El Especialista

Evil is never "radical,"... it is only extreme, and... it possesses neither depth nor any demonic dimension... It is "thought- defying"... because thought tries to reach some­ depth, to go to the roots, and the moment it concerns itself with evil, it is frustrated because there is nothing. That is its "banality."
—Hannah Arendt, 1964 ­

FICHA TÉCNICA
Título Original: Un spécialiste, portrait d'un criminel moderne Año: 1999 Director: Eyal Sivan
País: Israel, Francia, Alemania, Austria, Bélgica

"After witnessing hundreds of ordinary people submit to authority in our own experiments, I must conclude that Arendt's conception of the banality of evil comes closer to the truth than one might dare imagine…: ordinary people, simply doing their jobs, and without any particular hostility on their part, can become agents in a terrible destructive process."
^-Milgram

[Baudelaire] is no more than a marionette whose strings are being manipulated... At bottom it matters very little whether he attributes his actions to the Devil or to Hysteria; the essential [thing] is that he is not their cause but their victim. After that, we notice that he has, as usual, left the door open. He doesn't believe in the Devil.
-Sartre

Es cobarde pensar que tan sólo se seguían órdenes. Es increible aceptar que la muerte de millones de seres humanos estuviera a cargo de personas tan débiles y tan cobardes. Cuando se desmitifica el mal uno queda sintiéndose ridículo. ¿Cómo es posible que no hayamos sido capaces de enfrantarnos a semjante "pasguato"? ¿En qué momento fui más debil yo que él? ¿Qué sucedió con la ley del más fuerte, que regía la naturaleza? Vaya, al final ¿qué nos enseña esto sobre hacer el mal? ¿en dónde está el mérito? ¿por qué sigue siendo tan admirado y estando tan idealizado? Un animal es "malo" o hace daño cuando tiene miedo, supongo que es igual con el ser humano y mientras más miedoso se es, más factible es ser malo y una persona miedosa que es incapaz de controlar su miedo y que se deja vencer por este, es por definición, una persona débil y cobarde. Pero sigue permaneciendo la paradoja ¿cómo le hace una persona tan débil para vencer? No lo sé. Pero no quitaré el dedo del renglón.

La organización Shin Bet (Servicio de Seguridad Interior israelí) junto a la organización Mossad (Servicio de Inteligencia Israelí) dieron a conocer nuevos detalles de lo que fue el secuestro del criminal nazi Adolf Eichmann en Argentina hace varias décadas.

En el sitio de la organización salen publicados detalles, fotografías y mapas hasta ahora no publicados. La información publicada dice que la operación de secuestro se llevó a cabo en cinco etapas.

El primer paso es llamado “Primera etapa para juntar información para identificar su identidad y su dirección, y la información que sugiera que Ricardo Clement es Adolf Eichmann”.

El segundo: “Etapa de búsqueda de información hacia la operación, llegada de la célula de acción a Argentina y programación en el campo y para la traída hacia Israel.

El tercer paso es llamado “Etapa para llevara a cabo el secuestro”.

El cuarto paso es llamado “Retener a Eichman en lugar seguro y transferirlo hacia avión de ´El Al´ que viaje rumbo a Israel”.

El último paso es llamado “Etapa de juicio, Juicio que al final dictamina la pena de muerte”.

Según la información ya en 1959 llegaron a Argentina agentes del Mossad que comenzaron a juntar información y preparar detalles de la operación que se llevaría a cabo en 1960 para secuestrar y traer a Eichmann a juicio en Israel por asesinar a millones de judíos durante el Holocausto.

La información que recibió el Mossad de Fritz Bauer, un doctor judío y fiscal del estado de Hessen en Alemania, fue al artífice para que Isser Harel y sus hombres lograran con éxito secuestrar a Eichmann y llevarlo a juicio en Israel.

Karl Adolf Eichmann:

Nació en Solingen, Alemania, el 19 de marzo de 1906 y murió en Jerusalén, Israel, el 1 de junio de 1962. Teniente Coronel de la SS Nazi. Responsable directo de la solución Final, principalmente en Polonia, y los transportes de deportados a los campos de concentración alemana durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial.

"Larga vida a Alemania. Larga vida a Austria. Larga vida a Argentina. Estos son los países con los que más me identifico y nunca los voy a olvidar. Tuve que obedecer las reglas de la guerra y las de mi bandera. Estoy listo."

