Review: Point and Shoot
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
How does a socially awkward kid from Baltimore end up raging against Muammar Gaddafi's death squads in Libya?
City Paper grade: A
How does a socially awkward kid from Baltimore end up raging against Muammar Gaddafi's death squads in Libya? That's the question at the core of Marshall Curry's unexpected documentary, which traces American citizen Matthew VanDyke's inductions into revolution and manhood. Providing incredible film shot over a long four years overseas, VanDyke is both subject and collaborator, outlining how his sheltered Stateside upbringing led to his time as a heavily armed freedom fighter, and eventually prisoner of war. The strange split between documenting events and actively shaping them is at the core of VanDyke's growth. The rawness and rarity of his footage is reason enough to watch, but Curry succeeds in digging past that surface flash to ask the complex "why?" questions we all want answered.
