Set in the Mudumalai National Park in South India, “The Elephant Whisperers” focuses on Bomman and Belli, two members of an indigenous tribe who have devoted their lives to caring to elephants. They are officially licensed by park officials to insure the protection and care of these animals. They adopted an orphan elephant named Raghu when he was a baby, in poor health and malnourished. The two soon form a strong bond with Raghu, considering him part of their family. Later, another orphan named Ammu joins their tribe, which initially leads to some tension between the two pachyderms. Yet the special connection between humans and animals sees them through this difficult time.
“The Elephant Whisperers” is both the longest and the slowest of the nominated shorts. There are definitely moments here worth seeing. Elephants are extraordinary animals that I am very fond of. Seeing them pick up bells with their versatile trucks or interact with their human friends are often touching. The bond Bomman and Belli share with Raghu and Ammu is truly something special. Seeing the pure trust these massive animals have with their humans is very inspiring. Plus Ammu is just really cute, a fuzzy little guy that has a youthful energy.
Unfortunately, “The Elephant Whisperers” is so focused on its observational goals that it doesn't have much narrative drive. This is a documentary very much devoted to just watching people go about their lives, interacting and discussing their beliefs. The pacing is glacial and not a whole lot happens over its forty minute run time. About the only truly driving events in the story are the forest fires during the summer months and a time when Bomman and Belli are separated from Raghu. I'm not opposed to documentaries that simply depict normal life as it unfolds. (In so much that a life spent with elephants is “normal.”) Yet “The Elephant Whisperers,” with its soft musical score and gentle characters, mostly just made me sleepy. The strongest parts of this short could've been conveyed within ten or fifteen minutes, making “The Elephant Whisperers” feels needlessly padded out at times. [6/10]
“Haulout” follows a man living alone in a ramshackle shack on a desolate beach in Siberia. It seems to be a solitary existence until they arrive. Overnight, literally every inch of the beach is filled up with 95,000 walruses. This affords the researcher an up close and personal chance to study these animals. It also means he's trapped on this beach, surrounded on all sides by huge animals with pointed tusks. This is the life of marine biologist Maxim Chakilev, who has been doing this for a decade. The documentary observes him as he takes notes on the creatures and goes about his day-to-day business in this utterly inhospitable location.
“Haulout” features what is assuredly one of the most unforgettable shots out of all of this year's Oscar-nominated films. After seeming totally alone for the first few minutes, Chakilev is awoken in the middle of the night by a cacophony of animal grunts. He steps up to a window, turns on a light, and is suddenly surrounded on all sides by horny walruses. It's quite a sight, emphasized shortly afterwards by an aerial drone shot of the utterly packed beach. Harrowing as the situation is – we see the walruses jab each other with those massive tusks – I couldn't help but react with laughter. Chakilev is a totally deadpan protagonist, silent and unshakable. (With his handlebar mustache, he looks a little like a walrus too.) The walruses lock eyes with him or wiggle into his personal space, causing him to push the huge animals back with a broom. It's such an absurd situation, being knee-deep in the Walrus Pit, the kind of unlikely scenario you'd never expect to see but is nevertheless totally real.
As quietly hilarious as “Haulout” can be, this is not just a documentary about the wonders of the natural world. In fact, it has quite a sad ending. After the walrus orgy ends, Chakilev wanders the beach, documenting the dead bodies left behind. This scene gives you a clear idea of how massive these animals can be but also how vulnerable they are, as Chakilev finds a walrus baby clinging to its mother's corpse. The title card reveals, unsurprisingly, that this mass gathering of bodies is a result of climate change. Darkly funny and filled with one-of-a-kind visual, “Haulout” makes it point succinctly and powerfully with no narration and little dialogue. [9/10]
After getting nominated for the widely loathed “When We Were Bullies” in 2022, documentarian Jay Rosenblatt is back this year. Every year on her birthday, from the time she was two until she was eighteen, Jay would interview his daughter, Ella. Each year, he asks her the same questions. Over the course of a half-hour, we watch Ella grow up from a little girl to a young woman. We see her interests change and evolve, along with her outlook and opinions on the world. She develops a love for animals and singing, showtunes and sign language, while frequently referencing the sometimes testy relationship kids have with their parents.
I was a little kinder to “When We Were Bullies” than most people seemed to be. I don't know if I have a more charitable opinion of Rosenblatt or whatever. I do think “How Do You Measure a Year?” is a pretty cute premise for a documentary. It gets a lot of mileage just out of Ella's natural adorableness. As always, truth comes from the mouth of babes, as little Ella says all sorts of amusing, baffling, unexpected things. Watching her grow up into a little girl with an interest in singing and dreams of stardom is absolutely charming. When she enters her “Hannah Montana” stage, or develops a fondness for musicals, it reminds me of everything kids go through. We each have those moments of intense fascination for some bit of pop culture debris or another.
