Parky at the Pictures (In Cinemas 20/6/2019)

Dancer Charlotte (Bobbi Jene Smith) is in rehearsals for the show that could make or break her career. During a break, she takes a pregnancy test in the washroom and later receives a phone call from her mother, Margot (Phoebe Nicholls), informing her that ailing abstract artist grandmother Mari (Paddy Glynn) has started to deteriorate. Charlotte heads down to Sherborne in Dorset and meets up with Margot at the hospital, along with her older sister, Lauren (Madeleine Worrall), her husband, Rohan (Peter Singh), and their young son, Billy (Reuben Kell). 

Having been raised in New York by her father, Alex (Mitchell Mullen), Charlotte has always felt something of an outsider and Lauren gives her a lukewarm reception. The mood is no improved at Mari's bedside when Alex calls and he annoys Margot when Charlotte puts him on speaker phone. She tells him that things are progressing with the show and that Joe (Nicholas Bruder) will keep the cast working in her absence. But she can't bring herself to mention the pregnancy and there's little conversation when Charlotte finds herself alone with Margot, as Nurse Shirley (Heather Coombs) freshens Mari up before lights out. 

Everyone is staying in Mari's small house and Rohan walks in on Charlotte as she is looking at her flat stomach in the bathroom mirror. She finds a packet of cigarettes hidden in Mari's knitting bag and is chided by Lauren for smoking when she needs to be in peak physical condition to dance. They chat awkwardly in the kitchen, as Lauren peels potatoes and struggles to hide the feeling that Charlotte is being self-indulgent while explaining what's at stake with her show. Her own petty problems about finding a babysitter don't interest Charlotte, who walks away after Lauren suggests that family should always come first. 

Out jogging with Rohan the next day, Charlotte learns that Lauren is recovering from a miscarriage and this makes her feel all the more conflicted when she starts getting morning sickness. She emerges from the hospital bathroom to find her family doing the Hokey Cokey at the foot of Mari's bed and, once again, she feels herself outside the charmed circle, as she had done when Margot had made her toast for breakfast and didn't seem to know that she dislikes butter. During a game of Pick-Up Sticks with Billy, Charlotte is surprised when he suddenly asks if Mari is dead yet. 

Lauren cooks supper and reprimands Charlotte for sitting in Mari's chair. They eat at the table and Lauren reminds everyone how often she has visited her grandmother in recent weeks, while Charlotte has barely seen her in years. However, she's put out when Margot decides to go to bed early because she has no appetite. Needing a blanket from Margot's room, Charlotte finds some photographs from her grandfather's funeral and notes the mass of flowers on display. Margot recalls how noisy the day had been and assures Charlotte that he would have been proud of her. 

Unable to sleep, Charlotte looks through another box of old pictures and finds an old radio interview that Mari did about her art. She describes how she builds up the paint and then trusts that things will reveal themselves when she scrapes away the layers. The next day, Charlotte goes to the nearby skateboard park and responds to the contours of a hollow, as she dances under a greyish sky with her shadow cast against the concrete. However, she feels self-conscious when a kid starts zipping around on a BMX and she stops. 

Having watered the bathroom plants (using a yoghurt pot with a string to hang it from the bath tap) and cleaned out Mari's knitting bag, Charlotte joins her mother and sister at the hospital. She gives Margot a massage, as Lauren again brings up the fact that Charlotte has become something of a stranger since moving to New York. Margot is nettled when Lauren suggests she missed out on Charlotte's teenage years and insists she knew about every recital and boyfriend. However, she then realises she has no idea if Charlotte is currently seeing anyone and is perplexed when she reveals she's sleeping with a younger member of the company.

In order to lighten the mood, Margot asks Charlotte to lead them in some exercises and Lauren reluctantly consents to join in. She feels aware of herself, as they stretch their minds and bodies, and shoots her sister an uncertain glance. By contrast, Margot surrenders to the moment and can feel the muscles in her back relaxing. But, when Rohan texts a photo of Billy with an alpaca, Charlotte finds herself alone in her toe-touching pose. Margot urges her to help turn some of Mari's old skirts into cushion covers for the hospital and Lauren has to help her when she makes a mistake. However, she bridles when Margot snaps this rare moment of sibling intimacy on her phone and protests that it's morbid including the comatose Mari in the shot. She also scolds Charlotte when she gives up and has a nap. 

Home alone, Charlotte puts an operatic LP on the record player and calls Ryan (Will Thompson) on Mari's dial-up landline. She wants to tell him something, but is distracted when he mentions the rehearsals and she admonishes him for working on a piece she had intended to be spontaneous. Sitting in Mari's chair, she dances out her frustrations, as she stretches up to touch the ceiling, only to crumple to the floor. 

That night, Billy fools around with a horse's head and Charlotte feels a maternal pang when she helps him with his pyjama jacket. However, she also feels conflicted because she will have to put her life on hold to have a child. Margot is fussing about funeral arrangements and Lauren wishes she would stop being so morbid, as Mari isn't yet dead. When Margot asks Charlotte to dance at the beginning of the service, Lauren feels put out, especially when Margot suggests she does a reading rather than a song. Charlotte tries to referee, only to get snapped at and Margot hurts her feelings when she says how grateful they all are that she has put in an appearance. 

Storming outside, Charlotte sits on the patio. Rohan comes to console her and assures her that having a baby is a remarkable experience if she's ready for it. When Charlotte demurs, he claims that life is about scraping away the layers to discover who we are. Lauren finds them together and recommends that Charlotte puts her problems to one side for a moment and thinks about someone other than herself. Stung, Charlotte protests that it's not her fault she's pregnant so soon after Lauren's miscarriage and her sister berates Rohan for betraying a confidence. Dismissing Lauren's insistence that her family has always been there for her, Charlotte resents her dismissal of her art as a mere job. She is also dismayed when her sister accuses her of thinking she's too important to become a mother and reminds her that she's not that special and that the world will keep turning if she fails to do her show. 

Unable to sleep. Charlotte climbs into bed with Margot. But she gets up and silently walks away. leaving Charlotte to slip into a dream. She enters the dance studio to see the troupe gathered around a floral display that resembles the one at her grandfather's funeral. Someone is wearing the horse's head. Margot offers a touch of reassurance, as she moves aside to let the dancers perform and Charlotte is pushed down on to the flowers before they are scattered across the floor. The company return in red baggy-trousered costumes and they swoop and sweep before leaving Charlotte to dance alone. As she looks up, she sees the elegant Mari watching her from a chair. 

Margot is woken by a phone call and her daughters join her at Mari's bedside. Her breathing has become rasping and it gently stops, as Charlotte opens a window to allow in the sound of birdsong. She rushes to her mother's side and they embrace before she's left alone to thank her grandmother for her artistic side and helping her to make up her mind. Taking the opportunity to gather her thoughts, Charlotte wanders around Sherborne Abbey and sits on a child's in a Sunday School room. Back at Mari's house, Charlotte pulls back the curtains to let some light shine in on her mother before tying up her hair, as Lauren sits silently beside her in the bathroom. 

Echoes of Ingmar Bergman and Joanna Hogg reverberate around this meticulously made chamber drama, which means that archness and sincerity often go hand in hand, as quotidian human reality imperceptibly penetrates the rarefied bourgeois ambience. Considering the limitations placed upon modern women who are supposedly entitled to have it all, Parris's script etches in backstory details. But much is left unsaid and we don't really get to know any of the characters particularly well. Much turns around Lauren's repeated insistence that there's never a convenient time for death and that family must always come first. But her prickly exchanges with Charlotte often feel as contrived as some of the references to dance and painting, Loachian realism this isn't and those not au fait with the language of choreography may feel kept at a distance.

