Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by jonfaith
The Angel of Grozny: Orphans of a Forgotten War by Åsne Seierstad
2.0
It may be effective for Errol Morris to allow his interviewees to gush unchecked and create a culpable subtext. This is a fine strategy - for him. It works well on film. Pages of raving do not make for persuasive or evocative prose. If the person in question is a young man leaning towards jihad or a Russian reactionary whose son has been imprisoned for a hate crime, it doesn't lead anywhere to have pages of stuttering conspiracy theories and gnashing hate speech.
I couldn't tell if Angel of Grozny wanted to be journalism or a memoir. It was closer to the latter, though hobbled by overly creative writing and a sore lack of editing. Åsne Seierstad is likely a fine journalist, her perseverance at seeing first hand both wars in Chechnya is intrepid without question. As a Russian speaker, she was able to access personal elements well beyond a World Service broadcast. That may be the problem right there. These are stories, grounded in a nightmare but as interchangeable as those on any newscast. The trauma at the heart of this is extremely graphic and uncomfortable. There are simply better ways of approaching it.
I couldn't tell if Angel of Grozny wanted to be journalism or a memoir. It was closer to the latter, though hobbled by overly creative writing and a sore lack of editing. Åsne Seierstad is likely a fine journalist, her perseverance at seeing first hand both wars in Chechnya is intrepid without question. As a Russian speaker, she was able to access personal elements well beyond a World Service broadcast. That may be the problem right there. These are stories, grounded in a nightmare but as interchangeable as those on any newscast. The trauma at the heart of this is extremely graphic and uncomfortable. There are simply better ways of approaching it.