Review In "The Guardian" - Hypocritical Much?
I watched this documentary a few days ago and thought it was very well done, with a lot of interesting things to think about, both on a personal level for the real-life protagonists and on a more general level regarding how "the media" pays attention to news stories and how they present it to readers/viewers. I was very engaged in the way this was filmed from different angles, especially the personal and very concious view of Sandra Bagaria - I liked the documentary a lot.
And then I read some of the reviews that are linked here on IMDb, among them the one in "The Guardian" by Jordan Hoffman here:
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jan/25/sundance-2015-review-the-amina-profile-a-cautionary-catfish-tale
And I thought while reading: Is it telling for the world we live in that this review, which is by far the one that expresses the most dislike of all of them at the moment, was published by "The Guardian"? The remarkable role of this paper in the matter of the faux blog of the gay girl in Damascus is discussed in the documentary several times: How they made it big news at the beginning, how they failed to check the facts along the way, how they showed interest in the man who conned them when he was revealed, and how they didn't show any interest to look after the victims of the conman.
I'm not sure it's the right word, but I think it's very hypocritical how this review deals with all the failures this paper made during this time. It's the most obvious in this sentence:
But in fact, Bagaria’s personal journey has none of the gravitas on screen that the director wants it to have, especially when set against the backdrop of actual human rights crises in Damascus.I actually think/feel that's exactly what makes this documentary so expressive and special to watch! It deals with the emotional impact of this one specific person, focuses on her reasoning, asks for the reasons of her deception, instead of negating it from the start by not recognizing her feelings like "The Guardian" did/does in their entire coverage of this whole story. For me, this way of reporting about this matter is much more powerful than the media coverage of papers like "The Guardian."
And it adds even more to the topic: It reflects in many ways the kind of broken perspective we get of the "human rights crises in Damascus" mirrored in our media, in my opinion. This review like "The Guardian" itself fails to see through this, dismissing it entirely, probably for no other reason than the fact that this paper was highly involved in it and isn't able to reflect their own role.
That's what I love about the approach of the film maker and the protagonist Sandra Bagaria: She was honest to herself, self-reflective in a cruel way, which made her authentic and real. I can't say that about the review, and about the media coverage. So I'm very glad this documentary was made - it's a mirror to "the media" and I thought about it for many days.
Best wishes,
janar
"Love [...] is the most incredible gift to give and to receive as a human being." - Ellen Page
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