Online Response 3

The expository mode of documentary filmmaking is an argumentative essay in the form of a film. The filmmaker conducts careful research on a specific topic and participates in the documentary itself. Although this can be confused with a participatory documentary, expository presents an argument that the author or filmmaker finds truthful.

An example of this can be found in Sicko. Sicko presents all the positives of socialized medicine and government support because it implies that any nation that is abundant in wealth ought to share it by providing free healthcare and free governmental programs for the benefit of keeping its citizens happy and healthy. We see in the beginning how American healthcare is not anywhere near the quality of other countries like Canada, France, and Cuba. Filmmaker Michael Moore compares both systems within those countries along with its patients and argues that government support is a better route. Even though Moore made some pretty good points, he never mentioned the heavy taxes that come with it in order to support its people, providing less enjoyment of the fruits of their labors.

Some expository documentaries combine different elements of documentary filmmaking in one. In Sicko, Michael Moore remains fully immersed in the film as if he were part of it. He goes from town to town talking to random people at various hospitals and interviewing Americans who have been denied the care they needed most since their insurance claimed that they do not provide the money for their medical conditions. This creates both a talking head, participatory, and expository style in one documentary. Some footage have sit down interviews while others have the camera watch what they do in their personal lives at home as we navigate through how they live.

One of the truest examples of expository documentary is Luis Buñuel’s Land Without Bread. This film documents the inhumane living conditions in the town of Las Hurdes. The film captures footage of the mountainous village and its inhabitants to see what lives they had with little to no bread and unsanitary living conditions. From a child dying in the streets to people having to eat unrip fruit with the risk of getting sick, Buñuel showed how much help those people in the poor community needed. He showed how the village used a contaminated stream for drinking and cleaning. I feel that the film itself was used to expose the truth behind extreme poverty and to show that no human being should have to live like that.

From what we can see, expository documentaries are used to expose the truth behind something through film. Some may say the pen is mightier than the sword, but what we learned that film is sharper than swords and more cunning than pens. It is also clear that the expository mode relies on other styles to make sure the message is received well by the audience. The more we watch an expository documentary, the more we can see society and people in ways we could not otherwise.