WHEN THE PHONE RANG begins with a undesired call that a young girl’s grandfather has past away. It is the first of a series of events that will alter her life as Yugoslavia dissolves and war breaks out.
Told in a style where events play out in almost tableaus with little dialog and an observers voice over. It’s a move that keeps us distances as most of the information we are getting is from the narration and not the people on screen. We are being told a story, which is why the images are perfectly chosen.
For me it’s too constructed. I never fully connected, I like to connect to characters on screen on their terms not that of an outside observer. (this is an issue with some documentaries because it becomes clear we are not seeing events as they happen but as the director chooses to portray them.) We never get a real sense what anyone is feeling but we told of their emotions, and thus we are being told what we should be feeling. For me this is a sign the director doesn’t trust the audience.
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