ABC AFRICA - DVD review

The films of Abbas Kiarostami, the renowned Iranian director, have always walked a fine line between documentary and fiction. He frequently uses non-professional actors, makes extensive use of actual locations and freely mixes fact and fiction. In "Close Up" (1990), for example, Kiarostami recounts the real-life story of a man who posed as director Mohsen Makhmalbaf; he casts many of the real people involved in the incident while also mixing his own footage with actual footage from the court trial that took place. Kiarostami worked extensively in documentary filmmaking early in his career but has devoted himself almost exclusively to fiction films in the 80s and 90s (1989's "Homework" being an exception). With "ABC Africa" (2001), the Iranian master returns to his documentary roots.

At the invitation of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Kiarostami travels to Uganda to document the work of UWESO, the Uganda Women's Efforts to Save Orphans. Uganda has endured a seemingly relentless string of hardships in the past several decades: the tyrannical rule of genocidal warlord Idi Amin, a vicious civil war in the 1980s and now, like many other African nations, a devastating AIDS epidemic. In a country of approximately 22 million people, two million children have been orphaned; nearly 10% of the population has already died of AIDS and a similar number of Ugandans currently suffer from the disease. At one point, Kiarostami encounters an elderly woman who lost all eleven of her children to AIDS. UWESO, founded in 1986, is a volunteer organization which helps survivors to pool their resources and teaches them crucial skills such as money management so that no one person has to suffer because of a rough patch. UWESO supports the notion that there is power in numbers and communities can thrive where individuals might falter.

Kiarostami is noted for his long takes and his emphasis on landscape. Many of the typical Kiarostami techniques are present in "ABC Africa," including several long takes from moving vehicles (perhaps the defining element of Kiarostami's films) but, for the most part, he adopts a more straight-forward approach to his documentary material, letting his subjects take center stage rather than drawing excessive attention to himself. Whether he succeeds in this endeavor is questionable; after all, the major draw of this project is that of a famous international director lending his name to the effort to attract more attention. Indeed, it is unlikely New Yorker would be releasing a similar documentary on DVD this month if it were not directed by the Iranian auteur.

Kiarostami may have set out to document a tragedy, but during the course of film he veers in a much more philosophical direction. He shows some gruesome scenes including a makeshift funeral at an AIDS treatment center for a child who has just died, but he focuses even more on the incongruous joy he encounters among the townspeople. When Kiarostami asks a blissful old man why he is always smiling, the man replies "Because I'm so happy!" Why? He doesn't know and doesn't seem to care. In the midst of all this poverty and death, people still manage to find a way not only to survive but actually to enjoy their lives. Children play in the street and the members of the community frequently get together to dance, sing and celebrate.

Kiarostami is clearly amazed by this remarkable resilience and finds an intriguing way of represent it in the documentary. In one scene, Kiarostami's crew is filming at night when the power goes out (the scene may well have been staged – fiction and non-fiction are always closely related for Kiarostami). For more than five minutes, the screen is completely black (except a few brief seconds when a match is lit) as the crew members stumble around in the dark trying to find their hotel rooms. As they talk, they marvel at how a blackout like this is a nightly event in Uganda; many places have no electricity after midnight or, in some cases, no electricity at all. One crewman observes that many Ugandans must spend nearly half their lives in the dark like this, prompting the following exchange:


Crewman: "We can't even take five minutes of it."

Kiarostami: "Because it is five minutes. If it was five or fifty years we would get used to it. Our only good fortune is that we humans can adapt to anything.


Ultimately, "ABC Africa" is a story of the amazing human ability to adapt to even the most trying situations. After this central scene, we see a wedding couple. The bride lost her husband to AIDS and the groom has lost his wife; now they have remarried and their two families are joined as one. To borrow the title of another Kiarostami film: "And life goes on…"

Kiarostami avoids the trap of portraying his subjects as nothing but helpless, suffering victims. Instead, they are complex people with both sorrows and joys who experience despair at their losses but also hope for a better future, and are willing and able to do whatever they need to in order to realize that future. No single film can fully explore such an immense subject, but Kiarostami resists the temptation to present the subject matter in overly simplified or stereotypical terms. "ABC Africa" is as much a philosophical rumination as it is an informational documentary.

Video

The movie is presented in its original 1.33:1 aspect ratio. Kiarostami has begun to experiment with digital video in recent years. I found the use of digital in the minimalist feature "Ten" (2002) to be very distracting; the flat imagery and blown out sunlight made each scene feel more like a recorded rehearsal than a final performance and all but ruined the movie for me. The digital video in "ABC Africa" is far more effective; the camera can move freely and creates a more spontaneous feeling to the movie.

Audio

The DVD is presented in Dolby Digital. The sound is design is very simple and all the dialogue is clearly recorded. Intermittent non-optional English subtitles support the audio; however, there is no subtitle choice on the DVD and it is sorely missed in some scenes in which thickly accented English is spoken.

Extras

The DVD includes only one extra, but it's a real doozy. "Abbas Kiarostami: The Art of Living" is listed as a featurette but runs at 55 minutes, not far off from the 83 minute running time of "ABC Africa." The documentary discusses Kiarostami's work in some detail both in his own words and with the participation of several prominent film critics including Jonathan Rosenbaum, Adrian Martin, Godfrey Cheshire and Michel Ciment (it's like they asked me who my favorite critics were and gathered them all together for this project). A comprehensive examination Of Kiarostami's work would have to be much longer, but "The Art of Living" is an excellent introduction for both neophytes and long-time fans of the director. It would also make an excellent teaching tool for film programs that provide far too little discussion of Iranian cinema, perhaps the most exciting national cinema in the world today. Top notch material.

Closing Thoughts

If you want to learn why Abbas Kiarostami has become one of the most venerated directors in the world today, I recommend you start with his sublime 1999 film "The Wind Will Carry Us." You also can't go wrong with "A Taste of Cherry" (1997) which won the Palme d'Or at Cannes. "Wind" is available on DVD from New Yorker Video and "Cherry" has been released by the Criterion Collection.

"ABC Africa" may not be counted as one of Kiarostami's masterpieces, but is a thoughtful, respectful film which does justice to its material. It is a valuable entry in Kiarostami's body of work and is well worth your time.