B+Directed by Edet Belzberg Review by Jon Kissel |  |
Watchers of the Sky makes the case for the necessity of powerful international organizations while also demonstrating how difficult it is to corral so many national interests into a single directive. Edet Belzberg's documentary about the various genocides of the 20th and 21st century and the legal structures that had to be build around these atrocities by dedicated public servants is blood-boiling reportage that condemns nations for clinging to as much of their sovereignty as they can while ethnic or religious minorities are blotted out. The diplomatic and bureaucratic labyrinths that the various principles have to go through seem tailor-made to strangle idealism at its earliest manifestation, but somehow, the principals of the film persist in their mission.
The historical hero undeterred by all this and praised by Belzberg and the various high-powered talking heads is Raphael Lemkin, a Polish Jewish refugee who fled to the US from the Nazis and dedicated the remainder of his life to building the framework to prosecute war criminals. Horrified to discover that if the Nazis had only executed Jews in Germany, there's no actionable crime by the standards of the time, Lemkin coins the word 'genocide' and personally lobbies the members of the newly-formed United Nations to create a statute that allows states to be prosecuted for massacring their own citizens. Despite near-homelessness and a nonexistent infrastructure, he succeeds, though his efforts are watered down by the signing states, who carve out exceptions and grant themselves immunity unless they accede to prosecution. The necessary next step, represented by the International Criminal Court, doesn't get instituted until for several more decades, and most major powers continue to refuse to sign on.
Lemkin's and the UN's efforts to prevent genocide have largely gone unfulfilled, partly due to man's inherently tribal nature and partly due to the general indifference of the world. Belzberg goes through the several ethnic cleansings of the last 30 years, stopping by the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, and South Sudan. Footage of high-ranking officials openly flaunting their murderous power are overlain with commentary from people that were then at middle manager positions, desperately and futilely trying to get their bosses to move. A UN general recounts being told by an American military officer that a single US life is worth about 80,000 Rwandans, and Hutus go on to slaughter Tutsis by the hundreds of thousands. The perpetrators are occasionally prosecuted after the fact, but there remains little that can be done while a genocide is happening, as shown by Sudanese president Omar Bashir's jaunts around the world, signing Chinese resource deals and holding press conferences about his goal of ridding his country of 'vermin.'
Even the most dramatic subjects can be rendered academic without strong editing, and Watchers of the Sky holds the viewer's attention with more than its dire and urgent historical message. The talking heads are passionate and well-spoken, and editors Jenny Golden and Karen Sim pull off several coups in montage. A seamless transition from 1940's footage to '90's footage of refugees being packed into vehicles is chilling and makes the whole film's point in one sequence. Belzberg is tackling a huge subject, but there is a feel of inclusion and thoroughness despite the 100-year period of history jammed into a 2 hour runtime. The world seems to be breaking apart from large institutions back into smaller ones, and Belzberg's timely film reminds the viewer of the danger of such a disaggregation. If the world community can barely stop genocides now, it surely won't be able to with a defunded UN and a fracturing EU. The subjects, dead and alive, in Watchers of the Sky would surely argue for the essential sameness in the value of every human life, an idea sadly retreating from national conversations. B+
Lemkin's and the UN's efforts to prevent genocide have largely gone unfulfilled, partly due to man's inherently tribal nature and partly due to the general indifference of the world. Belzberg goes through the several ethnic cleansings of the last 30 years, stopping by the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, and South Sudan. Footage of high-ranking officials openly flaunting their murderous power are overlain with commentary from people that were then at middle manager positions, desperately and futilely trying to get their bosses to move. A UN general recounts being told by an American military officer that a single US life is worth about 80,000 Rwandans, and Hutus go on to slaughter Tutsis by the hundreds of thousands. The perpetrators are occasionally prosecuted after the fact, but there remains little that can be done while a genocide is happening, as shown by Sudanese president Omar Bashir's jaunts around the world, signing Chinese resource deals and holding press conferences about his goal of ridding his country of 'vermin.'
Even the most dramatic subjects can be rendered academic without strong editing, and Watchers of the Sky holds the viewer's attention with more than its dire and urgent historical message. The talking heads are passionate and well-spoken, and editors Jenny Golden and Karen Sim pull off several coups in montage. A seamless transition from 1940's footage to '90's footage of refugees being packed into vehicles is chilling and makes the whole film's point in one sequence. Belzberg is tackling a huge subject, but there is a feel of inclusion and thoroughness despite the 100-year period of history jammed into a 2 hour runtime. The world seems to be breaking apart from large institutions back into smaller ones, and Belzberg's timely film reminds the viewer of the danger of such a disaggregation. If the world community can barely stop genocides now, it surely won't be able to with a defunded UN and a fracturing EU. The subjects, dead and alive, in Watchers of the Sky would surely argue for the essential sameness in the value of every human life, an idea sadly retreating from national conversations. B+
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