Far from Poland (1984)

FAR FROM POLAND is probably the first American nonfiction film Godmilow calls it a dramatary to explode cinema verites mythic claim to be the only trustworthy mode of representation for discussing the real world and in particular social and political issues on film Refused a visa to travel to Poland Jillski her Polish nickname in the film has to literally reinvent the documentary to deal with the Polish situation and she does so with a particular eye to deconstructing not only documentarys specific claims to objectivity but also the bourgeois audiences desire to sit comfortably in their seats feel compassion feel themselves part of the solution not part of the problem by having felt compassion for the poor oppressed Poles who Godmilow would argue are far more acutely aware of their situation and what forces oppress them than the liberal American folk in the movie house