Sicko and MFAB

628 Words2 Pages

Which type of narration, silent or active, is most effective? Why?

In my opinion, despite preferring such documentaries as SiCKO, Inside Job, Supersize Me, An Inconvenient Truth, Food, Inc. and Fahrenheit 9/11, as a whole, silent narration is the most effective for documentaries. While I appreciate the actively narrated documentaries and opinions of such filmmakers as Michael Moore and Al Gore, I believe that their opinions can, and often do overshadow the documentaries they create. In the case of Moore, for example, most of his well-known documentaries begin with him having some sort of opinion. In creating the idea for SiCKO, Moore likely had some sort of negative experience, whether it be first- or second-hand, which fuelled his desire to create a film pointing out the inadequacies of the American health care system. With an already biased opinion, Moore never strays from his beliefs throughout the film and in the end, chooses to edit the documentary in a certain way and include only certain facts in order to make it appear as if his beliefs are 100% factual. With this skewed view of a documented topic, it entirely depends on the viewer’s personal opinions whether they will like the biased documentary or not. Essentially, actively narrated films primarily present the viewer with the opinions of the filmmaker and the facts they use to support their beliefs, meaning that viewers are not given much of an opportunity to formulate their own opinions.

Comparatively, silently narrated films focus much more on visual images, as well as the words and emotions of the people documented in the film. Without a constant narration by the filmmaker, viewers are afforded the opportunity to watch the film’s characters and view them as they w...

... middle of paper ...

... is much more difficult for me to be able to relate to the lives of the people shown in My Flesh and Blood. Conversely, I have had numerous encounters with North American and African (South Africa and Malawi) health care systems, thus allowing me to better relate to the stories within SiCKO. Having observed health care processes and conditions that run from one of the best (Canada) to one of the least resourced and funded (Malawi), I am able to understand many of the flaws pointed out by Moore in his film, as well as possessing my own perspective of what I would consider to be a poor health care system. Additionally, as one who consistently enjoys debating various topics, I am given a much greater opportunity to do so through the film SiCKO compared to My Flesh and Blood, likely reflecting my stronger emotional attachment to Moore’s film and the effect it had on me.

Open Document