Review: Waltz with Bashir (2008)

In 1982, the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) invades southern Lebanon to remove the PLO. During their occupation of Lebanon, Bashir (or Bachir) Gemayel, the leader of the Lebanese Forces (an Israeli ally), is assassinated. Subsequently, militiamen from the Lebanese Forces were allowed by the IDF to enter the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps, where they massacre Palestinian civilians. The title of the documentary comes from an incident where a Israeli soldier, caught in a cross fire between high rise buildings in Beirut, finds himself doing a crazy jig surrounded by giant posters of Bashir on the buildings' walls.

Ari Folman, an infantryman in the war, takes us through the events in that war from the viewpoint of ordinary Israeli soldiers that he interviews. On the ground, the war is terrifying and shocking, and Folman uses animation to recreate the experience. The use of animation is an effective technique that draws us in and makes us witness the horror and atrocities, when live footage would have caused us to turn away.

Hebrew with English subtitles.

4 out of 5 stars.

Review: Between the folds (2008)

Origami, the art of paper folding, is often considered a minor craft to keep kids occupied. Vanessa Gould's documentary Between The Folds shows us what dedicated practitioners can really do with origami. This film takes a broad perspective, showing you models can require hundreds of folds and computer software to design, models that represent the real and the abstract, and linking origami with computational geometry.

Having dabbled with origami all my life, I found the models and demonstrations fascinating, and I am amazed at the possibilities stemming from a single sheet of paper and the act of folding it. Film maker Gould narrates her documentary, and unlike the images and interviewees, her text is rather prosaic and uninspiring, and there are occasions that the narration is redundant and just describes what is on screen.

3 out of 5 stars.

Review: Million Dollar Traders (2008)

In a another twist to the reality series format, hedge fund investor Lex Van Dam fronts up a million dollars to set up a hedge fund in London, run by 8 novice traders. The idea is that novices would do as well as experts. The series was filmed in July and August of 2008, which coincidentally, is also the period of the current financial crisis.

You won't find out much about the mechanics of trading in this series; the focus and the drama in this series is about how people deal with the mental stress of making decisions in a very uncertain environment. Intelligent, analytical personalities over-think the effects of their decisions and freeze (analysis paralysis), people used to acting on intuition do better, and those who can combine both and remain calm in the heated environment do best.

This series also captures the current reality of high-powered white collar work (albeit on a compressed time scale) where the traders are treated no better than battery chickens. In one telling scene, after one trader resigns, the team leader requests that there be no farewell drinks because he wants his team regain their focus by the next day instead of still thinking about their ex-colleague.

Both Van Dam and his team leader, Anton Kreill, come across as confident hard-headed fund managers who see their role as making the most effective trading team. You might not like to socialize with them but you probably want them to manage your money.

In the midst of all this drama, the results of the experiment is inevitable: people who keep their cool make money.

Screened on SBS-TV on 2, 9 and 16 June 2009.

4 out of 5 stars.