2007年VOA标准英语-Human Rights Watch Film Festival Aims to Put Hu

By Mona Ghuneim
New York
04 July 2007

Three documentaries featured at the annual Human Rights Watch Film Festival in New York this year aim to put a human face on the issues and crises facing Africa today. From New York, VOA's Mona Ghuneim has the story.

The directors of three different human rights films say they wanted to go beyond news reports and show what they say is "really going on in Africa." Tired of detached headlines and sound bites about human rights violations¹, the filmmakers say they wanted to share more personal stories with audiences.

A profile of a Nigerian political activist² and singer, a portrait of a Congolese woman who was raped⁴ by renegade militia⁵, and an account of an American witness to tragedy in Sudan give intimate and sometimes disturbing details.

Director Dan Ollman says what is going on in Africa is not pretty and that viewers should be incensed⁶ when they watch these films. He says that for his film, he spent time getting to know the Nigerian singer Femi Anikulapo Kuti, and the more he learned, the more he understood the suffering.

"I got the opportunity to speak with him one-on-one and learn more about the politics," Ollman said. "While he's talking about it, you're like 'It can't be that bad. There's no way.' And then you go there and see it first hand, and if you're not outraged⁷."

Scene from Suffering and Smiling

The title of Ollman's film, Suffering and Smiling, is taken from a song by Femi's father, Fela. Fela Anikulapo Kuti was a well-known singer and political activist who used song to expose wrongdoing in Nigeria in the 1960s and 70s. Ollman says that today, Femi is following in his father's footsteps.

In the film, Femi speaks about his disappointment with the Nigerian people and their lack of activism, but he also blames foreign governments for poor governing in regards to African issues.

"They do not understand the gravity of their governments supporting bad governments in Africa, and they do not understand the gravity of their nonchalant-ness towards what's going in Africa after all these years," Femi says in the film.

"Now wrong information scatter⁸ your head. You reject your culture for Western senses. Bringing shame to yourself and your country nation. Black man today done lost himself. Yeah yeah yeah yeah," he adds.

Scene from Lumo

The physical agonies of war-torn Africa are especially apparent in the film Lumo, which follows a young Congolese woman on her uncertain road to recovery. The film opens with a montage of news reports about the Democratic Republic of Congo. An American journalist tells the audience that rape³ is a weapon of war.

"There is no more effective way to terrorize an entire population. We tend to think in this country (United States) of terrorism as something that is done with car bombs or with suicide bombs, but in much of the world, terrorism is done with rapes⁹."

The film goes on a human journey with Lumo. At a charity hospital in eastern Congo, Lumo awaits operation after operation. As a result of the rape and assaults on her body, she suffers from fistula - a condition that makes her incontinent and threatens her ability to have children. She endures five operations during her two-year stay at the hospital.

One of the film's directors, Nelson Walker, says concentrating on one "character" at the hospital personalizes the disaster. He says Lumo's story became a personal one for him and his team, and the film reflects the close bond they established with Lumo.

"We really wanted to put a human face on the crisis and it's our hope that audiences here in the U.S. really connect with Lumo and use that as momentum¹⁰ to really begin to see what's going on over there," Walker explains.

Scene from The Devil Came on Horseback

What is really going on in Darfur is the question the film The Devil Came on Horseback raises and tries to answer. Filmmakers Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern say their documentary bears witness to atrocities¹¹ that western countries know are happening, but perhaps their film will give the world more incentive¹² to stop the violence immediately.

Seen through the eyes of American witness Brian Steidle, the film follows him during his work as a military observer with the African Union. Steidle documents humanitarian¹³ abuses in Darfur, and then takes his message, as well as brutal¹⁴ photographs, back home to show the people and government of the United States.

The filmmakers say Steidle's genuine concern allowed him to connect with the people of Sudan. In the film, several refugees tell him their thoughts on the government and situation in Darfur. But, he says, they are scared and don't reveal their identity for fear of a backlash.

"They fear if they speak out against the government that they will be imprisoned¹⁵. I was talking to two individuals confidentially¹⁶ the other day," he says. "They say that there is no gray area. It is either genocide or not. Are people being killed because they are Africans and not Arabs? Yes."

Steidle says he is afraid that the world will be hearing about Sudan for a long time to come. He says decisions are not being made fast enough and there is too much squabbling over definitions.

But one thing all three films have in common is the way they define and depict¹⁷ the "human" in human rights.

1 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。

2 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

3 rape   

n.抢夺，掠夺，强奸；vt.掠夺，抢夺，强奸

参考例句：

• The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
• He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。

4 raped   

v.以暴力夺取，强夺( rape的过去式和过去分词 )；强奸

参考例句：

• A young woman was brutally raped in her own home. 一名年轻女子在自己家中惨遭强暴。 来自辞典例句
• We got stick together, or we will be having our women raped. 我们得团结一致，不然我们的妻女就会遭到蹂躏。 来自辞典例句

5 militia   

n.民兵，民兵组织

参考例句：

• First came the PLA men,then the people's militia.人民解放军走在前面，其次是民兵。
• There's a building guarded by the local militia at the corner of the street.街道拐角处有一幢由当地民兵团守卫的大楼。

6 incensed   

盛怒的

参考例句：

• The decision incensed the workforce. 这个决定激怒了劳工大众。
• They were incensed at the decision. 他们被这个决定激怒了。

7 outraged   

a.震惊的，义愤填膺的

参考例句：

• Members of Parliament were outraged by the news of the assassination. 议会议员们被这暗杀的消息激怒了。
• He was outraged by their behavior. 他们的行为使他感到愤慨。

8 scatter   

vt.撒，驱散，散开；散布/播；vi.分散，消散

参考例句：

• You pile everything up and scatter things around.你把东西乱堆乱放。
• Small villages scatter at the foot of the mountain.村庄零零落落地散布在山脚下。

9 rapes   

n.芸苔( rape的名词复数 )；强奸罪；强奸案；肆意损坏v.以暴力夺取，强夺( rape的第三人称单数 )；强奸

参考例句：

• The man who had committed several rapes was arrested. 那个犯了多起强奸案的男人被抓起来了。 来自辞典例句
• The incidence of reported rapes rose 0.8 percent. 美国联邦调查局还发布了两份特别报告。 来自互联网

10 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。

11 atrocities   

n.邪恶，暴行( atrocity的名词复数 )；滔天大罪

参考例句：

• They were guilty of the most barbarous and inhuman atrocities. 他们犯有最野蛮、最灭绝人性的残暴罪行。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The enemy's atrocities made one boil with anger. 敌人的暴行令人发指。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

12 incentive   

n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机

参考例句：

• Money is still a major incentive in most occupations.在许多职业中，钱仍是主要的鼓励因素。
• He hasn't much incentive to work hard.他没有努力工作的动机。

13 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

14 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

15 imprisoned   

下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was imprisoned for two concurrent terms of 30 months and 18 months. 他被判处30个月和18个月的监禁，合并执行。
• They were imprisoned for possession of drugs. 他们因拥有毒品而被监禁。

16 confidentially   

ad.秘密地，悄悄地

参考例句：

• She was leaning confidentially across the table. 她神神秘秘地从桌子上靠过来。
• Kao Sung-nien and Wang Ch'u-hou talked confidentially in low tones. 高松年汪处厚两人低声密谈。

17 depict   

vt.描画，描绘；描写，描述

参考例句：

• I don't care to see plays or films that depict murders or violence.我不喜欢看描写谋杀或暴力的戏剧或电影。
• Children's books often depict farmyard animals as gentle,lovable creatures.儿童图书常常把农场的动物描写得温和而可爱。