Analysis in relation to narrative and POV
This documentary follows correspondent A.C. Thompson as he shows us the awful violence that took place at the largest gathering of white supremacists in a generation. This is a POV styled documentary so for a lot of the scenes in the film I found it very hard hitting in that it felt as though I was on the front line with the protestors fighting against the weaponised and angry racists.
For the first two minute of the film the footage is made up only of shots of the actual event. These aren’t the sort of shots that you would expect for a documentary like this one. A common trope for films documenting tragic events usually is that it will be shown through poor quality security cameras, or even re-enacted if they have no footage, and only stories of the event that took place. The reason this one is so well documented is because it is sadly an event that has taken place fairly recently, at a time when everyone in the world has a mobile phone camera in their pocket at the ready to film anything. For this reason, this documentary is shot from all different angles during the event. It also means that the film is being shown to the audience from both the KKKs point of view, as well as the protestors point of view. The event being filmed from so many different angles, and by so many different people is also very advantageous in that it is easy to tell the fake footage from the real footage. This is because the real footage van be backed up by the fact that it is visible from other witnesses. By having the first two minutes of the film only showing the tragic violence on the frontline of it all, it immediately prepares the audience for how hard hitting this documentary is truly going to be. It also immediately shocks the audience by showing the brutality of what took place in its full and not hiding anything. It is vital that the film be shown to us in this way. This is because after watching this film, it is very clear that it was made for a purpose, it was made to inspire change through its audience, and it will certainly evoke emotions that could push for movement by showing us the brutality of the protest that took place in Charlottesville.
After showing us this the documentary then very cleverly shows us a march that took place that same weekend and explains that all of the footage was caught by one person, Emily Gorsenski. Here we start off seeing the footage that she managed to obtain of the members of the KKK marching towards her and her group of activists, and then we see cuts of what she managed to capture as 100s of racists began to physically attack her and her friends. After this we then see an interview between Thompson and Emily where she further explains the footage that we just saw. By showing us this violent act of terror that she had to go through, and then listening to her account of what happened, it gave the audience a clear understanding of what took place that night. It also cleverly cut in and out of the footage that she obtained whilst keeping the audio of her interview constant. Doing this helped to show the audience just how hateful these people are, because it shows us that Emily’s character is good natured, and forces us to empathise for her as we begin to gain the knowledge that none of the people that got attacked actually did anything wrong at all.
The part of this film that does a great job of hitting the audience the hardest is the scene where it details the one death that took place during the most publicised terror event of that day in Charlottesville. This was when James Alex Fields Jr. selfishly drove his car through crowds of people injuring 28 and killing 1. What is so terrifying about the documentation of this event is that it is truly POV. It isn’t like you are just watching the event from afar but close enough that you still feel like you’re a part of it. There is an abundance of camera shots from people that were actually hit by the cars themselves and gained almost critical injuries. Whilst this is very hard to watch, it sets you up perfectly for the next scene in which we witness an interview between Thompson and the mother of the one person that was murdered during the event. Doing this evokes such emotion such as empathy and sadness, but it also makes the audience very angry, and then directs this anger at the KKK, as it should.
It is at this point that I came to the realisation that the narrative of this film was clearly directed at getting people to fight against racism through who they vote for at the next election. This became clear to me because placed fairly close to the scenes where it displays the terrorist act that lead to the innocent death of the protestor, it shows how trumps support for the white supremacy movement has been a large reason as to why these events have ended up being able to take place. By doing this it makes the audience presume that this wouldn’t have happened If it wasn’t for Trump being president. It is for this reason that I feel that this documentary’s narrative may have been directed at influencing its audience in who they should vote for.
Towards the end of the film it begins to research into one man specifically Vasili Pistolis, and his involvement in the white supremacy movement. It is discovered that this man is actually in the military. The documentary then very cleverly uses this as a jumping off point and starts to divert the audience’s attention to whether of not this is a common trope of people within the KKK. And at this point in the narrative it then forces the audience to question whether or not it is easy for someone as racist and violent as this man to get into the military.
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