The Nose steps forward too and squashes me between them. I step forward until I’m uncomfortably close to the Pickaberry woman, to hear what’s being said. The bank lady and the lady whose money was eaten are back at the counter. I step backwards to force the man behind to give me some space. Victims of the war, critical politicians in hiding and members of the death squads give. The doc gives a rare behind the scenes access to Maria and her staff. “Bloody hell,” he says to nobody in particular. We Hold The Line (6) 1 h 16+ In the Philippines, journalist Maria Ressa and her team from the news platform Rappler fight the battle for democracy against president Duterte. “Sorry about this,” the victim says to the line and, because this is New Zealand, we all make sounds to show it’s absolutely fine then go back to seething.Īnother man joins the line. Hold the Line is a new movement focused on engaging with the church and young people across the country. * Little lockdowns, big worries and a return to standing at windows * Yes minister, it's time to use the c-word for the state of our hospitals * Sorry Ray, but I'm tired of you and tired of saying goodbyes We grow it all: apples, tomatoes, veggies, dairy, eggs, meat and of course, maple syrup The Countryside Line helps us keep the right balance of country and city living, with. They’re productive pillars of our local food system. Something has gone wrong with the money machine, causing it to eat a woman’s cash. Our region’s farms are not a blank slate. Initially there was another person behind the counter, but she’s gone now. They’re talking about online banking or something, while I’m eavesdropping and writing this column on my phone. We Hold the Line is a production by Berlin-based Dreamer Joint Venture Filmproduktion, and German company Magnetfilm has the international rights.There’s one person behind the counter, who’s been helping the same person since I got here. On top of that, the scale of the documentary, and thus the viewer's perception of the importance of the subject matter, is boosted not only by Ressa's journalistic stature, but also her testimony in front of the Canadian Parliament's International Grand Committee on Big Data, Privacy and Democracy. The pulsing, tense score by Hannes Bieber, which also incorporates the eerie electronic improvisation "Glass" by Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto, plays a crucial role in augmenting the feeling of the topic's urgency. We Hold the Line has a definite thriller vibe, built through a combination of interviews and dramatic scenes from the streets of Manila, both those filmed directly for this documentary and those found on surveillance tapes and occasional smartphone footage from witnesses of various bloody events. A suspenseful sequence near the end of the film shows how an online trolling harangue easily spills over into real life in the atmosphere of fear created by Duterte and his administration. An experienced, uncompromising, fully dedicated journalist, she speaks calmly and clearly despite the psychological warfare she and her colleagues from Rappler are subjected to. The film does have a somewhat fragmentary feel owing to the wide variety of protagonists, but Ressa herself also serves as the connecting tissue between various segments. In the Philippines, journalist Maria Ressa and her team from the news platform Rappler fight the battle for democracy against president Duterte. In addition to the senator, Ressa and another Rappler journalist, three killers, hidden behind masks, who are either working alone or belong to one of the death squads that are not officially connected to the police but are effectively controlled and paid by the government, reveal brief but very specific details about their methods and the system that they are a part of. Wiese's thriller-like documentary covers a wide ground through only half a dozen interviewees. A senator interviewed in Wiese's film, whose office is equipped with bullet-proof glass and curtains, indicates that Duterte's son Mario could be a key figure in the drug-smuggling business, which moved from the port city of Davao, where the current president used to be the mayor, straight into Manila as he came into power. On the other hand, however, the inevitable connection between the state and organised crime is something that the US example and Duterte's rule have in common. In the middle of the map - in cultural mythology, the central high-point - under an imperial crown, is the vastest patch - Canada. His "anti-drug" policy is well known and notorious, and as seen recently in the IDFA title Aswang, it is on one hand a far cry from, say, Reagan's war on drugs in the 1980s, as the Filipino leader not only directly targets the dealers and pushers, but actually straight-out kills drug users. Clearly, Duterte was not just talking the populistic strongman talk that many right-wing leaders around the world use to get votes – he meant it literally.
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