Does this mean that 'Don't Look Back' is impartial, while 'Sicko' is not? Not necessarily. Thirty-two minutes into 'Sicko', a series of political adverts and speeches are shown, putting forward the perceived disadvantages of National healthcare programmes. Moore even shows (albeit very briefly) an interview from his 'arch enemy' Bill O'Reilly, who has very different views to Moore regarding healthcare, and most other political issues. However, while 'Don't Look Back' features no voiceover, there are numerous scenes which clearly show Bob Dylan in a positive light, such as when two of his female fans are given the chance to meet him. Would this have happened if there was no camera crew around? Probably not. The question of impartiality then, does not solely depend on whether there is a voiceover or not, but the selection of shots and scenes included, and the motivations behind them.
Interviews are another common documentary convention. A good interviewee should be someone who knows a lot about their subject area, and can therefore be viewed as an authority figure on the matter. For example, in 'Sicko', Moore interviews patients, medical staff and politicians. In the film 'The Times of Harvey Milk' by Robert Epstein (The Times of Harvey Milk, 1984), the interviewees are mostly people who were Harvey Milk's friends and colleagues. This presents another problem with impartiality; Interviewees will often have their own agenda, and will therefore paint either a rose-tinted view of the issue, or be particularly scathing, depending on their own views. Anne Kronenberg, interviewed for 'The Times of Harvey Milk' fondly recalls meeting Harvey Milk, and she describes how she walked into his camera store, and he was yelling at everyone in the store over some issue, however she recalls the incident fondly. Had she not been friends with Milk, she would have recalled and described the incident very differently.
All three documentary films mentioned so far also show archive footage from media sources. This is another common documentary convention, and they give us a good insight into views and attitudes at the time. There are, however, two problems with them. Firstly, being documentaries themselves, they present the same issues with impartiality, as they will have been commissioned for a specific purpose. Secondly, they can be used to further emphasise the main documentary filmmaker's own views, introducing further bias, especially when a voiceover is added over the top, as Moore does in 'Sicko', when showing political broadcasts persuading the American public that private healthcare is the best way of delivering healthcare.
The final common documentary convention is the 'fly-on-the-wall', or cinéma vérité. 'Sicko', 'Don't Look Back', and 'The Times of Harvey Milk' all use cinéma vérité to a greater or lesser extent. It can been argued that cinéma vérité is the only way of achieving true impartiality. There are, however two problems with this. Firstly, the filmmaker still has to determine where to place the camera, and the filmmaker will base their decision on what they hope to capture, which in turn is determined by what point the filmmaker wishes to make. Secondly, the general public are prone to behaving abnormally when they notice the presence of a camera as can be seen in the film, by Louis Lumière, 'La Sortie des usines Lumière à Lyon' (Workers Leaving the Factory, 1895), which shows workers leaving the factory. We see in this film that the workers are mainly female, leaving the factory after a supposed hard days' work, however the majority of them are clearly over-dressed. We can deduce from this that these workers were aware in advance that they were going to be filmed, and they wanted to look their best. This film, then, does not portray life as it actually was working at this factory, but rather how the subjects wanted to be seen and/or how the filmmaker wanted the subjects to be portrayed.
To summarise, there are many devices and conventions a documentary filmmaker can use, but each of them present problems if the aim is to achieve true impartiality. Is impartiality physically possible to achieve with a documentary? I don't believe it is, despite best intentions, every decision the filmmaker makes is influenced by what the filmmaker wants the audience to see. I don't believe that this is a bad thing, however. A documentary is still a film, and the goal of a film is to entertain its audience. Specific to documentaries, though, is to show real people doing real things, as opposed to a narrative film, whose job is to show fictional characters and plot. In that respect, the documentaries examined in this essay achieved their goal; Moore's 'Sicko' does indeed highlight the flaws within the current American healthcare system, Pennebaker's 'Don't Look Back' does document Bob Dylan's life and career during his peak, and Epstein's 'The Times of Harvey Milk' does teach us who Harvey Milk was, what he stood for and what happened to him and why. The fact that they don't achieve true impartiality in their respective subjects is irrelevant, as they do engage us and teach us the filmmaker's truth regarding their subjects.
If we, as the audience, feel dissatisfied with this, then it is our responsibility to conduct further research on the subject. We could even watch a different documentary about the same subject for a different take on it!
Reference List:
. (2007). The first film ever "Exiting the Factory" (1895) . [online]. Available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYpKZx090UE [Accessed: 03.12.2012].
Epstein, R (1984) The Times of Harvey Milk. [DVD]. USA: TV Films International. Pacific Arts.
Greg Hengler. (2009). Rachael Ray vs. Bill O'Reilly on the 'Right' of Healthcare. [online]. Available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uiWJtd7t4I [Accessed: 03.12.2012].
Moore, M (2007) Sicko. [DVD]. USA: Optimum Releasing. The Weinstein Company.
Pennebaker, D.A (1967) Don't Look Back. [DVD]. USA: Warner Home Video. Leacock-Pennebaker.
PoliticsNewsPolitics. (2009). O'Reilly To McCaskill: Obamacare = "Government Intrusion". [online]. Available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcO8m8JY5uo [Accessed: 03.12.2012].
Bibliography:
Brunner, S (2004) The French Healthcare System.[online]. Available from: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/9994.php#. [Accessed: 03.12.2012]
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askew116 (student)
