Drowned in Oblivion (Le Cercle des noyés) (2007)

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Pierre-Yves Vanderweerd's documentary Drowned in Oblivion hearkens back to mid-1980s Mauritania, where an onslaught of political and social oppression unfolded against black men that sank below the basest forms of inhumanity. Forced out of their homes, literally hundreds of miles from their… More Pierre-Yves Vanderweerd's documentary Drowned in Oblivion hearkens back to mid-1980s Mauritania, where an onslaught of political and social oppression unfolded against black men that sank below the basest forms of inhumanity. Forced out of their homes, literally hundreds of miles from their families, then stripped of their possessions, imprisoned in a desert fortress, humiliated, systematically tortured, and starved (often to the point of death) these poor men were dragged through the most grotesque underbelly of life; even those who escaped death witnessed the demise of countless friends and suffered from extreme psychological trauma themselves. Vanderweerd created Drowned in Oblivion as a memorial to the casualties and a testament to the survivors. Here, the director creates an oral history by stitching together the recollections of those who survived the torture and incarceration (played on the soundtrack), while the film displays static, long-held, black-and-white images of the now-deserted places that held the men captive. In so doing, the film attempts to convey to the audience the sheer weight of the burden of sadness shared by the subjects. More broadly, it draws an analogous relationship between the Mauritanian crisis and similar forms of genocide carried out on a daily basis by countries and governments around the world. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi