Frontline

These two documentaries had two completely different effects on me. I'll start with Bush's War because I was glued to it and it really touched me. Since I am not in this class, I feel like I pay more attention to the rhetorical strategies of movies/documentaries rahter than the content (strangely enough). From frame one, this documentary hit me hard. The director timed this out very well and the way it was organized, was designed to make me get emotional. From closeups of the Rice's face that showed anger, strength, and slight sadness, to the stunned American's peering up into the sky, there was impact. The scenes were placed so smoothly and the timing of the voices were perfect. This made me emotional and it brought back memories even though I was young when this happened. Not only were the effects amazing, but the credibility was definately there all the way. The production was professionally done and the information that was given about the attacks, seemed very real becasue of this. I didn't doubt anything they said. Like Allie said, I was VERY shocked when they focused more on the Iraqi influence rather than Afganastan. It confused me at first, but the information helped ease that and I began to see why we are still so involved with them.

In Obama's War, it was a completely different take to me. I felt like I was there and apart of the war against the Taliban. The constant retaliation caught me off guard since I am here in my bed in America. I do not get to see what our soldiers go through, but now I think about that much more. From the nasty food to the constant language barrier when communication to the civilians and tryin to get information form them, thier lives are difficult over there. The part that struck my emotional trigger was seeing the injured marine that died in his fellow marines' arms. It made me think about how I need to not take my loved one's for granted. The director did a great job when he constantly referred back to that by zooming in on the memorial 'RIPs" on the men's helmets. The style of this documentary was different,but I think it had to be. To get the facts across effectively and get the audience to see Obama's War, we needed to see the men in action. They wanted us to see us over there trying to help the civilians from the Taliban and see how bad Taliban were to the people and see the fear that controlled them. We saw first hand why they are there. I may not know every side, but the director made me understand his argument and feel that we should do good for their people.

Our video has to find that perfect way to make them want to side with our argument. These two documentaries did just that with two different techniques.