Documentary film faces a challenge when it has to represent something for which there is no surviving visual evidence or images. In Brother Number One, the filmmaker uses both staged or dramatic “reenactments” and “actuality sequences” (editing contemporary field footage) to create a real-seeming visual representation of something that can only be imagined (such as Kerry’s capture, or his suffering at Tuol Sleng).
1 | Analyse the dramatic “reenactment sequence” and “actuality sequence” clips below, and clarify the distinctions between the two.
In addition, what types of images are used, and how are these images treated to stir our emotions, to make the story seem more immediate, or to add to a sense of character?
You may chose to use alternative sequences to those listed below if you have access to the DVD.
FILM CLIP: REENACTMENT OF SEIZURE
FILM CLIP: TUOL SLENG PRISON (Warning, this has disturbing content)
2 | Brother Number One establishes a series of contrasts between beauty and cruelty, trauma and innocence, past and present. Identify key images, shots or sequences which suggest such contrasts, and explain how camera work and editing contribute to the meaning of the image.
Choose one or more of these clips:
FILM CLIP: KULIKAR SOTHO’S STORY
FILM CLIP: TUOL SLENG PRISON (Warning, this has disturbing content)
FILM CLIP: ENDING
3 | One challenge the filmmaker faced in directing Brother Number One was how to represent trauma and traumatic memory. Director Annie Goldson explains that painful sequences involving victims’ testimonies are “refracted through glass reflections, shafts of light and layers of wire, abstracting some of the painful scenes and memories”. Why is it necessary and important to “abstract” accounts of torture, brutality and humiliation? Analyse sequences in the film which present trauma and violence, and explore what you think about the choice and treatment of images.
FILM CLIP: CHUM MEY TORTURE (Warning, this has disturbing content)
FILM CLIP: TUOL SLENG PRISON (Warning, this has disturbing content)
FILM CLIP: VANN NATH RECALLS HIS FRIEND (Warning, this has disturbing content)
4 | Analyse sequences in which the filmmaker uses images to add to a sense of truth in the personal recollections in the film. To what extent do these images provide photographic ‘evidence’ which supports the truthfulness of the story being told or remembered?
FILM CLIP: FAMILY PHOTOS
FILM CLIP: KULIKAR SOTHO’S STORY
FILM CLIP: WAITING IN WHAKATANE
5 | Brother Number One makes important use of still photographs to tell its story. Study one of the sequences in the film in which Rob recollects his brother Kerry, their childhood in Whakatane and Kerry’s journey to Cambodia: how do still photographs enhance the viewer’s understanding of the Hamill family history? How do these images relate to the soundtrack?
Identify the movements within the images (zoom, pan, tilt). How does this create interest or focus attention on a particular person or setting?
FILM CLIP: FAMILY PHOTOS
6 | Study the use of archival photographs of prisoners in the Tuol Sleng prison camp: What visual devices are used to increase the significance or power of these images, or to generate a greater emotional response?
(Consider the music and sound effects, the differences amongst the people depicted, the composition of the photos, and the pacing of the edit)
FILM CLIP: TUOL SLENG PHOTOS (Warning, this has disturbing content)
7 | How does the film explore the practise of photography, that is, what does it tell us about how people use photographs? Consider the contrasting uses of photographs taken by the Hamill family and those taken by the Khmer Rouge at Tuol Sleng. How does the film show that photography remains important to the former prison photographer, Nhem En?
FILM CLIP: FAMILY PHOTOS
FILM CLIP: NHEM EN
8 | The emphasis on and importance of still photography in the film also draws attention to the fact that documentary is a type of film that is composed of photographic images, although mostly moving images, not still photographs. In addition, there are moments in the film when Rob acknowledges the process of film making (for instance, when he speaks directly to the camera). Drawing on the two points above, how does the film then remind the viewer that despite seeming like a “window on reality”, a documentary film is still a cultural artefact that is made? Why might this be important?
FILM CLIP: NHEM EN
FILM CLIP: TUOL SLENG PRISON (Warning, this has disturbing content)
9 | Brother Number One establishes a series of visual parallels between brothers Kerry and Rob, and therefore between the past and the present. Consider the extent to which boats and water are used as visual motifs which connect the brothers and bring the past closer.
Analyse the following clips:
FILM CLIP: ROB ROWING
FILM CLIP: KERRY ON FOXY LADY
You may also want to consider other sequences such as:
FILM CLIP: ENDING
FILM CLIP: FAMILY PHOTOS.
