The
Third Wave
Review
(Credit:
Variety)
An
Ozone Pictures/Walkabout Production, in association
with Warrior Poets, Arts Alliance America, and
Endless Films. (Sales: Cinetic Media, ContentFilm
Intl..) Produced by Oscar Gubernati. Co-producers,
Cedar Daniels, Jeremy Chilnick, Marco Franzoni,
Sunil Elvitigala, Russ Terlecki. Associate producers,
Paul O'Neil, Henry Jarecki, Tony Detre. Executive
producers, Morgan Spurlock, Joe Amodei, Peter
Demas, Kym Anthony, Jeffrey Tarrant, and Alison
Thompson. Co-executive producers, Richard Belifiore,
Dave Pederson. Directed by Thompson.
With:
Thompson, Gubernati, Donny Paterson, Bruce French.
By
ROB NELSON
The (in)famous image of cig-puffing Sean Penn
paddling a raft through watery New Orleans helps
explain his plucking from Amerindie sea of volunteer-recruitment
docu "The Third Wave" to serve as Cannes
fest's first-ever jury prexy pick. Following efforts
of four unpaid relief workers, including tyro
docu-helmer and trained nurse Alison Thompson,
to aid destitute Sri Lankan survivors of 2004's
Asian tsunami, unimpeachably well-intentioned
pic runs arguably admirable risk of diluting both
sales and activist potential via downbeat midsection
devoted to detailing victim irritability and missionary
burnout. But its "everyone is needed"
message, literally spelled out at docu's end and
appearing well-timed as catastrophic disasters
persist, hits hard enough to convert charitably
minded auds, fest-sidebar bookers, farsighted
broadcasters, and perhaps a stateside specialty
distrib, preferably one partnered with grassroots
orgs.
Decently
lensed DV pic, named for mild outpour of volunteer
aid that followed the pair of devastating tsunami
waves, spans 19 weeks in lives of variably skilled
Western visitors to tribal village of Peraliya,
where more than 2,500 perished. Aussie-born, New
York-based Thompson, a first-response rescue worker
at Ground Zero for nine months after 9/11, heeds
another call for help, traveling with producer
beau and fellow volunteer worker Oscar Gubernati
to Sri Lanka with camcorder in tow. Joining a
small handful of other independent Western humanitarians,
the pair sets up a first aid station and clocks
long hours at a refugee camp -- these efforts
made in lieu of adequate NGO support. Villager
Sunil Elvitigala is recruited as co-camera operator
and eventually bears the brunt of one village
woman's frustration -- "All you've done so
far is watch," she tells him.
Tech-wise,
judicious use of post-prod sweetening delivers
soft images that help disguise limitations of
equipment and d.p. experience. Likewise, tricky
tone of good will remains smooth except in offputting
sequence whose flashy editing appears to equate
the thuggishness of some village boys -- the proverbial
few bad apples -- to scarcely defined Sri Lankan
religious practice. If individual villagers, too,
fall short in characterization, the omission at
least reflects the reality that Red Cross bonnet-wearing
Thompson -- whose clinic at one point serves 1,000
patients per day -- can't often stop to chat.
Among
the four go-getter volunteers at pic's center,
strongest impression is made by Donald "Donnie"
Paterson, a baldheaded and mustachioed Australian
Army vet whose swarthy humor -- there to entertain
both surviving villagers and film audience --
gradually turns to despair and illness as exhaustion
takes its toll. Early on, God-fearing, F-bomb-dropping
Paterson energetically credits the "big fella
upstairs" for the grand narrative that has
him orchestrating the construction of a village
toilet system; later, before taking a leave of
absence, he tears up on camera while thinking
of wife, kids, and dog back home Down Under.
Proceeding
through optimism and inspiration as opposed to
guilt-tripping, pic compares quite favorably to
others in the pro-charity/anti-tragedy subgenre
of U.S. docus, though it pales in comparison to
Darfur film "The Devil Came on Horseback"
and recent Sundance Grand Jury Prize-winner "Trouble
the Water," still the tradition's two high-water
marks. Though propulsive bongo music suits the
docu's galvanizing agenda from start to finish,
end-credit revelation that volunteer Bruce French
has worked as tour chef to Pearl Jam yields unfortunately
timed laughs. Penn, reportedly alerted to the
film by representatives of the Happy Hearts Fund,
receives "presented by" credit on the
digital print, whose occasional Sinhalese and
Tamil dialogue is subtitled in English.
Profiles
Bono
Donny
Paterson
Sean
Penn
Cannes
Disasters
Tsunami
Websites
Variety
The
Sydney Morning Herald
Articles
Cannes
red carpet for tsunami film - The Sydney Morning
Herald
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