Analysis Reflection #3 – Question #2

In Paul Ward’s ‘Documentary: The Margins of Reality’ the point that excited me the most is where he talks about ‘reconstructing reality’ in documentary re-enactments, and how it may cross the line between fiction and non-fiction. I love this concept. It reminded me of Documentary: True Lies last semester when we watched ‘Beyond The Blue Line’. The whole documentary (based around the murder of a police officer) featured a series of re-enactments based on individual recollections and ‘evidence’ of the murder. This idea that the documentary was a ‘drama documentary’ because it used re-enactments to empower the films’ integrity and also increase the suspense & tension, would suggest that most documentaries (featuring re-enactments) would fall into the line of being a ‘drama-documentary’ and therefore not a wholly accurate representation of historical events. The plot thickens! In the reading Catherine Bennet (‘Dr Shipman: The Man Who Played God’, 2000) states that “acknowleged reconstructions do not deceive…but they short-change us, deal in a currency inferior to the truth”. This is so spot on! They do not deliver the 100% truth, but they almost give us a scenario that will play in our minds when thinking about the context of the historical event, which may not be entirely accurate. “Short changing us” is the perfect expression. While this reading presented ideas about the factuality and veracity of documentary, no point excited me the most more than this one, and readings are a hard source of excitement and interest for me.