Seeing is Believing: Handicams, Human Rights and the News

Peter Wintonick and Katarina Cizek's Seeing Is Believing offers an interesting, if technically somewhat ragged, examination of the impact of modern recording devices--in particular the handicam, but other tools as well--on the work of human rights activists across the globe who are contributing to the expanding news coverage of abuses. While there are brief segments dealing with such locales as Bosnia and the Czech Republic, and allusions to how technology aided the Iranian revolution and the failed democratic movement in China, the main focus here is on the Philippines--and, even more pointedly, the work of Joey Lozano, a local journalist who provides equipment to indigenous tribes in order to document illegal actions by environmentally destructive companies. Ultimately, the film convincingly demonstrates the power of images in increasing awareness of wrongdoing and extremism, but it also reveals how the same recording devices can be used to less altruistic ends, and that their very possession may invite brutal reprisals from those whose activities are being monitored. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)