Yet, this is very much a study of an outsider looking in, as Charlotte has devoted so much thought, time and emotional energy to her art that she has cocooned herself from the everyday preoccupations that Lauren feels she has become too haughty to appreciate. Although she had been profiled in Elvira Lind's 2017 documentary, dancer Bobbi Jene Smith is taking only her second acting role after a minor role in Eytan Fox's Yossi (2012). She more than holds her own against the more experienced Phoebe Nicholls and Madeleine Worrall, who ably convey a lack of closeness that makes the attempts to close ranks in the face of imminent bereavement feel so persuasively strained. One suspects neither Mari nor Margot has been a particularly good mother and we see little evidence of Lauren interacting with a son whose precociousness is one of the film's more irksome and unconvincing aspects. 

But Bobbie Cousins's production design couldn't be improved upon, as it keeps Adam Scarth's camera pent up in confined and dimly lit spaces that are filled with reminders of an expiring life and how little these people know each other. Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly might not approve of the jerky handheld coverage of the dance sequences, but Maxine Doyle's choreography and Peter Gregson's score are evocative and effective. Equally significant is Gernot Fuhrmann's sound design, as it keeps letting in hints of the world beyond the suffocating frame that Charlotte and her family need to get out embrace before they discover that their own lives have passed them by.

In between directing the documentaries Vida Activa (2014) and No Trilho dos Naturalistas: Viagens Philosophicas (2016), Susana Nobre produced such notable films as Cláudia Varejão's Ama-San (2016) and Pedro Pinho's The Nothing Factory (2017). She now makes her feature bow with Ordinary Time, which is showing at The ICA in London, as part of its focus on contemporary Portuguese cinema. Inspired by her own period of maternity leave and featuring a real married couple in the leads, this is an amusing 

Marta (Marta Lança) and Pedro (Pedro Castanheira) bring their new daughter, Clara (Clara Castanheira), back to their cosy apartment in Lisbon. They soon slip into a routine of sleepless nights, with Marta telling Pedro about a dream she had about hitchhikers and a flood. He works as a photographer and Marta is disappointed when he has to go to a shoot. But Grandma Graça (Graça Lança) comes to sing a lullaby and Marta is kept entertained by Gonçalo (Gonçalo Alegria), a middle-aged balding male friend, who is more interested in discussion his own attitude to fatherhood than he is Marta and Clara's well-being. 

Josina (Josina Almeida) brings some baby clothes that had once been worn by the daughter (Francisca Duarte) now doing her homework, as her mother and Marta chat. She tells her about the campaign she has been waging to have a comedian prevented from giving a television performance of a misogynist sketch about the 10 types of women. Later in the visit, as Francisca paints Marta's nails, her mother reveals that she has developed an independent streak during her stays with her father, as she now likes to pick and choose what she has for breakfast. 

Pedro's parents come for tea and Grandpa José takes a picture of Clara with his grandmother. He also raises a smile when he shows Clara her reflection in the bathroom mirror. Grandma Mila is involved with a local theatre and has a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream coming up. She fusses over when Pedro and Marta can come to the show before they spend a few days away with her father in Alentejo. While they eat, Mila mentions a journal that Zé kept during a trip to Italy and we see pages of his rough sketches, while a musical box version of the theme from Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel tinkles on the soundtrack. 

When friends Daniela and Miguel come to call, she regales Marta with the details of the night her young son, David, fell and gashed his cheek on the corner of his bed and she had to leave daughter Emilia with a neighbour while she rushed to the hospital. Miguel chips in that David wants to walk to school alone, but they followed behind to check he was okay. This reminds Marta of her first day at elementary school and how proud she felt at walking all the way there unsupervised. However, in her rush to get out before her parents woke up, she had forgotten to put on any underwear. 

Marta's mother brings a photo album and she tells Pedro that she didn't have children until her forties after meeting Rui. They were together for 37 years, but he has moved to Faro and she is now alone. But he was a good father and she is grateful for the nice times they had together. Pedro and Marta make memories of their own, as Clara beams during bathtime and seems to jiggle along to the record playing on the stereo. Marta prepares vegetables for a fish dish, as Pedro places Clara in her cot, covers her with a blanket and places a cuddly toy beside her before turning out the light. 

Heading into the countryside, they show Clara to Rui (Rui Rodrigues) and his new partner, Odete (Odete Fernandes). The next day. Marta takes Clara out in her buggy to meet Maria (Maria de Jesus Sequiera), the old lady at the next farm, who recalls siblings living on a nearby hill having 11 children each. She claims that women today don't know they're born, as the peasants used to deliver a dozen children without ever seeing a doctor. Pedro spends time with her shepherd son, Rui (Rui Pedro Sequiera), who tells him about female sheep getting maggots in their intimate areas from blowflies. But the most graphic description comes from Joana (Joana Fernandes), the mother of Jaime (Jaimes Sexas), the young boy playing football with Pedro, who tells Marta all about the sensation of being insufficiently anaesthetised during a Caesarian Section. The visit ends more harmoniously, as the boy picks out a tune on a mini-keyboard, while Pedro strums along on his guitar.

Back in Lisbon, Marta gets a visit from her Uncle Joaquim (Joaquim Calçada), who had been an aircraft engineer in the services. He tells her about how he got to see bush life in Angola and Mozambique and how he was hailed as a hero in one village when he used some salted cod to buy some hats made by local craftsmen. Marta has started trying to work on her thesis again in her little office and she calls out to Clara when she murmurs in her cot. She also expects Pedro to tend to her when she starts crying and, when he complains that he has already cooked lunch, she reminds him that he hardly got the short end of the stick. 

Pedro gets a visit from Javier (Javier Orellana), a pal who hadn't witnessed the birth of his child and compares the event to waiting forever for a train to come out of a tunnel. He explains how his own libido took a hit after seeing Marta's genitals expand like a giant flower and his buddy smirks because he knows that image will always be lodged in Pedro's memory bank. Marta is shown how to use a breast pump by her brother, Tiago (Tiago Lança), who has just had his own first child. He says the problem with being working parents is that he hardly gets to see his wife, as one or the other has to babysit while the other goes out to work. 

As Francisca concentrates hard on playing her violin, we see Marta showering and drying her hair (without giving her nether regions a warming waft, as she had done shortly after first getting home) before lying on the bed beside her husband and baby, in a rare moment of peaceful togetherness. It's a sweet way to end an engaging and deceptively adroit docufiction, in which the supporting cast is largely made up of family and friends of the screen couple. Only fluent Lusophones will know how well these non-professionals deliver their scripted lines, but the enterprise has an outward naturalism that makes Nobre's exploration of the themes relating to women's bodies and social status and the problems of modern-day parenting all the more pertinent. 

The fact that so many of the visitors come to talk about themselves and their own petty problems rather than inquire about Marta and her baby is a neat touch that derives from Nobre's recollections of her own `ordinary time'. Keeping Paulo Menezes's camera relatively still to reflect the cramped confines of the apartment and the need to avoid waking the slumbering infant, Nobre achieves a leisurely intra-shot rhythm that is complemented by João Rosas's steady editing. However, she also makes astute use of the rustic interlude - in which she pays her dues to the cycle of life - as well as nostalgic mementos like José and Pedro's travel journal and Graça's snapshot album. She's also splendidly served by Marta Lança and Pedro Castanheira, whose brief spat over parental duties will sound familiar to those who managed to find a babysitter for the night (or are The ICA laying on special parent and baby screenings?). And then, of course, there's that inveterate scene-stealer, Clara..

Having staged her first play at the age of eight, Lisa Brühlmann has had to wait three decades to make her feature bow. But the Swiss actress-turned-director makes a highly promising debut with Blue My Mind. Indeed, such has been the picture's impact that Brühlmann has been hired by the BBC to direct a couple of episodes of the new series of Killing Eve. 

Fascinated by the sea since she was a little girl, 15 year-old Mia Lehner (Luna Wedler) moves to Zurich when father Michael (Georg Scharegg) gets a new job. Already deeply resentful of her mother, Gabriela (Regula Grauwiller), Mia ignores the overtures of prim classmate Sophie (Una Rusca) to forge a link with mean girl, Gianna (Zoë Pastelle Holthuizen), who isn't initially impressed by her attempts to act tough. Returning to the family's new apartment, Mia storms into her room and pushes Gabriela off the bed when she asks about her day. However, having guzzled down a glass of salty water because she's unable to sleep, Mia lies beside her mother for a consoling hug. 