(Últimas palabras de Eichmann)

FUENTES:

• Cabinet. The De-demonization of Evil. Ulrich Baer. http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/5/dedemonization.php
• Luz Lex - Siglo XXI. Holocausto: Los Nazis en Misiones. http://ius-lex-xxi.blogspot.com/2009/04/holocausto-los-nazis-en-misiones-por-la.html
• Sinépisi: Conetando Ideas. http://www.sinepsis.com/2009/10/eichmann-dijo-eran-judios.html
  

Gimme Shelter

Oh, a storm is threatning
My very life today
If I dont get some shelter
Oh yeah, Im gonna fade away

War, children, its just a shot away
Its just a shot away
War, children, its just a shot away
Its just a shot away

Ooh, see the fire is sweepin
Our very street today
Burns like a red coal carpet
Mad bull lost its way

War, children, its just a shot away
Its just a shot away
War, children, its just a shot away
Its just a shot away

Rape, murder!
Its just a shot away
Its just a shot away

Rape, murder!
Its just a shot away
Its just a shot away

Rape, murder!
Its just a shot away
Its just a shot away

The floods is threatning
My very life today
Gimme, gimme shelter
Or Im gonna fade away

War, children, its just a shot away
Its just a shot away
Its just a shot away
Its just a shot away
Its just a shot away
I tell you love, sister, its just a kiss away
Its just a kiss away
Its just a kiss away
Its just a kiss away
Its just a kiss away
Kiss away, kiss away

Directed by David Maysles, Albert Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin
Filmed by the Maysles Brothers
Key Cast: Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Mick Taylor, Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman
Uncredited Cast: Marty Balin, Melvin Belli, Dick Carter, Sam Cutler, Jerry Garcia, John Jaymes, Paul Kantner, Michael Lang, Phil Lesh, Ron Schneider, Grace Slick, Tina Turner, Bob Weir

Music Credits:

Rolling Stones: Jumping Jack Flash, (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction, You Gotta Move, Wild Horses, Brown Sugar, Love In Vain, Honky Tonk Woman, Street Fighting Man, Sympathy For The Devil, Under My Thumb, Gimme Shelter

Ike & Tina Turner: I’ve Been Loving You Too Long
The Flying Burrito Brothers: Six Days On The Road
Jefferson Airplane: The Other Side Of This Life

(Colour, 1970) Running Time: 91 min.
Format: Original 1.33:1 Aspect
Audio: Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 surround sound

22 cameramen, including a young George Lucas, and 14 Nagra-toting soundmen.

*Los shows del Madison de esta gira acabaron editándose en el álbum en directo Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out!

Director/Film Editor Charlotte Zwerin has to be given credit for the film’s fascinating structure. In a flash of genius she asked members of The Stones to drop round her editing suite and check out the raw footage. They agreed, and cameras were set up to catch their reactions. Suddenly the film metamorphs from a documentary into something else, something doubly voyeuristic.

This structure, this self-referential mirror, is also the perfect way for The Stones to deflect charges that they were responsible for the Altamont concert, which not only filled the void with bad vibes but which wiped out all the good vibes of Woodstock,(four months earlier).

Uno mira el documental y no puede evitar deslumbrarse con la cámara de Albert -sencillamente brillante- con un timing tal que pareciera que existiera una puesta en escena, un previo conocimiento de lo que iba a suceder.

El título de la película: Gimme Shelter - dame refugio - haciendo alusión a la tan conocida canción homónima de la banda y la letra que pareciera estar consciente de lo que el destino deparaba, como mandada a hacer para el documental.

Los Rollings en el estudio, en concierto, pero más que un testimonio de los Rolling Stones, un testimonio de una época, de una juventud, del comienzo de conciertos másivos.

El asesinato, la escena más polémica del documental, visto desde una segunda cámara, apreciado en slow-motion. El ángel del demonio apuñalando a un chico negro que apuntaba una pistola al escenario, hacia un grupo de ángeles del demonio. Una novia destrozada que llora en brazos de un amigo mientras mira como suben a su hombre a la ambulancia. El cruel despertar después de un viaje alucinante en música y sustancias ilegales. Mick jagger mirando el video. Nosotros mirando a Mick Jagger mirarse en el concierto que veíamos unos instantes antes. El asesinato visto a través de la expresión de Jagger y en realidad con eso basta para empatizar y sentir la misma frustración: la frustración de un músico que lo único que quería era compartir su música en armonía con su público, disfrutar de la vida cantando, pero que tuvo que enfrentarse con la realidad de una juventud que no estaba preparada para el reto, para la responsabilidad que implicaba su ofrecimiento.

Gran documental y en realidad no hay mucho que agregar, basta verlo para notarlo.

David and Albert Maysles. Pioneros del Direct Cinema.

