An average movie

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this flick but since I have a weak spot for Angelina Jolie and Clive Owen, I thought I should give it a try. Apparently, it was a financial and critical failure when it was released. Honestly, even though the whole thing was indeed rather misguided, I still don’t think it was that bad at all. Indeed, you can say whatever you want about Angelina Jolie, at least, she tried to make the mainstream audience a little bit more aware about some terrible things that happens in the third world. And indeed, it was really intriguing to see those humanitarian aid workers doing their job but, unfortunately, they had to wrap up a very conventional and unwelcome romantic plot to the whole thing. It is as if they didn’t trust that their main subject was interesting enough so they added some very underwhelming elements that you get from your typical Hollywood productions. Also, there was the all issue of the CGI dying baby. Indeed, there is a point in the movie, when they show a baby dying of hunger and since they obviously couldn’t show a real baby dying, they made a CGI one. It was a really unsettling sight and you really wonder if it was a good idea. It looks really fake so it feels a little bit weird but if it would have looked more realistic, it would have been probably even more creepy. Still, on the other hand, if you are dealing with this subject, should you leave out this aspect or confront the audience? To conclude, even though the whole thing was really flawed, it still provides enough food for thought and I think it is worth a look.

6/10