Week 5 Screening 2.

Soldier Girls. (1981) Nick Broomfield. 87 min

DVD

Soldier Girls is a documentary that films the life of new female recruits in the American army over a period of time during the early eighties. It is shot in observational mode, with no voiceover commentary to guide the viewers outlook, the lack of commentary is supplanted by the viewers perspective. The film maintains the same tone throughout containing only a very subtle narative arc. A sargents extended pep talk is placed at the beginning of the film to serve as an introduction to the film for the viewer as well as to the new recruits.

Although shot in observational mode the subjects of the documentary visibly alter their behaviour due to the presence of the camera, eg giggling, singing, dancing. These scenes more than likely would not have happened if not for the presence of the camera. By focusing in on the women who are in distress or giggling they draw the squad leaders attention to them thus creating more of a scene and thus providing content. Taking into account the effect the presence of the camera has on the subjects, with no commentary and much activity onscreen the film is able to stick closely to representing the reality of what happened.

Due to the nature of the film footage the film is timestamped as from a different period, this has the strange effect of distancing the film from the viewer. It is therefore less shocking than if it were a contemporary film.

Filming the humiliation of the soldiers while taking what is needed for the film raised some ethical questions regarding the film and of documentaries generally. Wheter the subjects are being taken advantage of by being in the film is hard to discern without follow up interviews to determine what effect it has had on them. In the same way that the camera gravitated towards the girls who were standing out, the narrative also chooses to focus the documentary on the dysfunctional soldiers.

A revealing moment occurs when one of the recruits, who is leaving for good, says goodbye to both the cameraman and the sound recordist. She does so by name and with a hug indicating that personal relationships had developed between the subjects and the filmmakers. This calls into account the subjectivity of the finished film; on the other hand it was a conscious decision to leave the footage in the final edit of the film, the reflexive gesture suggesting degree of transparency. But once the film hits the cutting room floor it is impossible to discern its fidelity or honesty.