If the documentary wants to record the exact details and display the real facts in some special fields; the controversial scenes seem to be hardly avoided. In detail, the controversial scenes include the dead bodies, a lot of bleeding scenes, and over the ethics of the human being. Night and Fog is a documentary film, which describes the lives of prisoners in the camps. It was directed by Alain Resnais in 1955. No debate the documentary, Night and Fog, is an historical archive, and it also is a significant way to know the prisoners how to live in the Nazi camps. However, the documentary is too real to watch it. As a controversial issue, it can be discussed from two different sides.
The scenes of extreme violence and blood exert negative effects on the audiences, especially for youth. In the documentary film, Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields describes the conflict in the Sri Lankan Civil War. Actually, the documentary was filmed by civilians and Sri Lankan soldiers. They are not professional filmmakers; they even haven’t good recording machines. However, the documentary is so real; “The documentary showed numerous clips from the conflict zone showing the harrowing ordeal endured by civilians” (Wikipedia, Civilian video). Moreover, a number of fighting scenes display through the documentary. This phenomenon not only exists in the film or the documentary, but also exists in the news. For instance, in the Boston Explosion in 2013, a photograph shows a man lost his leg and seated in a wheelchair. But the audiences only can watch half of the photo, which was cut the bleeding part of the photo, broadcast on the TV News. Of course, over-violent and over-bloody hardly to be accepted to the audiences.
From another perspective, the bleeding facts have to display in a bleeding way. Maybe the bleeding documentary is able to make most of audiences discomforting, but it also can gain more peoples’ attention. The good example still is Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields, despite the documentary makes the audiences feel sick, it gets a huge influence in the international field, and “elicits reactions from foreign governments, international human rights groups and various public figures”. The human right of Sri Lanka has aroused the international social’s attention. In other words, the bleeding documentary likes an SOS message to spread the emergency information to ask for more concerns.
The camera can be a weapon in the documentary filmmakers’ hands. To record the fact what the mass never known before; to spread the information what even still is blooding; to express the opinion what the director trusts the truth. However, the filmmakers have to pay more attention to control the content of the documentary. A documentary may include a bleeding fact, but may not have too much bleeding scenes.
Reference:
Wikipedia, Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Lanka’s_Killing_Fields
“Making of Callum Macrae, via Tamil Tigers, Adel and ‘Operation Discredit Sri Lanka’.” http://www.dailynews.lk/features/making-callum-macrae-tamil-tigers-adel-and-operation-discredit-sri-lanka
“Filmmaker Callum Macrae on Sri Lanka documentary ‘No Fire Zone’,” http://gulfnews.com/opinions/columnists/filmmaker-callum-macrae-on-sri-lanka-documentary-no-fire-zone-1.1210331
Wikipedia, Night and Fog (1955 film), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_and_Fog_(1955_film)
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