A documentary for the Trump age!

Audiences do not want to be challenged with the facts or details anymore - or to be left in a complex world where facts and details don't mean anything comforting and reassuring. It's okay to have a few facts and details to add a hint of authenticity, but they must never get in the way of the core message. New facts will be created when necessary to supplement this message, but this will be forgiven by critics because these falsities boost a correct message that we can all get behind. Thus the Eagle Huntress emerges from the pack to become the hottest documentary at North American box offices this holiday season.


There was probably enough material here to make a decent film, but I suspect all the good stuff was edited out. If filmmakers had emphasized capturing life itself rather than capturing the perfect image, and if they had allowed any of the tedium, uncertainty, or failure of lives both ordinary and extraordinary to shine through, there might have been something compelling here. If they had approached a foreign culture with curiosity and respect, I'm sure many doors would have been opened to them. But I sense that this was never the intention. The fragments of interviews that make it into the film show that some men think eagle hunting is for men only. The fragments that were no doubt left out might have told us why eagle hunting actually matters as more than just a backdrop for a girl-power story.