Moving Images, Understanding Media

234 Moving Images: Making Movies, Understanding Media

Inspired by Reality

Th ere are as many ways to depict the world as there are to experience it. Th e

sources of inspiration to document reality are as extensive as the potential

for human observation and imagination. Award-winning documentarian

Erroll Morris explains:

Truth is not relative. It’s not subjective. It may be elusive or

hidden. People may wish to disregard it. But there is such a thing

as truth and the pursuit of truth. We must proceed as though, in

principle, we can fi nd things out—even if we can’t. Th e alternative is

unacceptable.

Oft en fi lmmakers are prodded by the events of the world surrounding

them to create new works of vision and substance. Th ey might be inspired by

the wonders of the natural world or ecological concerns, as seen in Academy

Award winners Th e March of the Penguins (2005) and An Inconvenient Truth

(2006). Th ey may be compelled by confl icts to depict the human stories at the

heart of widespread strife. When making the 2007 Academy Award-winning

documentary Taxi to the Dark Side, fi lmmaker Alex Gibney was inspired by

the experiences of his father, a World War II veteran, to give perspective on

events over a half-century later. As a child, fi lmmaker and journalist Pierre

Sauvage was sheltered along with his family and thousands of Jewish refugees

by courageous villagers in the town of Le Chambon in France. He returned to

Figure 6-24 Lyrical imagery

helps to defi ne the setting

of Laos in The Betrayal,

photographed by director

Ellen Kuras. (Courtesy of Th e

Cinema Guild)

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