At school, Mia gets the casting vote on the class trip and Gianna is impressed when she picks her choice of Connyland. She introduces her to best friends Nelly (Lou Haltinner) and Vivi (Yael Meier) and invites her back to the luxury home she shares with her easy-going father (Martin Rapold). In her bedroom, she teases Mia about being a virgin and takes her photo to set up a profile on a dating site. Gianna also talks her into pressing on her throat so that she passes out. Nelly and Vivi are frightened, but Mia agrees to let Gianna reciprocate and, in her reverie, she imagines herself to be underwater. She is so spooked by the experience that she rushes home and gobbles down two fish from the aquarium. When Gabriela asks if she is okay, after Mia is violently sick, she tells her to mind her own business. 

Although she chickens out of wearing lipstick and hooped earrings, Mia joins her new friends in bunking off school. They go to the mall, where Gianna is so relieved to get a negative pregnancy test that they go shoplifting. Fleeing from a security guard, Gianna and Mia lift their tops to the passing motorists from an overpass and are gazing into each other's eyes when Vivi and Nelly catch up with them and they wheel away shrieking with delight at having got away with their pilfering. 

Back home, Mia checks her dating page. However, as soon as a handsome older guy responds to her message with an invitation to meet, she slams her laptop shut. She gets her first period and isn't sure what to do with a sanitary towel. Taking a bath, Mia holds her breath under the bubbly water. While shaving her legs, however, she notices that webbing has started to appear between her toes. Hiding in her room, she is disturbed by Gabriela, who slaps her face when she claims to have flushed her fish down the toilet. 

Having been barred from going to Connyland, Mia skips school to have her feet examined by Dr Mundwaier (Rachel Braunschweig). She identifies the condition as syndactyly and is surprised when Mia insists she has not had it since birth. When the doctor asks if anyone else in the family has the same issue and suggests doing some tests, Mia becomes unnerved by the sight of her phoning a colleague and runs away. Tripping in her panic, she grazes her leg and bursts into tears. 

When Gabriela dismisses a question about why there are no photographs of her when she was pregnant, Mia impetuously arranges a hotel meet with the 35 year-old from the dating site (Tim Betterman). Gianna, Nelly and Vivi accompany her on the bus ride and give her a condom and a slug of hooch before she goes into the hotel. Her date seems timid and plays her his favourite song on his phone before asking her to stick her tongue out. When he starts to stroke her leg, however, he feels a scaliness on her skin and Mia pushes him away and flees. Her friends roll their eyes when she admits that nothing happened and she follows sheepishly in their wake.

Stealing medical supplies from a chemist, Mia cuts into the webbing between her toes. Needing to feel good about herself, she calls on hunky classmate Roberto (David Oberholzer) and has sex with him. He invites her to a party that night and, having scoffed her steak in a manner that shocks her parents, Mia hooks up with Roberto and his pals, Alex (Timon Kiefer) and Jim (Benjamin Dangel). Gianna, Vivi and Nelly also show up and, as a mauvish light descends on the outdoor, gathering, Mia enjoys the feeling of rebellion and the new power she has over the boys. 

When Gianna throws up, Mia invites her home and smuggles her into her room, where they chat about Mia's suspicion that she's adopted and Gianna's dismay that her mother left her behind when she moved to the United States. Gianna also forges Michael's signature on the trip permission slip and breezes into breakfast the next morning with a disarming familiarity that leaves Mia's parents nonplussed. She also smuggles some MDMA on to the coach for Connyland and Mia gets so high that she has no idea where she is. Spotting Roberto, she bundles him into a potting shed for sex. But she pushes him away and staggers into the bathroom, where she notices that her belly button has disappeared. Moreover, her legs are covered in bruises, which are spotted by her friends when they find her crashed on the floor after having had another sub-aquatic dream. 

Getting home to an inquisition, Mia is unable to sleep on her bed and wakes on the floor surrounded by scales that have peeled off her flesh. Hurrying to school, she is asked to dissect a fish by the teacher (Dominik Locher) and is caught scarfing it down by Sophie after being told to dispose of the cadaver. Grabbing her by the throat, Mia threatens to kill Sophie if she breathes a word and reassures Roberto that she hasn't infected him with an STD. Forced to see a therapist (Ruth Schwegler), Mia blames her problems on the fact she is living with adoptive parents and Gabriela is hurt when she finds Mia and Gianna going through her things to find some incriminating documents. 

Opting out of a family wedding, Mia polishes off the goldfish and some of her mother's hormone pills before heading for a party at the lake. Gianna wishes they could press pause and stay in the moment forever, but she wanders off to go splashing in the water with an older bloke. Suddenly, he shouts out in panic that Gianna has disappeared and Mia dives into the dark water and brings her friend to the surface, while everyone looks on in astonishment. Bolting home, she sits staring at the black scales covering her legs and throws a bottle at Gianna when she wanders in and sees her. Keeling on to her side, Mia uncontrollably sobs salty tears. 

Too intoxicated to swallow more pills, Mia staggers to the kitchen and cuts into her forearm with a knife before passing out. When she wakes the next morning, she has developed a mermaid tail and she hauls herself to the bath. The cascading taps flood the flat before Mia calls Gianna, who remains surprisingly calm in hauling her to a truck to drive her to the coast. Mia calls Gabriela and recalls how funny she was the night she got drunk on punch before promising to see them later. As dusk descends, Mia clings to Gianna on the shingle. But she is not afraid and pulls herself to the water's edge before gliding away, in her natural element at last. 

Forget quaint features like Ken Annakin's Miranda (1948) and Ron Howard's Splash (1984), this fishy fairytale feels more like Céline Sciamma's Girlhood (2014) as retold by body horror maestro David Cronenberg. There are also echoes of Julia Ducournau's Raw, Ivan I. Tverdovskiy's Zoology (both 2016) and Ali Abbasi's Border (2018) in the discussion of sexual evolution and body dysmorphia. But the picture this most closely resembles is Agnieszka Smoczynska's satirical musical horror, The Lure (2015), in which mermaids Marta Mazurek and Michalina Olszanska emerge from the sea to follow a 1980s rock band to Warsaw. 

Reuniting after headlining Niklaus Hilber's social media saga, Amateur Teens (2015), Luna Wedler and Zoë Pastelle Holthuizen draw impressively on their inner Lindsay Lohan and Rachel McAdams to play the duo who discover that their friendship runs much more deeply than they could possibly have anticipated. Regula Grauwiller also makes the most of her underwritten role as Gabriela, whose refusal to face the truth, let alone share it with her daughter, reinforces the story's frustratingly slender psychological insight (which is hardly helped by gratuitous episodes like the hotel tryst with an online predator, even though he is the only adult who tries to communicate with her on her own terms). But there's no questioning the quality of Gabriel Lobos's liquidic and often ethereally lit photography, the electronica-gurgling of Thomas Kuratli's score or the engulfing immersivity of Patrick Storck and Gina Keller's sound design.

French director Philippe Faucon has been focusing on people in the margins since his second feature, Sabine (1993). In recent times, however, he has concentrated on urban immigrant communities in Samia (2000), Dans la Vie (2007), The Disintegration (2011) and the César-winning Fatima (2015). Despite domestic acclaim, his films have rarely been seen in this country outside the festival circuit and it's a shame that Amin arrives the week after several of its key themes had been covered so cogently by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun in A Season in France.

Amin Sow (Moustapha Mbengue) does odd jobs in Paris and lives in a hostel for migrant workers along with Moroccan pal, Abdelaziz (Noureddine Benallouche), whose daughter, Selima (Ouidad Elma), is concerned that he is getting older and has put nothing aside for his pension. During a visit to Senegal, Amin gives some money collected by his workmates to the village school and catches up with his wife, Ayesha (Marème N’Diaye), and their three children, Demba (Alioune Sow), Marème (Mariama Sené) and Awa (Aïda Lo). She finds it difficult coping without her husband and wants him to take the family to France. But he insists that they are better off where they are, as he works such long hours that they would barely see him. He also tells Demba that things are tough for immigrant kids and that he should study hard to get a place in a school in Dakar to earn the qualifications to go anywhere in the world. 

