In the Intense Now

João Moreira Salles's 2017 Brazilian documentary compares images from the political movements of the late sixties. The student uprising in Paris, the occupation of Prague, military rule in Brazil and the cultural revolution in China sit inside the same narrative. The starting point is personal. The director's mother travelled to China in 1966 and shot amateur film there; the documentary sets that material beside the official footage and asks who saw what. The narrative does not recount events, it reads images. It proceeds through who looks at the camera, who smiles and which moment was judged worth recording; the director's own text is read in voiceover throughout. Who it's for: those who like essay documentary and films working from archive. Who it's not for: viewers who want to learn the history of the period; the film does not explain the events and assumes they are known.