Fists raining on bare flesh, the grinding of teeth as blows are traded for bloody knuckles or the mass massacre left behind after an attack. These may be some of the images that conjure up when thinking about violence. Documentaries offer a raw and quite compelling visual depiction of atrocities inflicted upon people and communities by people and communities.
Unlike popular media which portray a more stylised and choreographed aspect, documentaries balance the scales in terms of not using violence specifically to drive a storyline forward. They capture horrific and ghastly acts in real-time as the cameras are rolling. For past tragedies, a chronological narration with the help of interviews or archival footage aids viewers in understanding the intensity of the act.
The audience sometimes cannot grasp the violent extremity that characters undergo in mainstream films due to being set in fictional universes. They are distortions of the inspired person barring a few exceptions. However, a documentary on the same subject serves as a reminder that these real-life individuals are amongst us, living and breathing the same air.
The graphical depiction of violence on silver screens has been a long-standing debate with numerous scholars and the general public weighing in their opinions. You cannot deny that to a certain extent, the young minds that view such content are moulded because of it in some way, shape or form. Nonetheless, cinema, especially documentaries, serves as a sounding board for society. One can find in documentaries, a reflection of societal occurrences that have either stirred the pot or ruffled certain feathers.
Cinema in its entirety cannot be solely responsible for only providing entertaining content and supplying us with the means of unwinding after a tiring day. Visionaries in this specific field need to be given the liberty to showcase horrors that plague humanity as a whole without imposing any harsh restrictions.
Therefore it is necessary for directors, particularly documentary filmmakers to uncover certain brutally charged topics. Furthermore, the extent to which they depict the violent nature of the subject should be left up to their discretion.
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