Returning to Paris, Amin joshes roommate Ousmane (Moustapha Naham) about his loud music. He is hired by Berrato (Alain Stach) to work on a gardening assignment for Gabrielle (Emmanuelle Devos), a nurse who lives with her tweenage daughter, Célia (Fantine Harduin), who is being manipulated by her father, Hervé (Samuel Churin). She tries to be friendly with her workers, but Berrato tells her to keep a distance, as Africans don't always understand French intentions. Nevertheless, she gives Amin a lift back to Saint-Denis, as the buses are so unreliable, and she recognises someone else who is lonely and in need of a connection. 

Angry with Hervé for asking Célia to spy on her, Gabrielle takes Amin to bed and they continue to see each other after the job is finished. Ousmane and Abdelaziz notice a change in his mood when they move on to another task, although the latter is also unhappy because he has little contact with his three children in Morocco because they resent the presence of his French daughters. He goes to see Houria (Yasmina Bendjaballah) play the flute in a school concert, while Sabri (Jalal Quarriwa) seeks out an Algerian prostitute (Nis'Mya) because he is homesick. They meet in the back of her van, but he can't perform and she is callously cold as she dresses and sends him packing. 

After Amin goes on a shopping spree to buy clothing and toiletries for his family, Ousmane flies back to the village and everyone gathers to get their gift. He goes to see how work is progressing on the new house that Amin is having built for Ayesha and he checks that she is not being ripped off by cowboy builders. Amin has given his brother, Mohamed (Modou Ngom), money to set up a butcher's shop with Issa (Ibrahima Mbengue), and he resents Ayesha's suspicion that her husband is being unfaithful to her. She also loses her temper with him when he chides her for getting a lift to the site with neighbours, as he thinks it's bad form for a woman to get into a car with someone who is not a relative. Furious, Ayesha tells Mohamed to find a wife he can bully because she is not going to listen to him. 

Meanwhile, Célia takes exception to Gabrielle sleeping with Amin and reminds her that he has a wife and family in Senegal. When Gabrielle tries to reassure her daughter that they are good for each other, Célia insists that Amin stays away when she's at home. However, they bump into her and Hervé raises the issue next time he sees Gabrielle. She receives obscene images through the post (probably from Hervé) accusing her of being immoral, while Amin feels uncomfortable when they go shopping together and Gabrielle tells him not to waste his money on her, but send it home. 

Anxious about becoming estranged from his Moroccan family, Abdelaziz does a job as a favour to an old client and is killed when he falls off the roof. Houria plays his wooden flute, as she and Samira watch the plane carrying his coffin taxi along the runaway. Feeling guilty, Amin calls Gabrielle to break off their liaison and she is gracious about it and hopes they can remember each other fondly. He tells her that he is going back to Senegal to spend time with his family, but the film ends with him working on a demolition site in the rain. 

Slice of life dramas have become increasingly politicised since the turn of the century, as though it is no longer sufficient to observe without opinionising. Writing with Yasmina Nini-Faucon and Mustapha Kharmoudi, Faucon leaves viewers to read between the lines in examining the impact that working away can have on economic migrants and the dependants they leave behind. Instead of giving a lecture on injustice, prejudice and exploitation, Faucon shows Amin coping with the issues that make everyday existence such a trail. Thus, we see the hours he has to work and the flexibility he has to show to turn his hand to a multitude of tasks. This versatility also reflects the chameleonic nature that his personality has had to develop in order to be an effective, if often absent husband, father and brother, as well as a reliable co-worker and hostel inmate. 

Faucon packs the action with minor, but telling details, such as Amin stuffing euros into his socks to get through customs and not recognising Marème in a photo because she has started covering her hair. He knows nothing about Demba being bullied, however, or that Ayesha and Mohamed have fallen out. Moreover, he is probably not aware that, by purchasing cheap goods in France, he makes it harder for Senegalese traders to make a living from selling similar wares. Yet by maintaining such a discreet distance from his alienated characters, Faucon also makes it tricky for the audience to empathise with them, as we know so little about Abdelaziz, Ousmane and Sabri, let alone Ayesha and Gabrielle. The fact that the latter is grateful for her affair with Amin suggests she has been having a much harder time than the scenario suggests. But nothing is made explicit about the emotions they feel or the post-colonial coding used to depict their fling. 

The ever-estimable Emmanuelle Devos bonds beautifully with Moustapha Mbengue, as he does with Marème N'Diaye in their brief, but poignant scenes together. Noureddine Benallouche also registers in a performance rooted in a reserved decency that encapsulates Faucon's unemphatic, if sometimes schematic approach to his characters and his material. Laurent Fenart's photography, Manuel Swieton's production design and Amin Bouhafa's score hit the same tone, as does the measured editing of Mathilde Grosjean and Sophie Mandonnet, which ensures that this is a film about people and places rather than melodramatic twists and political point-scoring. 

If good intentions guaranteed great cinema, the history of the medium would look very different. A series of captions at the start of The Flood informs us that 70 million people have been forcibly displayed through conflict and persecution in recent times and that, since 2014, more than 18,000 have perished while trying to reach Europe. Such stark statistics should shame us all and few have a keener appreciation of the harsh realities underlying them than director Anthony Woodley, writer Helen Kingston and producer Luke Healy, who all volunteered at the infamous Jungle refugee camp on the outskirts of Calais. Yet, despite this first-hand experience of the migrant crisis, the trio struggle to translate their insights into a persuasive storyline.

Hurting after a divorce that saw her lose custody of her daughter, Wendy (Lena Headey) has taken to filling her water bottle with vodka. She works as an immigration officer and boss Philip (Iain Glen) asks her to handle the case of Haile (Ivanno Jeremiah), an Eritrean who has made the headlines by claiming asylum after brandishing a knife at the cops who found him in the back of a juggernaut. The government want him extradited before the election and Philip has chosen Wendy because she is one of the few staff members who understand the need to stick to quotas in the hope of helping the genuinely deserving cases. 

He sits in on the interview and sounds sceptical when Haile claims that his own mother was named Wendy. As he is pressed about his past, we flashback to the moment he was branded a traitor for allowing a prisoner to escape execution in the Eritrean desert. He is whipped across the soles of his feet for disobeying a shoot to kill order, but manages to crawl across the border, having taken a coin from the fingers of the man he had hoped to spare. 

Philip also expresses surprise when Haile admits that he had landed in Italy after the dinghy in which he had crossed the Mediterranean had sunk. Another flashback shows the panic that ensues when the engine fails and Haile's failed efforts to keep his fellow passengers calm. He alone reached the shore and somehow made his way to the Channel coast, where he found an empty shack at the Jungle. Following her form, Wendy asks if he has ever been a terrorist and Haile is appalled by the suggestion and the fact that he is being held in handcuffs. But she points out that he has brought this upon himself by attacking the police and declares that he will have to come up with a pretty impressive explanation if his application is to be successful. 

Recalling his failed attempts to find a lorry to get him on to a ferry, Haile tells Wendy about meeting Faiz (Peter Singh), who suggested a way in which he could secure a passage. He was taken by this genial Pakistani, who was the first person in his 9000km journey to ask his name. When Wendy asks if he has any dependents in the UK or in Eritrea, Haile reveals that his mother had given him away when he was five years old and this hits a nerve that prompts Wendy to take a break to call her husband to plead with him to allow her more access to her daughter. 

