Der ehrwürdige W. (2017)
61KDer ehrwürdige W.: Directed by Barbet Schroeder. With Ashin Wirathu, U. Zanitar, Kyaw Zayar Htun, U. Kaylar Sa. A view of the religious tensions between Muslims and Buddhist through the portrait of the Buddhist monk Ashin Wirathu, leader of anti-Muslim movement in Myanmar.
“A pretty good documentary from Barbet Schroeder − a former Éric Rohmer collaborator who now makes factual films about awful people − dealing with Ashin Wirathu, the worldu0026#39;s naughtiest baby. Oh, OK, heu0026#39;s a Buddhist hate preacher. Whou0026#39;s eaten quite enough alms, by the looks of him.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eItu0026#39;s more a potted history of the path to genocide − with a bit of access and some intelligently-compiled raw footage shot by others − than an in-depth portrait of its subject, though itu0026#39;s an important story and a timely primer on an urgent humanitarian crisis.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAs a film, it might be more effective if it had taken the route of its trailer, which makes the Errol Morris-like decision to unveil The Venerable Wu0026#39;s toxic Islamophobia at the midway point, rather than leading with it.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIn the screening, a woman behind me tutted at everything from fascist rhetoric to burning bodies, as if otherwise weu0026#39;d think that she was endorsing the behaviour in the film.”
