IMDb user comments for
Mankind Is No Island. (2008) More at IMDbPro »

deceiving, 2 June 2009
Author: ruiresende84 (ruiresende84@gmail.com) from Porto, Portugal

This is damaged goods. Everything in it may look reliable and powerful, but a careful reviewing will reveal how false it is.

The film is apparently born from a clever visual idea, supported by editing. Images caught in two cities, that merge to give us a message. And editing is the key cinematic tool to achieve that message. But the deceit is that, besides a few images of homeless people and true city daily life, all the footage is in fact filmed words edited to make readable sentences. And all the rhythm is given Not by the filmed words, but by the music that follows it. So, we may be led into thinking that this actually has any cinematic value at all, when in fact it is a lazy effort, disguised as an honest amateur work. It took me several viewings to understand what was wrong.

A minor complaint is that the message is patronizing, numb, bloodless. IT tells you what you know, and it doesn't tell it from any interesting perspective. It's wrapped with the silly notion of treating viewers like children, in a way not even children (or specially children) should be treated. Many viewers enjoy being treated like that, that's probably why this film had such a success. Well i don't.

If you want a piece of editing where images are the key to the emotion and the music is just an additional support, watch this commercial:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfFZ5dcGaJw

Take out the sound in a second viewing and check how the editing stands. Do it with this "mankind..." and see how dead it becomes. IMDb doesn't file commercials, but comparing the film i'm commenting and the example i'm linking, maybe they should.

My opinion: 1/5

http://www.7eyes.wordpress.com

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