On her return, Wendy asks Haile how he reached Britain and he explains how Faiz and his pregnant wife, Reema (Mandip Gill), had asked him to book three berths with the camp fixer, Nasrat (Arsher Ali), an Afghan who refuses to deal with Pakistanis. After a cat-and-mouse negotiation, he agrees to help Haile, but insists he is a philanthropist rather than a trafficker, as he allows people to fulfil their dreams. Depite Faiz coughing badly, he makes it into the back of the container lorry and they set off, with driver Russell (Jack Gordon being fully aware they are aboard. At the customs barrier, Faiz begins spluttering so badly that one of the other migrants draws a knife to silence him. But Haile disarms him and they settle down for the crossing, after Keith points out two men hanging from the underside of a box van in order to be waved on without being searched. 

Back at the centre, Philip returns to the room, as Wendy asks the tearful Haile if he is fit to continue. He remembers Reema discovering that Faiz had died in his sleep and he had consoled her with the fact that he had made it to British soil, where their son would be born. However, she confides that she hasn't felt the baby kicking for several days. Wendy inquires how Haile came to be in possession of the knife, but he refuses to respond before signing his testimony. Her phraseology concerns Philip, however, who demands to know why she has offered hope to an open-and-shut case. She assures him that she is not allowing her domestic distress to impinge upon her work, but something about Haile keeps gnawing away at her, as she types up her report. 

While dreaming in a room with a dripping tap, Haile receives a rejection letter and begins to panic, as water seems under the door and he fears he is going to drown. As his mind races between his current plight and his ordeal at sea, he feels himself sinking. However, he wakes with a scream, Wendy interviews Reema with the help of interpreter Baiju (Adam Samuel-Bal). She smiles on hearing she's pregnant, but is taken aback when Reema asks if Haile is safe. Turning off the camera, Wendy urges Reema to describe what happened on the lorry and she reveals that Haile had created a diversion to help the others escape after using the knife to cut a hole in the canvas. 

Clutching Reema's hand, Wendy promises to find out if Haile has been accepted for asylum. She checks through her notes and the tapes and discovers that his parents had been political prisoners. When Philip refuses to submit the new evidence because Haile's appeal has already been heard, Wendy insists he suspends her for conducting 93 days worth of inquiries while under the influence of alcohol. Haile goes to live with Reema's family, while he awaits the verdict. Sitting in her car, Wendy calls her ex-husband to inform him she has signed the papers and he not only lets her speak to her daughter, but he also suggests they might be able to come to an arrangement to give her greater access. 

This final detail sums up the film's melodramatic tendency, as the ease with which Wendy's protracted struggle appears to be resolved seems unsatisfactorily far-fetched. The coincidence that she would also get to meet Reema also feels contrived, while the flashbacks occasionally contain information that Haile simply cannot know, such as the trucker's perfidy at the border in order to save his own skin. Furthermore, far too many corners are cut once Haile reaches the continent. But what most undermines Helen Kingston's screenplay is the determination to see the situation from too many perspectives. Even Philip's bid to hurry Haile through the process is rooted in a hope that maintaining quota levels will enable his department to play fair by those `in the flood' with a worthwhile claim.

Although the opening captions declare that the film is based on actual cases, Haile feels too good to be true, especially when he is so winningly played by Ivanno Jeremiah. He even notices that all is not well with his interrogator when her superior is clueless. Despite Lena Headey's admirably buttoned-down performance, Wendy's vulnerability also strains credibility, as does the fact that nobody has detected the vodka on her breath during office hours. 

But Kingston avoids soapboxing and Anthony Woodley directs with more restraint than he displayed on debut with Outpost 11 (2013). He keeps Jon Muschamp's camera fixed on the faces in the spartan interview room, which feels as authentic as production designer Sophia Stocco's cut-price recreation of the Jungle. Editor Mike Pike also cross-cuts capably between the Haile's odyssey and office ordeal. Thus, while this low-key saga may be flawed, its heart is most certainly in the right place.

Having produced John Akomfrah's Speak Like a Child and John Maybury's Love Is the Devil (both 1998) while working at the BBC, Frances-Anne Solomon has devoted much of her career to bringing West Indian stories to a wider audience. Since debuting with the 1999 profile of Caribbean poet Grace Nichols, I Is a Long Memoried Woman (1999), Solomon has also directed such features as What My Mother Told Me (1995), Peggy Su! (1997) and A Winter's Tale (2007), as well as numerous television episodes. But nothing has been quite as ambitious as Hero: Inspired By the Extraordinary Life and Times of Mr Ulric Cross, which reflects upon the achievements of a Trinidadian who left an indelible mark upon Africa. 

Setting the tone are composite sequences in which the real Ulric Cross and his wife Ann are interviewed by actress Jessica B. Hill playing their daughter, Nicola, as she embarks upon a home-movie record of their lives. One of nine children, Cross was born in Port of Spain in 1917 and was raised by neighbours after his father left to find work in Venezuela following the death of their mother. There was much rejoicing when he got a scholarship to St Mary's College, but he was forced to take a string of menial jobs before volunteering for the RAF during the Second World War. As part of the Pathfinder force, Cross (Nickolai Salcedo) flew 80 missions and became the most decorated West Indian of the entire conflict. Moreover, he forged friendships with James 'Pony' Macfarlane (Peter Williams) and Kofi Mensah (Eric Kofi-Abrefa) and appeared in the 1944 Ministry of Information short, West Indies Calling. 

Returning to Trinidad, Cross became a lawyer and was called to the Middle Temple as part of the Windrush Generation. However, he found work hard to come by and Mensah complained that they were being exploited by an ungrateful colonial government. In 1953, Cross began producing radio talks for the BBC and we see him interviewing socialist historian CLR James (Joseph Marcell) and socialising with his chic pals in Earls Court. Around this time, he also met nurse Ann Whittingham (Pippa Nixon) and Communist activist, George Padmore (Fraser James), who taught him a good deal about the movement for independence in various parts of British Africa. He had been born Malcolm Nurse and had been forced to change his name to protect his family back in Trinidad after he spent time in the Soviet Union. 

Now based at the Colonial Office, Pony warns Cross about getting involved with dangerous characters, when he invites him to come to Gold Coast to help Kwame Nkrumah (Jimmy Akingbola) establish the new state of Ghana. James and Padmore tell Cross about the 5th Pan-African Congress in Manchester in 1945, which started the wind of change blowing, and he decides to join them in Accra in 1957 after becoming disillusioned by the growing racial tension in London. Ann is furious with him for abandoning her, but they remain in touch when she goes to work in Caracas, as Cross is taken under the wing of Nkrumah's confidante, PK Asante (John Dumelo). Despite the enthusiasm for shaking off the imperial yoke, however, plans to reclaim lands from foreign mining companies run into difficulties when the Ashanti leader, Asantehene (Kofi Adjorlolo), refuses to co-operate with the new regime. 

Cross also reconnects with Padmore, who hopes to form an African People's Party and sets Cross to draw up a constitution for the United States of Africa. At a meeting in Accra attended by the likes of Congolese freedom leader Patrice Lumumba (Adjetey Anang), they agree to put national interests to one side to pursue the goal of a greater good. But they ignore Padmore's advice of peaceful opposition and Cross is crushed when he dies after falling ill during a message-spreading tour of Togo and Benin. Padmore's widow is sure he was poisoned, as the CIA and MI6 keep tabs on those opposing economic colonialism. 

While in London, Cross marries Ann and catches up with Pony, who is now at the Trinidad High Commission. He dismisses the conspiracy theories and claims Cross is imagining the suspicion he is being followed. However, he is detained at Heathrow by Daphne Park (Valerie Buhagiar), who confiscates Padmore's papers and he has to be reassured by Pony to return to Africa and continue his work. Without Padmore's guidance, however, Nkrumah becomes twitchy and he sends Cross to Congo to see if Lumumba needs military support to drive out the Belgians. When he is assassinated, General Mobutu Sese Seko (Prince David Oseia) comes to the fore and, during a press conference, at which he sees Park and CIA bigwig Larry Devlin (Chris Earle), Cross realises that there are too many interested parties ready to prevent Padmore's vision from becoming a reality. 

