's Operation Filmmaker, the first American film whose director implicates herself in the condescension and cultural misunderstandings of the occupation. Her soul searching, spurred by a complex relationship with her subject, gives liberal guilt a good name.
The film's also compellingly structured, as it depicts Iraqi film student Muthana Mohmed using an internship on the Prague shoot of Liev Schreiber's Everything Is Illuminated as a chance to navigate his way out of Iraq permanently. Muthana's life goes through twists and turns that would please the most hardened screenwriter, but Davenport follows his story while highlighting her own increasing role, including lending him money at desperate times, in it.
Was it hard to make a documentary about someone you obviously dislike?
I did like him at the beginning. I wanted the best for him and to steer him in the right direction. It was a very long, slow and painful process of disillusionment, which I think the film captures.
How does Operation Filmmaker connect with your other films, particularly Parallel Lines, which is about 9/11?
I think the connection is that they all have some sort of personal element. To a greater or lesser extent, I become a character within the films. I wasn't planning on doing that with Operation Filmmaker, but I got sucked in and realized, partly because of my previous experience, that it would be a lot more interesting if I became a part of it. Another filmmaker would never even have considered that, and it would have been a completely different film.
Whatever the merits of the American documentaries about the Iraq War made so far, all of them are clearly made by filmmakers convinced they're on the side of the angels. Not so for Nina Davenport's Operation Filmmaker, the first American film whose director implicates herself in the condescension and cultural misunderstandings of the occupation. Her soul searching, spurred by a complex relationship with her subject, gives liberal guilt a good name.
The film's also compellingly structured, as it depicts Iraqi film student Muthana Mohmed using an internship on the Prague shoot of Liev Schreiber's Everything Is Illuminated as a chance to navigate his way out of Iraq permanently. Muthana's life goes through twists and turns that would please the most hardened screenwriter, but Davenport follows his story while highlighting her own increasing role, including lending him money at desperate times, in it.
Was it hard to make a documentary about someone you obviously dislike?
I did like him at the beginning. I wanted the best for him and to steer him in the right direction. It was a very long, slow and painful process of disillusionment, which I think the film captures.
How does Operation Filmmaker connect with your other films, particularly Parallel Lines, which is about 9/11?
I think the connection is that they all have some sort of personal element. To a greater or lesser extent, I become a character within the films. I wasn't planning on doing that with Operation Filmmaker, but I got sucked in and realized, partly because of my previous experience, that it would be a lot more interesting if I became a part of it. Another filmmaker would never even have considered that, and it would have been a completely different film.
posted by charles at
4:50 AM
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