Periodically, a film can cut deep and open up a gash in your psyche that time will work hard to heal.
Movies with a potent emotional quotient are ones that linger in the recesses of your mind long after you’ve seen them.
The three movies below left me in a world of pain and revulsion.
Compliance (2012)
Ever heard of the ‘strip-search phone call’ scam?
Between 1992 and 2004, a man would call local restaurants pretending to be a police officer and convince managers to conduct strip searches of female employees.
Some of these situations escalated to body cavity searches and even sexual assault.
2012’s Compliance tells the story of the most notorious of these incidents, and it is a deeply upsetting and difficult to digest movie.
The film displays some of the absolute worst of humanity—our ignorance and lingering darkness brought to stark light. Compliance is intensely unnerving. But it commands attention.
Compliance is streaming on Plex in the United States and on Amazon Prime Video in India.
The Act of Killing (2012)
Joshua Oppenheimer’s film is at once incendiary and revolutionary.
His incredible gambit—having mass murderers who killed thousands during the Indonesian killings of 1965-66 recreate and enact their murders, turns the camera into a window into the dark heart of humanity.
It is infuriating, appalling, yet impossible to look away from.
While viewing the events unfold on screen with a combination of indignation and interest, one thing became abundantly clear – I was witnessing something remarkable.
The Act of Killing can be too much to bear at points, but it stands as a glowing testament to the efficacy of documentary filmmaking, and more broadly, the power of film.
The Act of Killing is streaming on Amazon Prime Video in certain locations.
Dear Zachary (2008)
I dare not divulge much about Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father.
But I can tell you that as things unfold, the documentary evolves from being more than a letter to a son from his dead father—it left me numb.
It is akin to being strapped to a turbulent and harrowing roller-coaster, every turn unleashing a new wave of stirring emotions.
Martin Scorsese’s oft-parroted phrase “The most personal is the most creative,” comes to mind.
It is hard to think of a film that is as personal to its filmmaker as Dear Zachary, and it is harder still to think of a film that leaves a deeper emotional footprint on its audience as Dear Zachary.
Dear Zachary is streaming on Amazon Prime Video in certain locations.