Feeling the moment had passed in Ghana, Cross accepts an invitation to hep unify the French and British legislative structures in post-colonial Cameroon and he reunites with Mensah, who is working for President Ahmadou Ahidjo (Kenneth Fiati). He becomes the attorney general and recruits lots of Caribbean lawyers to help run the country. Meanwhile, Ann sets up a hospital and loves her work so much that she bitterly resents Cross taking the decision to leave after Nkrumah is overthrown in a coup and he loses the Ghanaian backing to prevent Ahidjo imposing his will on the tribal chiefs. 

Falling out with Mensah, Cross leaves for Tanzania in 1966 to work for President Julius Nyerere (OC Ukeje), who is introducing the Ujamaa brand of socialism. He makes Cross a high court judge and the head of the country's legal education programme. It's here that Nicola is born in 1974 and Cross throws himself into changing labour laws and backing Nyerere's support to freedom fighters from across Africa. However, he also learns from CLR James that Pony is one of Park's agents and has been betraying them for 30 years. A flashback sequence shows how Pony kept turning up out of the blue at key moment's in Cross's career and they have a mournful final meeting in Dar Es Salaam after his part in a plot to overthrow Nyerere is uncovered. 

A very rushed final segment has Cross return home to take up key legal posts in Trinidad and Tobago before serving as High Commissioner to Britain, France and Germany between 1990-93. Solomon is in good company here, however, as the Dictionary of National Biography entry on Ulric Cross is equally patchy about his entire postwar career. One suspects she might have been better served making a mini-series that could devote more time to the contextual background of life in both the Caribbean and West Africa. Moreover, it's a shame more time isn't devoted to a compelling character like George Padmore, who surely deserves a film of his own. 

But leaving an audience wanting to know more can hardly be classed as a failing. Solomon might discreetly draw a veil over Cross's eventful pre-Ann private life and the offspring he sired before Nicola, but she and editor Charles Ross make a magnificent job of linking archive material and dramatic reconstructions to shed light on a period whose ramifications continue to be felt today, as a new Scramble for Africa is well under way. 

It's intriguing to see how the tribal problems that beset the pioneers of liberation are still hamstringing countless countries in every part of the continent, as is outside interference. But, while Solomon might have explored these issues in greater depth, at the expense of the picture's more mundane domestic aspects, this is an illuminating and innovative exercise that benefits from a performance of dignified humility by Nickolai Salcedo, some admirable support playing and the excellence of Alexandria Cook's production design and the efforts of a quintet of cinematographers.

Last weekend, the Brazilian football team wore white shirts in the opening game of the Copa America. It was the first time since the 1950s that the national side had sported this colour. Some felt it was an effort to spark interest in a home tournament that had not caught the public's imagination, while others saw in the move a conscious attempt to reconnect with supposedly more innocent times at a time when domestic politics under ultra-conservative president Jair Bolsonaro are mired in crisis. In these circumstances, Netflix couldn't have better timed the release of Petra Costa's documentary chronicle of recent Brazilian history, The Edge of Democracy.

Petra Costa was 19 when Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was voted into power at the head of the Workers' Party in 2002. She opens this account, however, with Lula's arrest on corruption charges and the impeachment of his successor, Dilma Rousseff. As the camera roves slowly around the Palácio da Alvorada in Brasilia (the presidential residence designed by Oscar Niemeyer), Costa laments that the experiment with democracy, after decades of dictatorship, seems to have been nothing more than a dream. She reflects on the role played by her own parents in opposing the military rulers in the 1970s, when they had to go into exile in the south after serving prison terms. 

The 33 year-old Lula also did his bit during the 1979 strikes by the Steelworkers' Union and he stood for president three times before winning in 2002, after reaching out to compromise with big business. We see footage of Costa and mother Marilia on the eve of the ballot. But, while she and Brazilian democracy are roughly the same age, her hopes that they would both be stable in their thirties have largely been dashed. 

While Lula got 61% of the vote, he didn't command a majority of Senate seats and, in a bid to forge a coalition, he became enmired in the Mensalão corruption scandal. She doesn't approve of his deal with the oligarchical PMDB party, but can't deny the speed and efficacy of Lula's domestic reforms, as Brazil rides the 2008 financial meltdown to become the world's seventh biggest economy. Barack Obama called Lula `the most popular politician on earth', but there were dissenting voices and the discovery of an oil source that seemed like a boon was about to become a curse, as Rousseff, an ex-guerilla fighter who had endured torture during her imprisonment by the military, was elected president as his designated successor in 2010. 

Seven years later, Costa and mother Marilia Andrade despair at the decline of democracy. They meet Rousseff for an interview and she recognises that she has much in common with Marilia, but envies her anonymity, as it allows a kind of freedom that she will never know again. When Lula and First Lady Marisa Letícia left office on 1 January 2011, he had an 87% approval rating. But Rousseff had to agree to PMDB leader Michel Temer becoming vice president and Lula conceded that `If Jesus came to Brazil, he would have to make an alliance even with Judas.'

We see footage taken by Costa's grandmother of the building of Brasilia, which President Juscelino Kubitschek hoped would give the country a fresh start away from the elites of Rio de Janeiro. But, for all its symbolic architecture, the new metropolis was cut off from the people and the cement holding the country's fragile democracy began to crack prior to the seismic shift caused in June 2013, when a protest about a rise in bus fares brought millions on to the streets making different demands, but acting like a kind of Brazilian Spring. Costa curses that things would never be the same again and cites Rousseff's decision to challenge the country's bankers by cutting interest rates as the spark that ignited the conflagration. 

This radical move did not have the desired effect, as the economy started to slow down and, in a bid to arrest her sliding popularity, Rousseff fast-tracked anti-corruption laws that would have a tsunamic effect, after Operation Car Wash turned its attention to Petrobras. Federal Judge Sérgio Moro announced findings linking the oil giant to construction companies and the main political parties. As those indicted could be held in prison without trial until they provided helpful evidence and the testimony of prominent businessmen led to the arrest of numerous politicians, including those from the Workers' Party. 

Rousseff was criticised for not intervening, but she had the 2014 election against Aécio Neves of the PSDB party to consider. He is a distant cousin of Costa's and she scarcely hides her contempt, as she describes his refusal to accept defeat and his support for the growing movement calling for Rousseff's impeachment. Social media plays a key role in whipping up enthusiasm for street protests whose right-leaning agenda and often intimidatory tactics avoid press censure. Rousseff makes mistakes that plunge Brazil into recession and her approval rating plunges to 9%. But her removal from office was unprecedented and her downfall was linked to Lula's arrest under Car Wash and the release of a phone conversation that made it look as though Rousseff was making Lula her chief of staff to give him immunity from prosecution. 

Among those denouncing this move were lawyer Janaina Paschoal, who claimed to oppose Brazil becoming a Snake Republic. Yet she was part of the team that drafted the impeachment rubric and Costa also accuses former Lower House speaker Eduardo Cunha (a once vehement opponent of what he considered tantamount to a coup) of supporting Rousseff's removal in revenge for her refusal to back his mandate in Congress. Costa interviews several members of the House from a range of parties and they offer varying insights, but all concur that Rousseff would be safe if she had not rubbed up so many special interests groups the wrong way and bungled the running of the economy. 

Costa points to her own family to highlight how divisions are driving the country apart. Her father had left for America before the military coup in 1964 and had returned having received a Marxist political education that won him her mother's heart. But, while they were railing against the dictatorship, the Andrade Gutierrez construction company profited enormously from government contracts and, thus, left the Costa clan on opposite sides of the spectrum. We see speeches from the debate on 17 April 2016 to oust Rousseff and, with emotions running high, Cunha's motion is overwhelmingly carried. 

During his speech, ex-army captain Jair Bolsonaro paid tribute to the dictatorship's most feared enforced, Colonel Carlos Alberto Brilhante Ustra, to put Rousseff in her place. He denies accusations that he is a fascist and declares himself to be a hero whose star is rising. As violence erupts in the streets, the Senate suspends Rousseff for 112 days before she can be tried and Temer is made Interim President. He appoints an all-white male cabinet and Neves is among those celebrating his elevation. 

