“War Don Don”: what is it good for? The translation of the title of Rebecca Richman Cohen’s prismatic cinéma vérité documentary from its local language is “War is over”: a phrase that means less cessation of warfare than the advent of fraught peace: the time where justice may begin but, more likely, confusion begins. Given access to all sides of a war-crimes case over genocide, Cohen arrives at a stalemate more human, more the function of governments and systems than tidy. The real world is unruly. Justice is complex. In the case of Issa Sesay, brought to trial at the Special Court for Sierra Leone in central Freetown for the deadly events of the 1990s, the court asks, Champion for freedom and peacemaker? Or war criminal against the other side? We have to weigh the issues; no voiceover guides us in Cohen’s telling. The questions weigh brutally. Answers? Answers? 80m. (Ray Pride)
“War Don Don” returns to Facets for a week Friday.
Ray Pride is Newcity’s Senior Editor and Film Critic. He is a contributing editor of Filmmaker magazine.
Ray’s history of Chicago Ghost Signs is planned for publication next year. Previews of the project are on Twitter and on Instagram. More photography on Instagram.
Heart: A Review of Soul The real world is soulful, too, in Pixar's bountiful life of the mind.
Seeing The Elephant: A Review Of Babylon The boisterous, brawling yet melancholy "Babylon," is a variation on film history, but more drawing for drama. It's gaudy and mean, celebratory and sorrowful.
Spawn Sacrifice: A Review Of The Creator "The Creator" is richly detailed, punchy, pulpy, punkish entertainment that still has highly serious subjects in mind, without growing didactic and with substantial heart.
A Drag Getting Old: A Review Of Indiana Jones 5 In the protracted opening couple of reels, a very young, computer-crafted Harrison Ford plays a younger cultural marauder who first encounters the dull MacGuffin of the title.
Fine Line: A Review Of Shortcomings It's a season for the comeuppance of a curmudgeon in Randall Park's smart, biting "Shortcomings," adapted by Adrian Tomine from his graphic novel of the same name.
RECOMMENDED
