Patry and Lacourse' Denial is solidly competent, lean, and focused in terms of film-making; there are few flourishes here. It has the basic documentary style common to most professionally made, reasonably well-budgeted made-for-TV documentaries; minor embellishments include a soundtrack with an occasionally subtly evocative quality, impressionistic passages attempting apparently to evoke the terror felt by escaping civilians during flight through the jungle from the scene of the massacre central to the coverage, and eerily powerful use of the disturbing drawings of children who have apparently experienced similar atrocities. Otherwise, it's done in a very classic, traditional documentary style: interviews and archival footage.
This, however, was a good move. It is as though Patry and Lacourse correctly judged, looking at their raw footage, that with material like this, you really don't need to dress it up much.
And you really don't. Denial is a powerful, disturbing work. Viewing it by happenstance some years ago first got me seriously seeking out and watching documentaries.
The film's mesmerizing quality comes ultimately from the subject matter; the horror of the El Mozote massacre, though hardly unique to the period or the region, was particularly pronounced, and the apparent villainy of subsequent attempts to quash coverage particularly arrogant and craven.
The journalism behind this work is also quite good; Patry and Lacourse score several coups beyond reaching the very rare survivors, including an interview with a civilian spear carrier for the Atlacatl battalion who was present at the massacre; his testimony is riveting.
Though probably a rather difficult work to get hold of unless you've access to a good library that happens to have bought a copy (the only distributor I've found seems to have only what I must assume are institutional rates), Denial is well worth watching out for. If it comes by a television set near you, be sure to set your VCR.
This, however, was a good move. It is as though Patry and Lacourse correctly judged, looking at their raw footage, that with material like this, you really don't need to dress it up much.
And you really don't. Denial is a powerful, disturbing work. Viewing it by happenstance some years ago first got me seriously seeking out and watching documentaries.
The film's mesmerizing quality comes ultimately from the subject matter; the horror of the El Mozote massacre, though hardly unique to the period or the region, was particularly pronounced, and the apparent villainy of subsequent attempts to quash coverage particularly arrogant and craven.
The journalism behind this work is also quite good; Patry and Lacourse score several coups beyond reaching the very rare survivors, including an interview with a civilian spear carrier for the Atlacatl battalion who was present at the massacre; his testimony is riveting.
Though probably a rather difficult work to get hold of unless you've access to a good library that happens to have bought a copy (the only distributor I've found seems to have only what I must assume are institutional rates), Denial is well worth watching out for. If it comes by a television set near you, be sure to set your VCR.