Unsurprisingly, Costa considers this the revenge of the dictators, whose crimes had gone unpunished during the democratic era for fear of rocking the boat. But, as she finishes filming at the presidential palace, she finds a plaque that lists the Andrade construction company among those thanked for work during the restoration and notes that several of its directors had been jailed in 2015 on corruption charges. Marilia claims that they were thrown to the wolves so that other corporate sectors could be spared prosecution, as Car Wash was hijacked to destroy Lula, Rousseff and the Workers' Party. Ally Gilberto Carvalho admits mistakes were made in becoming dependent on big business for campaign donations when they should have retained their links to the poor. 

Only a few weeks into Temer's administration, audio emerged of Senator Romero Juca discussing with oil executive Sergio Machado how to end Car Wash by jettisoning Rousseff. There is an outcry in certain sections of the media, as it's pointed out that almost half of the body that voted against Rousseff is being investigated under the corruption proceedings. Senate speaker Renan Calheiros sees no problem, however, and the final trial begins on 29 August. Rousseff speaks with dignity at twice surviving death only to witness the demise of democracy, with Neves and Paschoal among those to berate her. But Costa dips away from the Senate to chat to those cleaning the palace in preparation for the new incumbent. One woman guesses that Rousseff did enough wrong to be removed, but she suspects that all politicians are as bad as each other and believes that the people have been by-passed in the process and that her vote has been rendered worthless. 

Two weeks after the impeachment, Car Wash prosecutor Deltan Dellagnol accuses Lula of being the mastermind behind the corruption scheme, just as he announces that he is going to run for the presidency in 2018. Yet the best they can manage by way of tangible evidence is a rumour that Lula had been given an apartment by a construction company.  We see a well-scrubbed underling claim that the fact there is no proof of ownership makes it likely that Lula has tried to hide his association to the property and Costa sneers at the stupidity of the charge, while regretting the fact it was accepted by his opponents. 

In February 2017, the steelworkers take to the streets again to attend the funeral of Lula's wife after she suffers a stroke four months after being indicted on the same count as her husband. Three months later, Lula and Moro meet for the only time and the former's contempt for the latter is evident, as he questions his tactic of basing a prosecution on innuendo and lies rather than hard facts. Yet, Lula is sentenced to nine and a half years for corruption in office, only for the appeal court to increase it to 12 years after an indecently hasty hearing. Lawyer Geoffrey Robertson denounces the Brazilian justice system and questions whether a prosecutor should also be the judge who delivers the verdict. 

Shortly after this, a leak exposes a conversation between Temer and meat packing tycoon, Joelsey Batista, in which he admits he can't live in the presidential palace because it unnerves him. He also mentions being afraid of Cunha making a plea bargain after being jailed for 15 years for corruption. Audio also emerged of Batista discussing hush money and more drastic silencing measures with Neves, who uses his position to wriggle out of a scandal. A couple of months later, the Senate voted narrowly against recommending an investigation into Temer's conduct, as it was deemed bad for democracy to keep changing presidents. 

This debate cost a small fortune and flew in the face of an 80% public demand for Temer to be charged. But the Senate and the Stock Exchange celebrated, as he was doing exactly what they wanted him to do in selling off oil reserves to foreign companies, curtailing anti-slavery laws and imposing austerity measures that hurt the poor. Costa was disgusted by the flagrant way in which the right used its power to manipulate the political system to serve its interests and she bemoans the fact that Brazil's democracy appeared terminally sick. The street protests against Temer seem to support her view.

Six months before the presidential election, Lula leads with 31% over Bolsonaro's 14%. However, in promising firearms for all and a return to old-fashioned Christian values, he claims to be the only person who can restore order and a portion of the elite is won over to his cause. The Supreme Court then votes by 6:5 for Lula to be deprived of his liberty during his ongoing appeals. The next day, Moro demands that Lula surrenders himself to the prison authorities. He opts to remain inside the Steelworkers' HQ in Curitiba and Costa is reminded of Warren Buffett's quote about the elite waging and winning the class war. But Lula has memorable words of his own, when he explains to a large crowd why he is going to turn himself in. He wants his opponents to see that they can stop him, but not the ideals and dreams he shares with his people and that, while they can kill a few roses, they cannot stop the arrival of spring.

Six months later, Bolsonaro wins the election and Temer places the sash of office over his shoulder. Moro is made Minister of Justice. One of the revellers on the streets wears a Donald Trump mask and Costa ends with a chilling summation that applies to our own country, as well as others in which populism is gaining a deadening grip. She recalls the maxim about democracy only working when the oligarchs are too afraid to impose their own will before wondering where Brazil will end up when its future looks as bleak as its darkest past. What scares her most, however, is that the slipping of the mask of civility reveals nothing more than the true face of the people.

This is less a film than an education. Costa claims Gillo Pontecorvo and Chris Marker among her influences, but this is a work of Third Cinema to tank alongside Patricio Guzmán's The Battle of Chile (1975-79). Its tone resembles that of Ava DuVernay's 13th (2016) in its calm clarity and precise potency. Such is the significance of her message that Netflix should make this available online for free, so that those who cannot afford a subscription can listen, learn and lobby before we all sleepwalk into a nightmare from which there is no turning back. 

There's no point trying to pretend that this is an impartial analysis. as Costa makes it abundantly clear where she has nailed her colours. But her control of the archive material, the drone shots of Brasilia and the handheld footage shot at close quarters to the main players by her own crew is outstanding. Moreover, her voiceover retains an authoritative composure that encourages hearers to think about what she is saying, as her own family's complex involvement in Brazil's ongoing woes confirm how difficult it can sometimes be to think and do the right thing. In places (notably those involving the crux of the Car Wash investigation), she takes an intimate knowledge of the country's recent history for granted and a little background reading might be needed to lock the pieces into place. However, this is one of the benefits of watching a film like this online, as viewers can pause, tap in unfamiliar characters and concepts into their browser, and return to the action with a clearer perspective.

The ease with which facts can be manipulated or even disregarded by people in power is one of the most depressing developments of recent times. Donald Trump is not alone in recognising the benefits of dismissing uncomfortable truths as `fake news', however. Nor is he the only world leader to marginalise the media through discrediting or censoring it. But citizen journalists are proving harder to silence and, as Dutch director Hans Pool reveals in this week's Dochouse offering, Bellingcat: Truth in a Post-Truth World, certain cabals are beginning to acquire the know-how, resources and reputation to hold regimes to account with a credibility that has prompted traditional outlets to copy their methods. 

Named after the story about a mouse seeking somebody brave enough to put a bell around a predatory feline's neck, Bell¿ngcat (as its logo reads) was founded in Leicester by Eliot Higgins, who decided that the truth behind the majority of news stories was available online if you took the time and trouble to look for it. Pioneering this `open source' style of citizen journalism, Higgins recruited like-minded individuals to join his team and they include American Aric Toler, Finnish military expert Veli-Pekka Kivimäki, Syrian Archive founder Hadi Al-Khatib, German visual artist Timmi Allen, and award-winning Dutch investigator Christiaan Triebert. As a caption quoting Michel Foucault's maxim about truth belonging to freedom rather than power is backed with a news clip of Barack Obama promising to get the truth out there, Pool begins following the cases under Bellingcat scrutiny and questioning why there is a need for such an organisation in supposedly enlightened times. 

Having been laid off from his office job, the thirtysomething Higgins was sufficiently computer savvy to realise that there was a good deal of information being overlooked by news gathering bodies in social media and websites like YouTube and Google Earth. Consequently, he started looking at the material hidden in plain sight to investigate incidents like the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in July 2014 and the Charlottesville Riots in August 2017. While in transit to give a lecture in Amsterdam, the self-proclaimed nerdishly shy Higgins shows Pool how he used footage of a brutal assault on a black onlooker to isolate recognisable faces and then use social media profiles to identify the individuals wielding the clubs. 