En palabras de Albert:

For me the greatest technical innovation is the Sony PD170 because it:

1. focuses down to inches.
2. has a magnificent manual zoom.
3. is supersensitive to light.
4. an excellent zoom range especially with the addition of the Century wide-angle adapter.
5. only 3 dollars per tape.
6. extremely useful automatic focus, also manual.
7. manual and automatic exposure control.
8. single system picture and sound plus two sound inputs.
9. as you shoot, you control exposure simultaneously while observing recorded images.
10. steady device in the lens makes for a steadier picture.
11. unlike the 10minutes 16mm film camera magazine, each tape runs 40 or 60 minutes, virtually no run-outs.
12. with tape you needn’t change stock.
13. camera can be held in many positions with viewer still visible.
14. holding camera below chin, a camera person can see much more than is in the eyepiece.
15. holding camera below chin, camera person's gaze is available to subjects to assure rapport.
16. camera much lighter (only 3 or 4 pounds vs.20).
17. can vary shutter speed.
18. camera costs only around $3500; a 16mm film camera with lenses and
magazines around $100,000.
19. the zoom lens is so good you need no other lenses.
20. easy to film in tight quarters; for example, in cars.
21. totally silent.
22. less intrusive.
23. batteries are tiny (3"x 1 1/2"x 1"), weigh little, run for as much as 8 hours.
24. quality satisfactory for TV and can be blown up to 35mm.
25. all you need to shoot goes into a normal camera bag.
26. when necessary can shoot all alone.
27. no waiting a day for rushes. Results are immediately available.
28. fewer or no problems with hot or humid conditions.
29. can go straight to edit; no processing negative, workprint, or transfer to tape.
30. is a near perfect one-up on the 16mm film camera.

Hablando del documental:

Why

As a documentarian I happily place my fate and faith in reality. It is my caretaker, the provider of subjects, themes, experiences—all endowed with the power of truth and the romance of discovery. And the closer I adhere to reality the more honest and authentic my tales. After all, knowledge of the real world is exactly what we need to better understand and therefore possibly to love one another. It’s my way of making the world a better place.

How

1. Distance oneself from a point of view.
2. Love your subjects.
3. Film events, scenes, sequences; avoid interviews, narration, a host.
4. Work with the best talent.
5. Make it experiential, film experience directly, unstaged, uncontrolled.
6.There is a connection between reality and truth. Remain faithful to both.

Some Do's and Dont's

• Hold it steady.
• Use manual zoom, not the electronic.
• Read as much of the PD 170 manual as you can.
• Read book or chapter in a photography book on how to compose shots.
• Use the steady device that’s in the camera.
• Never use a tripod (exception: filming photographs, for example).
• You’ll get a steadier picture the more wide-angle the shot. In a walking shot go very wide angle.
• Hold the beginning and end of each shot. The editor will need that.
• Use no lights. The available light is more authentic.
• Learn the technique but equally important keep your eye open to watch the significant moment. Orson Welles: “The cameraman’s camera should have behind its lens the eye of a poet.”
• Remember, as a documentarian you are an observer, an author but not a director, a discoverer, not a controller.
• Don’t worry that your presence with the camera will change things. Not if you’re confident you belong there and understand that in your favor is that of the two instincts, to disclose or to keep a secret, the stronger is to disclose.
• It’s not “fly-on-the-wall”. That would be mindless. You need to establish rapport even without saying so but through eye contact and empathy.

"When we do right, no one remembers. When we do wrong, no one forgets" - Hell's Angels

Sindicato del crimen organizado fundado en California, Estados Unidos, a finales de la década de los 40's, pero que en la actualidad funciona en todo el mundo.

Requisistos para ser aceptado como miembro:
-Licencia de conducir.
-Motocicleta
-No ser pederasta
-No haber aplicado ni trabajado como guardia de prisión o policia.

No podíamos hablar de los Rolling Stones sin mencionar One plus One, mejor conocida como Sympathy for the Devil de Godard (1968).

"Probablemente, One plus One sea el registro más fiel y minucioso de la génesis de una canción. De manera paciente, casi antropológica, Jean Luc Godard registró los interminables ensayos en que los Rolling Stones dieron forma a Sympathy for the Devil, incluída después en el album Beggar's Banquet (Decca, 1968).

La idea de Godard consistía en filmar dos películas diferentes: el documental de los Stones y las fantasías militantes, y editarlas conjuntamente: un rollo de la primera, un rollo de la segunda. De ahí el título. Según Godard, "One plus One (Uno más Uno) no significa uno más uno igual dos. Significa sólo eso: One plus One..."; por lo cual el espectador esta obligado a tomar los fragmentos sueltos y, si tiene ganas e imaginación, editarlos en su propia mente, darles el significado que el film escamotea."

"The best American cameraman"
- Godard
(hablando sobre Albert Maysles.)

Arriba Patti Smith cantando el cover de Gimme Shelter.