Seeing these yearly clips back to back also gives us a microscopic peek at how people grow up. One moment, Ella is a care-free little kid and the next, she's a moody teenager who seems barely disinterested in talking. Yet, as she ages into a young adult and prepares to put this yearly ritual behind, she gets a bit sentimental too. It's cute, watching those changes happen and seeing Ella grow up so totally within the spans of a few minutes. I don't know if “How Do You Measure a Year?” really gets into its chosen topics in any particular depth. Certainly more could have been done with the idea. But it's also a lot shorter than “Boyhood” while touching on a lot of the same concepts. [7/10]
The fourth of the nominated documentary shorts takes us back to the days of the Nixon administration. It focuses in on Martha Mitchell, the outspoken wife of Attorney General John N. Mitchell. After Mitchell joins the Nixon cabinet, his wife quickly gains a reputation for speaking openly and candidly about political topics. This makes her a media celebrity. Despite initially being a fan of the president, even working on his re-election campaign, Martha is soon made privy to a plot to undermine the election process. Upon speaking out, she is detained, labeled insane in the press, demonized, and soon proven to be right.
The word “gaslighting” is certainly one of the most discussed terms of our time, as women the world over finally have a word to describe behavior that has long been observed. The story of Martha Mitchell allows us to see a media-wide version of gaslighting. Martha Mitchell was arrested by government agents, drugged, and left with bruises on her body. Stories leak to the press about how she's mentally unwell or an alcoholic. The men around her claim she has a serious, but unspecified, problem. Of course, Mitchell's claims about Watergate were true and she was later justified, becoming a beloved figure again. To the point that the title of this documentary is taken from an observed psychological effect, where someone deemed delusional is later proven to be right.
It's a good story and one told well here. Directors Anne Alvergue and Debra McClutchy do a good job of assembling archive footage into a compelling whole. The way news footage, vintage audio recordings, more recent interviews, and clips from television are put together are clever. A colorful, forthright figure like Martha Mitchell does make a strong protagonist to build a documentary around. It does bother me a little that she was fine, even supportive, of Richard Nixon's policies until his paranoia started to effect her personally. But it sounds like she came around to the right side of history eventually, so I guess it's okay. [7/10]
Set in Muncie, Indiana, “Strangers at the Gates” revolves around the local mosque and Islamic community center. It tells the story of Richard “Mac” McKinney, a former Marine who developed an intense hatred of Muslims after returning home from years spent overseas in Afghanistan. Behind the back of his beloved wife and stepdaughter, McKinney begins to plot a hate crime. He builds a bomb and intends to blow up the building. Before committing this heinous act, he visits the mosque and is surprisingly welcomed with open arms. Slowly, his viewpoint begins to change and he reconsiders his plan.
“Strangers at the Gates” has a nice message. It shows how a person can change from being full of hate to being more accepting and peaceful, just through simple acts of kindness. However, the short goes about telling this story in an incredibly frustrating way. It slingshots between tonal extremes. The Muslim families and members are presented as always sunny, loving, and kind. Anytime McKinney is interviewed, the music gets dark and suspenseful. The filmmaker always frames McKinney to look like a serial killer and we get several clips of his ex-wife being on the verge of tears. It really seems like McKinney went through with his plan to become a mass murderer. Of course, this is not the case. After being accepted by the members of the mosque, McKinney abandoned his plan, converted to Muslim, and now attempts to put his hateful past behind him.
This is not only an incredibly manipulative way to present this story, it also does not delve into these events with the depth they deserve. McKinney outright attributes his Islamophobia to his time spent in the military. The documentary never gets into how the military trains young recruits – McKinney was 18 when he joined the marines – to see other human beings as subhuman things worthy of hate and extermination in any meaningful way. The filmmakers seem to approach McKinney's initial intense hatred of Muslims and his plan to become a mass murderer with a lack of gravity. Moreover, the local Muslim community accepting him and even forgiving him is shown as nothing but a light-hearted story. Surely some mosque members were terrified to hear that this man wanted to kill them all and nearly went through with it? Moreover, do we really want to send the message that the onus to forgive hatred and prejudice is on those discriminated against? “Strangers at the Gate” has a powerful idea at its center and could have explored these themes in a way that would've revealed a lot about American culture. Instead, it went in a shallow, feel-good direction and burdened itself with a misleading structure. [5/10]
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