Professor Jay Rosen of New York University and Professor Claire Wardle of First Draft explain how the rise of the Internet has placed enormous power in the hands of an audience that once passively received news from trusted print and broadcast outlets. Wardle warns, however, that humanity is in danger of imploding because social media has reflected its worst aspects back on itself. She lauds the Bellingcat crew because they work from home without security and take enormous risks in seeking to expose the dark deeds of some of the world's most powerful players. 

Higgins demonstrates the Geolocation strategy he devised while using background details to determine the area near Raqqa in Syria where American journalist James Foley was murdered by ISIS in 2014. But Kivimäki reveals that Bellingcat came about when he got in touch with Toler, Allen and Higgins while discussing the shooting down of Flight MH17. As Toler spoke Russian and had dealings with the region through his work at a bank, he became a useful connection, while Allen had plenty of time at home because he was caring for his severely disabled daughter. 

Rosen suggests that while bodies like the BBC have a brand name that audiences opt whether to trust or not, citizen journalism dispenses with traditional notions of trust and relies on transparency to make a case. Freed from any institutional restrictions, they can publish what they want at their own risk and back it up with irrefutable source material. Wardle also points out that people tend to have an emotional rather than a rational response to information. Moreover, if they see something that reinforces a preconception, they are unlikely to verify it. Thus, while Al-Khatib started out doing open source analysis of the market bombing in the Syrian town of Atarib in November 2017, he soon came to learn that a lot of footage that had been accepted as genuine was actually bogus. He shows how an image of a boy being shot in what was claimed to be a Syrian street had actually been filmed in Malta and didn't feature a fatality at all. 

Alexa Koenig from the Centre for Human Rights praises bodies like the Syrian Archive because they find online posts containing crucial information before they are taken down and store them for future use in investigations and prosecutions. Allen also plays a key role in assessing these images, as he can use them to create 3-D environments that enable him to gain virtual reality access to otherwise unreachable sites. As a former office worker for the Stasi in East Berlin, Allen is keen to expose what governments want to keep secret and he is proud of the fact that Bellingcat serves the people and not states. Noting that the Syrian conflict is the most documented in history, Al-Khatib is similarly enthused by the man-hours that his colleagues put into stories that cash- and time-strapped news agencies can no longer afford to do. 

However, the Assad regime and its poodle media have sought to discredit the Bellingcat team as armchair amateurs, who admit to having no knowledge of weapons outside what they have seen in video games and Sylvester Stallone or Arnold Schwarzenegger movies. The Russia Today channel also tried to claim that Higgins was a trouble maker out of his depth. But the way Toler takes us through video footage of the Buk transporter passing along a road in Ukraine with corroborating Google Earth evidence suggests that these guys know what they are doing and that their methods are easily teachable and transferable to mainstream media newsrooms. 

There is nothing accidental about Bellingcat's style of journalism and Pool follows Geolocation specialist Triebert to a Dead Sea resort in Jordan to give a talk to Arabic journalists about how disinformation is used online. He shows how the Russians used a clip from a video game to accuse the United States of involvement in the Syrian conflict and Wardle concurs that the Kremlin uses `fake news' to try and destabilise both NATO and the European Union. As Triebert shows how he found footage of a faked car bombing after it had been covered by Reuters and the Associated Press, veteran reporter Aidan White of Ethical Journalism claims that the current state of news gathering is deplorable, as the decline of newspapers has depleted the numbers of those who would previously have fact-checked stories before they were published. 

Wardle and Rosen echo the lament that the crisis in conventional media has made it easier for the likes of Assad, Putin, Trump, Erdogan and Kim Jong-un to mislead and fabricate, while also denouncing journalists as peddlers of sleaze. The Russians have targeted Bellingcat, with Allen describing how a defamatory e-mail was circulated in a bid to undermine his credibility. But he now believes that Bellingcat is so large and effective that he has no cause to fear for his safety, as there is no point in trying to eliminate him. 

The other members seem equally fearless. As Kivimäki visits a military museum to sit inside a Buk carrier, Toler explains how he easy it was to use social media to determine that members of the 53rd Brigade were sent from Kursk to the Ukrainian border because many of the troops are young men with mothers and girlfriends who share information about their movements without thinking of any confidentiality consequences. Moreover, they used voice comparison software to identify one of the officers involved in the operation from communications with a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) inquiry. 

Another case that Bellingcat has been actively involved with is that of Libyan Mahmous Al-Werfalli, who has been captured on film committing numerous executions in and around Benghazi. He became the first person to have a warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court in The Hague on the basis of social media evidence and Koenig commends open source groups for gleaning material from Facebook and Twitter and preserving it so that it can lead to justice being served. 

However, as Rosen notes, the more important that Bellingcat becomes, the more its enemies will seek to discredit or damage it. When Allen goes quiet for a while, Higgins sends Al-Khatib to Berlin to check he's okay. Eventually, he receives a text from his daughter revealing that he had been in a coma for a few days and is now making a steady recovery in hospital. But she advises against paying him a visit and Al-Khatib is distressed that a colleague he knows so well from their online contact is uncontactable in a time of need. 

Meanwhile, Higgins flies to Holland to see JIT chief investigator Wilbert Paulissen agree with their finding that the 53rd Kursk were involved in the shooting down of MH17. He admits that it took a while to get used to taking evidence from online sources, but acknowledges that JIT would never have been able to reach its conclusion without following the Bellingcat lead. The next day, despite Paulissen's misgivings, Higgins is joined by Moritz Rakuszitzky in giving the group's first-ever press conference to release the name of one of Russian officers directly involved with the operation.

Such investigations are done on meagre resources and without remuneration and Higgins admits his bank account has been taking a hit. Moreover, he has no qualms when Triebert wins a European Press Prize and accepts an offer from The New York Times to teach journalists how to conduct open search inquiries. However, he concedes that he isn't able to publish findings in such detail, as he has to appeal to a mainstream audience and has to make things accessible. But Bellingcat's extending reach is confirmed by the inclusion of a Newsnight interview with Rakuszitzky after Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov - the Russian nationals who had denied any involvement in the Salisbury poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal - were exposed as GRU agents Alexander Mishkin and Anatoliy Chepiga. 

As the gang meet up for a barbecue in Allen's back garden after he makes a full recovery from meningitis, Rosen and Wardle worry that fake news has started to turn people away from the traditional media and begin taking their information from those with similar convictions. This makes them easier to corral and convince and they hope that the Bellingcats of this world can step into the breach and restore faith before it's too late because the democratic principles we have long taken for granted are coming under threat and will have to be fought for. 

Closing captions reveal that Bellingcat now has 10 full-time employees and dozens of volunteer investigators. It also has 100,000 Twitter followers, while its website is visited more frequently with every new case. Given that this film is being released two days after international arrest warrants were issued for four suspects in the MH17 case, it seems clear that this band of brothers (and sisters - although only Higgins's wife is shown here) also has the wind of fortune blowing in its favour. 

While Pool has every right to focus on Bellingcat's successes, it might have been wiser, in the interests of balance, to mention a couple of false leads or failed investigations. Perhaps a focus on the greatest hits was the price Pool had to pay for such extensive access to the coterie's principal players, whose modesty and refreshing ordinariness leads one to hopes that none will wind up as a long-term guest of a Latin American embassy. However, he might also have followed up Rosen and Wardle's concern about the future of impartial institutional reporting by including interviews with staffers at a couple of respected newspapers or TV newsrooms. Similarly, it might have been instructive to hear from someone at Facebook, Twitter or Google about the roles that their platforms play in both the dissemination of fake news and the open source retrieval of damning evidence. 

Nevertheless, notwithstanding the overuse of cornball cutaways to the world's current supervillains whenever Pool wishes to point a finger, this is a considered and capably constructed picture that should serve as a useful recruiting tool and/or an inspiration for the foundation of copycat collectives. What it won't do, however, is help save the papers that had, for so long, held power to account in the Western democracies. With sales plummeting and so many titles now being part of the portfolios owned by the very oligarchs that wish to gag them, one has to wonder how much longer they will be able to reach and influence a readership large enough to resist the onrushing tide.