FUENTES:

• Rockenberg's. Gimme Shelter. http://rockenberg.wordpress.com/2008/11/08/the-rolling-stones-gimme-shelter/
• Youtube. Patti Smith Gimme Shelter. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAGmuxPAD_4
• Youtube. Sympathy for the Devil-Godard-Stones. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pc3f8L7Ruuk
• http://www.henciclopedia.org.uy/autores/Buela/oneone.htm
  
• Rick Ojo McGrath. Gimme Shelter. http://www.culturecourt.com/Ajo/media/GShelter.htm
• Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia. Hell's Angels. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hells_Angels
• Henciclopedia. One plus One. http://www.henciclopedia.org.uy/autores/Buela/oneone.htm
• Maysles Films. http://www.mayslesfilms.com/companypages/albertmaysles/note.htm
  

Reassamblage

“I do not intend to speak about. Just speak nearby.”

(Dibujo de Jean-Paul Bourdier
amigo y colaborador en numerosos proyectos)

Trinh Minh-ha makes films but is also a feminist, theorist, composer and poet. She thinks and theorises through making films; for her, writing and filming are two different activities that allow her to think in different ways. Her thinking is at times very analytic, but it can be poetic as well. As such, she tries to balance the same things as Joris Ivens tries to balance in for instance Rain.

In her first film, Reassemblage (1982), she explores how she can avoid a top-down perspective on the Senegalese women who are the main subject of the film. Trinh does not want to be an objective outsider explaining to the viewer how the Senegalese women spend their daily lives. She wants to get closer, but at the same time she realises that she is different and cannot be one of them. Trinh reflects on these concerns in the film, thus turning it into a source for alternative ideas for ethnographically inspired documentary filmmaking. One of these ideas is to focus on the perception of reality and not reality itself, for instance by including reflections on the film medium in the film itself.

In Reassemblage she explores different methods to reflect. What it means to take a perspective is one of them. MacDonald phrases this accurately in an interview with Trinh about her film: “The subject always stays in its world and you try to figure out what your relationship to it is. It’s exactly the opposite of “taking a position”: it’s seeing what different positions reveal”. [Trinh, T. Minh-ha (1992). Framer Framed, Routledge.] By not taking a fixed or preferred position herself in her film, Trinh does not allow the viewer to comfortably follow her. Every viewer has to put effort in her/his own exploration of different ways of seeing the people in the film. The aim of Trinh to “just speak nearby” results in a multitude of stories and perspectives. Each viewer can create her/his own relationships to these.

Trinh does not only bring her many perspectives into the film; Reassemblage sets up a conversation between its viewers, the filmmaker and the people in the film. The techniques that Trinh has chosen to do this do not make it very easy to watch because the film is despite its constructed nature fragmented, and it requires work to bring these fragments together. Trinh leaves it for a large part up to the viewer to create a synthesis from the observations and reflections she offers, unlike for instance Ivens who in for instance Rain offers a clear synthesis of his observations and the perspectives he developed to the spectator.

Trinh T. Minh-Ha says that she set out to make Reassemblage as an ethnographic film that paid no heed to conventions of documentary. It seems from interviews with her that her attempt wasn’t exactly to “defy” convention as to ignore it. This certainly seems questionable, just like her assertion that she hasn’t been influenced by any experimental films (which she contradicted in the same interview by saying she is unable to count her numerous influences). But to be fair, she isn’t overly concerned with classical Western notions of “consistency” and “contradiction,” rather more inclined to embrace dissonances in Eastern (or even Nietzschean) form while holding to a slightly more optimistic (albeit equally problematic) ideology.

Regardless of her thoughts on her own un/conscious, Reassemblage is a remarkable film for seemingly achieving what it set out to do: break with documentary and ethnographic tradition by questioning the positions of the filmmaker and audience in relation to the film’s subject(s). The highly poetic voiceover dialogue within the film states that she wanted to make a film “on Senegal,” to which her friends replied, what about Senegal? The lack of answer to this question functions well with the exploratory nature of the project. Apparently her only plan in making the film was to travel to five different regions of Senegal and record what she saw. She self-consciously proclaims her own presence through word and camera, though she is never actually seen on screen. The feminist nature of the film acts as a further acknowledgement of her presence and positioning: if the film has any “subjects,” they are the women of these regions of Senegal. Previous and conventional ethnographies, which have tended to be made by white men, have focused on the doings of males in third-world countries and only seen women as objects of exotic voyeuristic value. Trinh, however, switches the focus onto women while still cinematographically acknowledging the fetishistic male gaze of “native” women in all their unclothed glory. Her extreme close-ups, then, ironically cater to the male viewer’s expectation while simultaneously critiquing it. If the male viewer treats women like objects, Trinh has reversed the formula, turning objects back into women.

FUENTES:

• Reassamblage (Senegal, 1982) Trinh Minh-ha. by Moviola. http://www.flickr.com/photos/documentaries/171380206/
• Precious Bodily Fluids. Reassamblage. 13 nov 08. http://andrewsidea.wordpress.com/2008/11/13/reassemblage/
• Trinh T. Minh-ha. http://www.trinhminh-ha.com/