After the impressive Gulistan, Land of Roses (VdR 2016), the Kurdish filmmaker Zaynê Akyol returns with these conversations with imprisoned members of the Islamic State, alternating their words with aerial views of the countryside. An unexpected look at a far-reaching current political issue and a film whose subject matter and rhythm create an impressive cinematic object.
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Switzerland
South Korea15
EBS International Documentary Festival
South Korea15
South Korea
Switzerland
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With each passing year, my reviews of Canada's Oscar submissions seem to double as a charting of Telefilm's gradual divergence from Quebec as a source of our noted cinema. Though last year's Eternal Spring appeared to complete the severance from French Florida, Rojek takes one step back towards familiar territory, all the while removing the flag from Canadian soil altogether. Zaynê Akyol grew up here in Montreal, but was born to a Kurdish family in Turkey. And so, her sophomore documentary feature, Rojek, sets its sights back towards the Kurdish population, this time in Syria, battling the indoctrinating forces of ISIS that refuse to die.
Akyol opts to dissect this issue by way of revealing interviews with incarcerated ISIS members,…
Monumental, complex, and at times bone-chilling. There is a sense of epic scope to this film even though it is often so intimate, and I think that comes from the formal and aesthetic rigor that Zayne Akyol brings to the documentary form. Truly a remarkable and unsettling work, and for those reasons, incredibly important.
A bold choice for Canada's Oscar entry this year; I was lucky to moderate a couple of Q&As this week with Akyol, she's inspiring and brilliant.
I don't know what the point of this was, and honestly, I don't know if the filmmakers knew either. If it was simply to humanise members of ISIS, showing them as complex, rounded and motivated people rather than the monsters they are often reduced to, then that's a pretty basic aim. Plenty of other films from Of Fathers And Sons to Ghosts Of Sugar Land have achieved that goal while also deconstructing the societal structures and human modalities which allowed those motivations to be propagated against their own self-interest. In Rojek, the filmmakers seem to simply have had this incredible opportunity to interview detained ISIS fighters, whether former or current, and hope that the exclusivity of their footage will sustain…
“I consider those to be the best years of my life.”
Rojek is the International Feature submission for Canada. Directed by Zayne Akyol, this documentary takes place after the Syrian Democratic Force, along with the Global Coalition, have succeeded in dislodging the Islamic State (ISIS) from their last stronghold in Syria. Since then, several thousand jihadists have been detained in prisons, while their wives and children are held in camps.
The film introduces us to a dozen ISIS soldiers as they answer questions based on their own experiences with the war. They speak like prisoners, sitting in front of a camera, talking about their nostalgia, their disappointments, their remorse, their betrayal, their anger, their fear. They believe that they’re…
Tellement, tellement beau. J'adore l'avenue humanisante empruntée, c'est rafraichissant que de voir un film qui s'attarde à des gens ayant commis des crimes graves.
Cependant, j'ai trouvé que le film tournait un peu en rond pendant la dernière demie-heure. Des allers-retours entre beauty shot et talking heads qui fonctionnent bien au début, mais deviennent un peu un loop infini. Pas grave, c'était quand même très bon!
I'm feeling two ways about this documentary. It has two elements: interviews with captured ISIS fighters and between them are very atmospherically strong visuals that suggest how violent the life in the region is. Those I found very strong, but the interview sequences didn't manage to teach me anything or to understand the motivations of the terrrorists better.
Enfin des drones qui font des belles shots utiles.
This is probably the one film where Shawn Desman did not want to hear someone referencing his music.
Also, one day I will be on the panel that selects the Canadian Oscar submissions for Best International Film. Just putting it out there in the universe.
Tres bonne surprise, visuellement les shots de drone c'est incroyable (Alors que je trouve ca toujours inutile et chiant), au sol c'est aussi wow.
Je trouve que les entrevues font resortir pleins de chose, mais c'est vraiment suptil et dans le tout, j'ai parfois eu l'impression de me perdre.
Normal people at noon on a Saturday have brunch with their friends and family at a dog-friendly cafe.
I sit in the dark and watch and watch members of ISIS stare in the camera and sing to me.
Really liked this. Just wish it weren’t so long.
