Can something be both political and poetic? What is the role of formal experimentation in political documentary?

When first approaching the world of documentary in this studio, the words “political” and “poetic” seemed strange to me as they did not seem to fit together. Yet through class discussions over the first couple of weeks my perspective has shifted dramatically, and my mind has opened up to the possibilities of what it means to make a documentary. I’ve begun to question why politics and poetry cannot overlap, and question the strength of a message when these two elements are put together in a creative manner.

When I started to consider what these two things meant when they worked in junction with each other, the documentary ‘Home’ immediately sprung to mind. It explores the negative human impact occurring on the environment alongside the evolutionary journey we have had as human beings, but does so from the most beautifully poetic manner through it’s narration and aerial footage.  Rather than appearing preachy on it’s political elements, the poetic elements it holds allures the viewer and builds a sense of urgency through the feeling of connection it creates. It left me feeling a call for action on human behaviour on earth, our home, through the poetic nature it held whilst containing an underlying political message.

Alongside this, the chance to explore formal experimentation within political documentary, gives the opportunity for a message to be communicated in less obvious, yet often more effective manner, and this too can often be poetic. It can allow a barrier to be broken down between the viewer and the subject or content, and share a message in a way that is not confronting. The experimental documentary ‘Black Men Dream’ is a fitting text to demonstrate this idea. This documentary is presented upholding many typical conventions of other documentaries. It comprises entirely of interviews with 9 men, yet it’s experimental factor is that all of the men are turned away from the camera during their interviews and are either partially or completely naked.

This experimentation allows the subjects to be understood in an intimate way, which can feel uncomfortable at times. The topics they discuss are somewhat taboo and often perceived as being too uncomfortable to ask, yet the feeling upon viewing it for me was as if I was a friend and that they were safe speaking to me.  It didn’t feel strange for them to be faced away, rather it highlighted the beauty in their words and broke down the awkwardness in confronting these serious topics. As they were not made to face anyone they could truly be themselves. For myself as the viewer and for these men as the subjects, the role of formal experimentation produced a documentary that had the intimate feeling towards serious topics in a natural way, that would not have been as impactful if presented otherwise.

‘Home’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqxENMKaeCU

‘Black Men Dream’: https://vimeo.com/112888005