Documentarist

Documentarist was originally intended as a `classic documentary’ about a country that is torn apart by war and unemployment, and where poverty, mass emigration, alcoholism and crime are rife. Khachatryan did not get enough (state) money to make this film, so he was forced to adapt his ideas and the result, six years later, is a mosaic of documentary episodes and docu-drama elements. The leading actors are the director and his crew, beggars, infants, refugees, handicapped, stray dogs, street children, orphans and prisoners. We witness a birth and a wedding, but also less happy episodes: dogs are killed, a crying boy (egged on by the director) and prisoners who do not deserve to live according to the prison director. In beautiful black & white with a silver tint, we also see how the maker and his crew (that kept changing as the production progressed) try to portray Armenia as best they can. Khachatryan does not just give a harrowing picture of much too many people who have to make do with life under the poverty line, but he also shows that there is hope on the horizon for the tragic state of affairs in Armenia.