Best Documentary Short Film: Ranking Every Oscar Nominee
Written by Andreas Babiolakis
Last year, I may have complained about the documentary shorts that were nominated. I found the overall nominees boring to pretty good at best. I feel like this year’s nominees are stronger overall, and even the majority of the shortlisted nominations (outside of one or two examples) left more of an impact on me. The five candidates that made it this far are all worth checking out for various reasons, and I even feel more strongly about one particular short in hindsight than I did upon seeing it a month ago. Let’s rank the documentary short films from worst to best. Here are your nominees.
Biggest Snub: 38 at the Garden
Since I didn’t feel extremely connected with any documentary short this year that didn’t make the final cut, I will select 38 at the Garden, given my obvious bias towards this film (if you don’t know, I am a huge basketball fan). I lived through Linsanity: the multiple week streak of Jeremy Lin shocking the entire NBA. I feel like the short is well made, concise, uplifting, and nuanced enough that it’s more than just basketball: it’s a depiction of acceptance on a wider level.
5. Haulout
This is an example of one of my favourite pieces of advice in film (show, don’t tell, your audience information) where it actually backfires a teensy bit. I feel like a little bit of nudging would benefit Haulout: a documentary about the effects of ocean warming on all wildlife (particularly the walruses of the Chukchi Sea). We follow marine biologist Maxim Chakilev through his best efforts, and Haulout is more of an observation than a statement. I think most viewers that want to watch a film of this nature are aware of the global impact of humanity’s actions. I wish there was a teensy bit more being said here, because Haulout is quite meaningful, beautifully shot, and quite capable of being more impactful than I feel like it is.
Rating: 3.5/5
4. Stranger at the Gate
Stranger at the Gate sits us down with a traumatized marine that plans to shoot up a mosque before he gets a change-of-heart by talking with Muslims. It’s quite a daring documentary when you think about it, and there’s something very unsettling about interviewing someone that fully admits to what he had planned: an act of terror. Of course, we’re watching this marine once he became a changed man, and it is this confrontation that is eye opening: there’s proof if this veteran can change, then anybody can. Stranger at the Gate is a teensy bit synthetic with how it steers your emotional response, but it’s quite an interesting concept that I feel works well enough to at least warrant one watch.
Rating: 3.5/5
3. The Martha Mitchell Effect
I find documentaries that reveal new information about events we already think we know inside and out to be quite fascinating. The Martha Mitchell Effect sheds light on the titular whistleblower who was silenced again and again for speaking out during Richard Nixon’s years in office (particularly the Watergate scandal). Wife of a Cabinet member, Martha Mitchell is represented here via archival footage so she can finally be heard as she was meant to be. The Martha Mitchell Effect is a tad overlong (at forty minutes) and somewhat plain in tone, but it is so proud of its central figure (as it should be). You get really connected to someone that we should have known about this whole time, and The Martha Mitchell Effect is passionate about getting every single one of her words out.
Rating: 3.5/5
2. How Do You Measure a Year?
I felt a bit less interested with How Do You Measure a Year? when I watched it last month. I felt the experiment — the recording of a filmmaker’s daughter over the course of twelve years to document her changes in personality and interests — was a neat idea that maybe didn’t work as well as I would have liked it to. Having said that, I couldn’t shake the short off. It stuck with me. Suddenly, I was finding synergy between the specific questions and answers that director Jay Rosenblatt spliced together. I had to revisit How Do You Measure a Year? and I started to see what Rosenblatt was getting at: not a specific statement, but a discovery of all of the little parts that make a whole soul in the eyes of a father that watched his child age rapidly before his very eyes. You can’t savour every moment, but you can try your best, and How Do You Measure a Year? does more than just document a childhood: it fully realizes the years that can’t come back.
Rating: 4/5
1. The Elephant Whisperers
The Elephant Whisperers is only about one concept: a husband and wife that take care of their adopted elephant. It’s forty minutes long, but I could have watched this for another half hour. Seeing the many ways that the elephant is taken care of and loved was so nurturing to me. Many documentaries are pretty tough to watch because of the heavy subject matter that comes with them, but the challenges of The Elephant Whisperers is minimal. Most of this short is nourishment for the soul: a meditative examination of the devotion this couple has to their elephant. It is exquisitely shot and transcendental in tone. This is the kind of film that heals viewers, and if you need that kind of watch, then The Elephant Whisperers will instil faith in your heart and cleanse your soul.
Rating: 4/5
Who I want to win: I’ll go with The Elephant Whisperers. It really left an impression on me.
Who I think will win: I believe The Elephant Whisperers will take the top prize, but How Do You Measure a Year? also stands quite a chance.
Tune in tomorrow for our next Academy Award category! We’re reviewing every single nominee on every weekday.
Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management from Toronto Metropolitan University, as well as a Bachelors degree in Cinema Studies from York University. His favourite times of year are the Criterion Collection flash sales and the annual Toronto International Film Festival.