2020 / 100m - Norway
Documentary
1.5*/5.0*
Meet the Censors poster

Watches

August 13, 2020

1.5*/5.0*

This could've been interesting, but the form of the documentary ruins it completely. Director Fossum takes center stage here, wondering to himself whether there might be a positive side to censorship. The setup feels so fake and transparent that the conclusion is clear from the very start, the rest of the doc feels like kicking in open doors.

Fossum visits various countries and talks to several bodies directly and indirectly related to censorship. The Chinese media, German social media control, the Indian film board etc etc. I'm not entirely certain how much of it is edited, but it's overall very clear that not much good can come of these bodies, even though Fossum tries (but does he rally?) to keep an open mind.

There's too much theater here, especially Fossum's final trip to the US feels like staged outrage. Meanwhile, there's not much interesting content or things to chew on, so it's basically 100 minutes of lip service to something that's already glaringly obvious, while lacking the persuasiveness to convince people who aren't already on board with the message. Documentaries need to do better than this.