Mira Nair in Uganda > Comments > "Review of Mira Nair in Uganda"
Piece Comment
Commenter Profile
- Alex van Oss
- Username: AlexvanOss
- Location: Washington, DC
- Joined PRX: Jan 24, 2004
Piece Information
- "Mira Nair in Uganda"
- Summary: A report on Mira Nair's efforts to develop independent film in East Africa.
1 comment
5 star: |
|
(1) |
4 star: |
|
(0) |
3 star: |
|
(0) |
2 star: |
|
(0) |
1 star: |
|
(0) |
Review of Mira Nair in Uganda
Alex van Oss
Posted on June 01, 2005 at 09:01 PM
Some months ago, I griped about how all public radio reports about Uganda seem to dwell upon AIDS, violence, or oppression. Now comes an exception--Tara Anderson's commendable feature about a pioneering filmmaker in Uganda.
Unfortunately, this piece relies too much on words. True, Anderson includes clips of actors and singers; but they seem token and fail to convey much atmosphere.
Especially for stories about far-away places, editors and reporters should throw away words, sentences, even paragraphs of precious text, or a whole voice cut, in order to allow time for sound. Consider: it is only through ambience, loud and clear (or soft but enduring), that a feature can breathe. More often than not, it is silence, or the pause for sound, that gives radio its power--rather than the wedging in of one more fact. This is true even in news reports.
End of sermon. I listen forward to Tara Anderson's next feature about Uganda.