From a technical standpoint, this is a professional-grade documentary. That was apparent from the beginning, with the opening sequence of the globe. The visual and sound quality throughout is very good, and there were hundreds of actors/participants. Some very fancy computer graphics were used, such as the 3-D snapshots of Joseph Kony. Filming for this documentary must have taken hundreds to thousands of hours, taking into account the international variety of locations. Considering all of these factors, it leads one to believe that a hefty price tag was necessary for production.
That said, I found myself spending a good deal of time questioning the video and wondering where the information came from. I felt like the film was trying to manipulate the audience. Of course it is obviously meant to manipulate, because it is a fundraiser, but I also felt like the video was claiming to be a source of irrefutable evidence in itself. The video appeared to be aimed at those who would not question what they were told, and even worse, appeared as though nothing need be questioned in the first place. Very few resources were cited in the monologue; it was comprised mostly of repetition. The entire monologue was drastically one-sided, I know nothing of Joseph Kony except for wahat he looks like and what he does, or is accused of doing. Kony’s name was drilled into the viewers’ minds, but there was nothing to back it up. For all I learned from this video, Kony could be fake. If somebody made another video of equal quality saying that Kony was a good guy, I wouldn’t know who to believe, due to Jason Russel’s lack of apparent credentials. I already don’t know who to believe, as the video has already received so much backlash.
