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2008: Rank | Title | Year
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#97: In the Year of the Pignew entry dir. Emile de Antonio, 1968 IMDb // Leave a Comment In 100 Words: A complex but crystalline seminar in the international build-up to the Vietnam War, a blitz of indelible footage, and an excoriating indictment of how that war was conceived and prosecuted. Unlike lots of historical documentaries, Pig favors the immersed viewpoints of scholars and unglamorous agents within the maelstrom, not cagey phrasemakers or retroactive armchair quarterbacks. Equally crucial is the culling of an international media repertoire, neither built around "shock" climaxes nor laundered to coddle our fragile sensibilities. A sobering maturation and enduring peak of the politicized documentary, landing all punches, brilliant with montage, but too serious to wallow in self-congratulation. Food for Thought: I had no idea, mostly because the film is relatively new to me compared to most on this list, that one of my favorite publishers, the University of Minnesota Press, put out a collection called Emile de Antonio: A Reader back in 2000, edited by Douglas Kellner and Dan Streible, which devotes quite a bit of coverage to In the Year of the Pig while also contextualizing it within a rich, controversial career that I'm only starting to get to know. Based on the standard of Minnesota's books, I'm sure this will prove a valuable trove. |
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