U.N. ME

RYAN: I just saw the new documentary U.N. Me and am literally outraged but what it reveals about the United Nations.  It’s shocking, maddening and frightening. 

CAROLINE: That’s quite the political statement. 

RYAN: Well we don’t tend to get too political here but you can’t really watch something as compelling and outrageous as this and not begin to care, unless you’re inhuman.

CAROLINE: What’s it about?

RYAN: The movie documents, quite effectively, how corrupt, and far from the original intention, the United Nations has strayed from its original mission.  For all the anti-terrorism and human rights protections it’s supposed to represent, it, according to this doc, is counter-effective, so to speak.

CAROLINE: That sounds terrifying in of itself.

RYAN: Yeah I almost want to categorize this documentary under the genre of horror.  I’ll have more nightmares from this movie than from something like Chernobyl Diaries.  The movie blows the lid off what is apparently happening and it’s just so wrong.

CAROLINE: How does this compare to other popular political documentaries we’ve seen?

RYAN: It’s very well done.  It has good flow and effective use of narration, interview, music, animation… all the right hits for the better docs out there.  And the director/interviewer/narrator, Ami Horowitz, is fantastic.  I’d vote him the next Michael Moore.  His access and assertiveness is impressive.

CAROLINE: Wow.  That’s a compliment.  I’m sure he hopes his movie tracks as well.

RYAN: I hope it does.  The message in the movie is important.  We can’t be naive to what’s happening in the world.

CAROLINE: That’s true.

RYAN:  I am continuously shocked to see the violations of women, gays, and human rights around the globe.  We hear about them every so often and this documentary actually goes so far as to illustrate how these crimes against humanity are reported back to the U.N. and the committees set up to protect them collectively turn a blind eye to apparently serve their own interests.  I’m so worked up, I could spit right now.

CAROLINE: No.  That is frustrating.

RYAN: At the end of the film, there is a website shown to go to learn more about how to help and take action – UNMeMovie.com – and, as an aside, I love that it shows the filmmakers on the yellow brick road on the homepage.

CAROLINE: Of course you’d like that.

RYAN: Every so often there’s an engaging use of the medium which can, at its best, be a call to action.  This documentary is one such case.  I highly recommend to anyone interested in the politics of human rights, American and international agendas, or just great documentary filmmaking.  U.N. Me is playing now in limited release and also available On Demand.

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