Film: 'Beyond the Call'
More from the DC International Film Festival. In the audience balloting, I gave this five stars.
Beyond the Call
Director: ADRIAN BELIC
USA, 2006, 81 minutes, Color"A rousing documentary about three adventurers on a mission to cut through humanitarian red tape to deliver food, medicine, and supplies to civilians in the world's trouble spots, Beyond the Call profiles former U.S. Army medic Ed Artis and the work of his organization, Knightsbridge International. "We're not in the God business," the plain-talking Artis proclaims. "We don't want to change their politics or religion. It must be high adventure and it must be humanitarian. And it's got to be in an area where few would ever go. If it doesn't hit that criteria, we're not interested." Or, later, as he more succinctly puts it, "Look around. You see any other sumbitch here?" Genghis Blues Academy Award nominated co-director Adrian Belic followed Artis and his two equally eccentric colleagues to Afghanistan, Cambodia, Thailand, and the Philippines. The images he captures are incredible and inspirational." -Eddie Cockrell
My thoughts: This film was exactly up my alley as I have had a keen interest in NGOs and humanitarian aid workers for several years now. These guys are definitely in a league of their own. Their operation is small: 3 guys, no office, no overhead, no salary, self-financed and self-organized in-country mission trips, and aid provided out of their own pockets and from donations. Their story is unbelievable. In fact, the director, Adrian Belic, didn't believe anything he was told until he actually joined them over the course of five years to film the footage for this documentary (none of his friends/colleagues were brave enough to join him due to the hazardous locations, so he was the entire film crew!) - Adrian now knows that their larger-than-life, crazy adventurous stories are all true. These three guys have two criteria to choose the locations for their aid missions: there must be a need for their help, and it must be high adventure. They're plain-spoken eccentrics who care deeply and don't choose to live complacently, so they've put their own money - and their lives - on the line to deliver aid directly into the hands of people who need it. I have a pretty strong BS detector, and sometimes with this kind of subject matter, I bristle at the idea of a bunch of white guys playing hero to save the poor, unwashed masses, but at no point did I get the impression that these guys get off on feeling superior by doing what they do - they're doing it because they want an interesting life, and because no one else is doing what these guys are doing. During the Q & A session afterward with one of the film's subjects, Dr. Lawes, he was asked if they clash with other NGOs working in the same area, and he said that overlap almost never happens, because no one else wants to go where they go because it's too diffiicult and/or too dangerous - places like remote areas of Afghantistan, Chechnya, etc. The story was incredibly inspirational and I struggled mightily to not burst into tears toward the end as the lights came up because I was THAT moved. The Q & A session was lively and just as fascinating as the film - the film was 81 minutes or so, but the Q & A lasted nearly 45 minutes, and could have gone on for much longer if our theater space wasn't needed for the next film. A+++
If you have the chance to see this, please do. Even better, to read more about their organization, and/or to donate: http://www.kbi.org/
Beyond the Call
Director: ADRIAN BELIC
USA, 2006, 81 minutes, Color"A rousing documentary about three adventurers on a mission to cut through humanitarian red tape to deliver food, medicine, and supplies to civilians in the world's trouble spots, Beyond the Call profiles former U.S. Army medic Ed Artis and the work of his organization, Knightsbridge International. "We're not in the God business," the plain-talking Artis proclaims. "We don't want to change their politics or religion. It must be high adventure and it must be humanitarian. And it's got to be in an area where few would ever go. If it doesn't hit that criteria, we're not interested." Or, later, as he more succinctly puts it, "Look around. You see any other sumbitch here?" Genghis Blues Academy Award nominated co-director Adrian Belic followed Artis and his two equally eccentric colleagues to Afghanistan, Cambodia, Thailand, and the Philippines. The images he captures are incredible and inspirational." -Eddie Cockrell
Click to viewMy thoughts: This film was exactly up my alley as I have had a keen interest in NGOs and humanitarian aid workers for several years now. These guys are definitely in a league of their own. Their operation is small: 3 guys, no office, no overhead, no salary, self-financed and self-organized in-country mission trips, and aid provided out of their own pockets and from donations. Their story is unbelievable. In fact, the director, Adrian Belic, didn't believe anything he was told until he actually joined them over the course of five years to film the footage for this documentary (none of his friends/colleagues were brave enough to join him due to the hazardous locations, so he was the entire film crew!) - Adrian now knows that their larger-than-life, crazy adventurous stories are all true. These three guys have two criteria to choose the locations for their aid missions: there must be a need for their help, and it must be high adventure. They're plain-spoken eccentrics who care deeply and don't choose to live complacently, so they've put their own money - and their lives - on the line to deliver aid directly into the hands of people who need it. I have a pretty strong BS detector, and sometimes with this kind of subject matter, I bristle at the idea of a bunch of white guys playing hero to save the poor, unwashed masses, but at no point did I get the impression that these guys get off on feeling superior by doing what they do - they're doing it because they want an interesting life, and because no one else is doing what these guys are doing. During the Q & A session afterward with one of the film's subjects, Dr. Lawes, he was asked if they clash with other NGOs working in the same area, and he said that overlap almost never happens, because no one else wants to go where they go because it's too diffiicult and/or too dangerous - places like remote areas of Afghantistan, Chechnya, etc. The story was incredibly inspirational and I struggled mightily to not burst into tears toward the end as the lights came up because I was THAT moved. The Q & A session was lively and just as fascinating as the film - the film was 81 minutes or so, but the Q & A lasted nearly 45 minutes, and could have gone on for much longer if our theater space wasn't needed for the next film. A+++
If you have the chance to see this, please do. Even better, to read more about their organization, and/or to donate: http://www.kbi.org/