Afghanistan's Child Drug Addicts

Following on from the lecture we had from Sophie Chalk and One World Media, I made an attempt to look at some more examples of documentaries concerned with developing countries. One series of documentaries available on 4OD is Unreported World. From 2010 I watched the episode entitled, Afghanistan's Child Drug Addicts, as I had recently watched a similar doc concerning the abuse of children in the war torn country.

As you can probably guess from the title, the content was pretty heavy indeed, with reporter Ramita Naval exploring the effects of heroin and opium on youths and children throughout the country, from Kabul to the rural opium rich areas of the North.

Drugs in Afghanistan appears to be a massive problem and kudos to Naval and director Matt Haan for the access and harrowing examples they captured. Images of young boys under a bridge in the capital smoking Heroin discussing how they are forced to sell themselves to men for money are truly shocking accounts. So too are the toddlers in rural areas who are given opium by their parents because it is cheaper than food and prevents hunger.

Sadly, I feel the problem is much bigger and requires much more insight than a half hour documentary. Naturally, visions of war and the death of family members are a main catalyst for such young people finding an escape in drugs such as these. In such a poor and troubled country the effects of war will have so many deeper and damaging effects for so many generations. Full credit to the makers of this film, but I cannot help but think that so much more is needed to inform people of the problems that exist in Afghanistan.

The Yorkshire Clamper

I watched this last night on 4OD and thought it was a great example of a a half hour film with relatively easy access, similar to the films that I will be making over the coming twelve months.

Leon Dean Directs and shoots the film and takes a interactive approach with his subjects asking questions from behind the camera. The film follows the controversy surrounding the issue of private parking regulations and Ted Evans who owns a car park in Howarth, North Yorkshire.

Dean has casted a great character in Evans, whose own drive and desire for publicity even if negative is at times worrying. Conflict is built in not only with local people and traders who are at times furious with Evans and his staff but also with two MPs who are also outraged at his aggressive clamping tactics. (Knowing what we know now, any MP referring to someone as a shark is somewhat amusing.)

Unfortunately however the films does not seem to be able to tie in a conclusion. Evans is clearly not willing to change his methods, and parliamentary reform of any kind is a long way away. This does affect the film in that in someways it simply trails off towards the end. Nevertheless it is an interesting insight and one that I shall look at again to examine what similar processes I will be taking.