Spoiler alert - Be ready to feel culpable, especially if you were a U.S. taxpayer in 1964-1973. Wow! I cried much of the way through (and I consider myself pretty jaded and cynical having witnessed lots of pain). Though ideologically I am disappointed that a do-gooder film seemingly needs to have a Caucasian lead to get us to pay attention, this film overcomes that deficit with aplomb. I found the mix of informative training scenes with tense bomb disarming, with views of after-work drinking, teasing and carrying on really appealing. It illustrates very well the joys and concerns of cross-cultural international development work.
2 Reviews
Faces, not numbers
Jkevi15 November 2011
"Bomb Harvest" achieves something that, unfortunately, not all documentaries even attempt to do. It is ultimately not about statistics – how many bombs are left there in Laos or even how many people are affected by them – it is first of all about people.
We get to know the people who work with the UXOs as we follow Laith Stevens in his work and that drop of leisure that he manages to enjoy. As the story of newly trained UXO Laos personnel unfolds, we observe people work, eat, and drink: these are the real people whose lives have been inevitably and irreversibly affected by the appalling bombing campaign of 1964-1973. We see faces, not numbers.
The music score is mesmerizing, camera-work appears flawless, and editing could be only applauded.
Good documentaries inform you while great documentaries also leave you with a feeling. "Bomb Harvest" falls into the second category and hence shouldn't be missed.
We get to know the people who work with the UXOs as we follow Laith Stevens in his work and that drop of leisure that he manages to enjoy. As the story of newly trained UXO Laos personnel unfolds, we observe people work, eat, and drink: these are the real people whose lives have been inevitably and irreversibly affected by the appalling bombing campaign of 1964-1973. We see faces, not numbers.
The music score is mesmerizing, camera-work appears flawless, and editing could be only applauded.
Good documentaries inform you while great documentaries also leave you with a feeling. "Bomb Harvest" falls into the second category and hence shouldn't be missed.
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