Petr Lom had some unbelievable access into the lives of Iranians in this film. It is so rare to watch a film about people in a foreign Muslim country that seems genuine, but this one sure does. Lom had a film permit from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad himself. There is only one man more important in Iran, or so says the bouncer at the front gate of the mosque, the Ayattolah Khomeini, as it was his mosque they were trying to enter with their cameras. Ah, ok, I’m gonna say that I don’t think we should be disrespecting Muslim religious spaces. Seriously. Thank goodness the filmmaker backs off and we cut to another scene. I hope that is how it went in real life.

The most moving scene for me was between two women who were waiting to have a face-to-face meeting with Ahmadinejad, and as they sit and chat, the camera and mic are on. They move from adoration of Ahmadinejad, to their lives, which include having to save for 3 weeks to buy strawberries for her daughter and having to pay $17 for a hunk of meat for family dinner. The women held their scarves up to their faces either to hide themselves or unconsciously, I’m not sure which, but they didn’t seem to know there was a camera on them. I felt the pain of their poverty. Beautiful work by Lom in letting that moment happen.

I just got a Google alert for my name, so I follow the link through to find a discussion on Hollywood Elsewhere about the John Anderson/Jeff Dowd fisticuffs here at Sundance over Dirt! The Movie. If you haven’t heard what happened, you can read about it by following the links in Jeffrey Wells’ post. The mention of me is in the comments and I laughed out loud when I read what T. Holly thought of my review of the film:

…Now I get to re-post Agnes Varnum’s window into the movie, and as far as I can tell, its only review. I hope she doesn’t alter or take it down, it’s so breathtakingly something… ? What would the words be? Positively tortured? Yes, she’s tortured herself positive on it. Read the comments>>

I positively love this interpretation of what I wrote, but I realized upon reading it that there is some context missing. I saw the film at a press and industry screening, which are not open to the public or to the filmmakers. That being the case, several people walked out of the screening within the first half hour or so.

I’m sure that the title, Senator Obama Goes to Africa, is intended to invoke if not the letter, the spirit, of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. After all, if he’s “going,” then it’s “Obama Goes to Washington,” and as it so happens, he goes by way of Africa. The doc feels like a bunch of YouTube clips strung together into a movie, but as an Obama supporter, I have to say, I find value in that. There are critics of Obama that attack his class and color. Those are meaningless measures of a man, except wherein they shape his point of view. I think this movie could help people who are skeptical of him to see him in a new light.

To watch Obama in Kenya, where his father was from and where his sister and grandmother still live (I’m wondering how many wives his father had?), is to see a fish to water. He identifies with the people so fully. He understands the history of their country and where they are today. He is empathetic in a way that few American presidents have shown for any people, let alone Africans. He displays a JFK aura as he addresses huge crowds who have come out for a glimpse of this Son of Kenya who has made good, and then taken the time to come home and sit with his countrymen to try to understand their needs. He says openly that he wants to shape American foreign policy so that it furthers the goals of these countries (he also visits South Africa and a Darfur refugee camp), instead of keeping them under the proverbial American thumb or worse, not caring enough to even address the issues.

We all saw the image of 200,000 Germans filling Tiergarten Park in Berlin to see Obama. What about an entire shanty town in Kenya? Can you imagine that everywhere this man goes, people greet him as though he is some kind of savior? This is some serious shit. Truth be told, I’m worried for him. Men who display this kind of power to connect have often been targets of assassins, but I hope that won’t be the case. I’m voting for Obama, and while this movie wasn’t the tipping point for me, maybe it will be for you.

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Thanks to First Run Features for allowing embeddable video! Excellent choice.