Tell It on the Mountain

Beauty is often something we overlook or do not appreciate unless it is right in front of our faces or on the news. Sadly, many beautiful places do not get front page coverage and end up getting ignored or left behind while atrocities ruin the beauty it once had to offer. This documentary deals with Kiritimati, which in English means Christmas Island and we learn about its story and its inhabitants in this short but touchingly effective documentary. There's a lot of turmoil on this island, from global warming to disastrously toxic nuclear fallout from bomb testing by both the UK and the USA in this island's region.

It's quite painful and saddening to hear from these island people how their fish stock and food supply has become tainted by the nuclear fallout with little to no reprimands being taken place. I love the in depth camera view going inside these people's lives, getting a first-hand look at what the radiation has done to their food supply and affected their fishing. I think the documentary does an excellent job getting the message across with its gorgeous visuals, and taking interviews and reactions directly from the island people.

For a short documentary, the message gets across much more effectively than others. I feel this film's most powerful point comes from its delivery through the people and not through some celebrity narrator or any narrator for that matter. The approach this film takes makes everything seem and feel more real, more natural, more like were inside the lives of these people and are experience their plight directly. "Between sky and ocean" is a bit on the short side but its delivery method and use of people's reactions on film really nails the message home. I was really impressed how a short little film could use it's time and message implantation so wisely and expertly, very nicely done!