While Netflix already is recognized in award circuits, most notably by the Emmys for their series House of Cards and Orange is the New Black, their political documentary Virunga sees them, for the very first time, inside the Oscar race.
While advertisements — including the poster found in this post — would have one believe Orlando von Einsidel's passionate, if by-the-books, feature is about the last of the mountain gorillas in Virunga National Park, the truth is there's a lot more this movie has on its mind. Einsidel's film is more than not a fire-breathing condemning of the Soco International in conjunction to their efforts to take down the aforementioned park and leave this series of animals extinct. It's akin to a piece of political activism in the vein of Blackfish or The Cove than something disposable but pleasant like Chimpanzee.
As a finger-wagging slap-of-the-wrist from the underdogs, Virunga is a competently and sterling piece of journalism. It knows what it wants to accomplish, and while its back-and-forth in focus between Soco and the gorillas feels a tad disattached, its precise editing and thoughtful sources give the movie a beating heart. It may be one-sided in its argument (and, to the filmmakers' credit, they post Soco's responses to their claims against them before the end credits) but it knows it and doesn't host false notions of its bias unlike, say, the works of Michael Moore.
It's a heartfelt film, realized through some often gorgeous shots of African backdrops and diligent and sometimes brave direction. Yet, a number of times, there's an ongoing sense that some of its emotions are crafted opposed to genuine, and even some character's speeches come across as oddly scripted. It's hard to verify these claims, although the sense of manipulation can be noticed in select moments. One could make a pretty good drinking game to take a shot for every time they do a close-up of a child. With that in mind, Virunga's emotions are often cheap, which takes away from the sympathy Einsiedel so desperately wants to capture in its audience's heart.
Einsiedel cares deeply about his characters, it's apparent thoughout. While this takes away from Virunga's objectivity, at the very least it leads to some emotional moments. If the causes these talking heads strive for is truly as basic as they make it seem, there's definitely something winningly noble and important at these people's pursuits. Additionally, the last 30 or so minutes are the highlights of the film, where the tension is appropriately place and the stakes are seen in rich fashion.
Virunga may have best been served as a short film, so as to take away from the repetitiveness of Einsiedel's feature. But that's not to shortchange the efforts made by the people behind this movie. It may follow all the familiar trappings of these political thriller documentaries, but it does them well and its hard to imagine many will walk away from this unaffected emotionally. Einsiedel has a message, and its a loud one. Thankfully, he as a film worthy of his pursues.