Episode 005: Orlando von Eisendel — Top 5 Documentaries

Snowboarder, Oscar-winner, Academy member — and huge documentary fan.
If you’ve listened to episode 005 of the Looking Sideways podcast with Oscar-winning White Helmets director Orlando von Eisendel, you’ll know we discuss some of the films and art that have influenced Orlando throughout his career.
Here, he lists the five documentaries that had the biggest influence on his own work. Click the links or images to find out more.

“This film had a huge impact on me. It’s a fascinating documentary shot during the US invasion of Iraq and follows three characters who represent the different religious and ethnic groups that make up of the country as it collapses. What struck me the most was the way the film bridged a divide between the viewer and the people onscreen to create a deep sense of empathy for each of the characters, even while one or two of them have viewpoints vastly different to most people. Understanding the power of documentary, and film more generally, to engender empathy has always stayed with me since”.

“This film flipped what I thought was possible with a documentary film. It’s entire concept is incredibly ambitious. In essence Joshua Oppenheimer, the filmmaker, gets some of the individuals who participated in the mass killings of communists in the mid 1960s in Indonesia to recount their acts of murder for the cameras in the style of their favourite films; a western, a gangster and a musical. The results are extraordinary, and bone chilling”.
3. Encounters at the End of the World

“I love this documentary. Ostensibly it’s about a group of scientists working on an Antarctic research station however it is also about so much more. Werner Herzog has an ability to begin a filmic sequence with an interesting character talking about something like scientific research on penguins and then suddenly making you the viewer are question the very meaning of what it is to be human. It’s a wonderful film and taught me how even the most seemingly mundane things in life (or in a film) can be windows into the universe and our place within it”.
4. The Cove

“This was the first documentary I saw that seemed to really borrow from scripted film techniques to create a film that is equally as exciting and dramatic as anything at the local multiplex. The film is basically a giant heist movie in the guise of Ocean’s Eleven, except that the pot of gold the film’s characters are searching for is the exposé of the slaughter of dolphins in a small cove along Japan’s coast”.

“What appears to be a quiet observational film about a diverse array of compelling characters living around Lake Victoria in Tanzania transforms into a thundering critique of globalisation as we see vast quantities of fish being flown out of the nearby airport by the same planes that bring in food aid for starving local people along with guns to fuel East Africa’s civil wars. This film is a great example of how a small character focused story can tell a much bigger narrative about globally significant themes while never leaving a small lakeside town”.
To hear the full episode with Orlando von Eisendel, click here.
