Stories we tell (2012) By Sarah Polley

In class we watched a film called stories we tell by Sarah Polley. This documentary film was different to any other documentaries that I had watched before as I mentioned before I am a fan of the typical television documentary.
This story documented the life of film maker Sarah polleys mother Diane who was an aspiring actress. The story is told via interviews with other members of Sarah's family, the questions are simple but Sarah often asks her Brothers and Dad to repeat themselves which was a useful technique in order to portray the areas of significance to the viewer.
This family have their 'dirty laundry' made public with the making of this documentary. I feel that is very well constructed with the use of archive footage and each other the members of the family telling their story just as they remember it so that there is no 'one and only view' this is significant as some people say there are two sides to every story but this documentary gives us the story narrated by the people who were closest to Dianna and it has a very touching and personal touch to it.
 This is also heightened with the use of the archive footage, although some of it is staged it is very hard to tell as the flow of the story runs so naturally and smoothly. The footage, some real and some constructed helps the viewer to visualise a person or place or event- like we naturally do when we are being told a story. I like that this production has kept things 'simple' but is still very gripping with the use enigma which is built up as we hear the different peoples stories. This screening helped me to think outside the 'conventional' linear story telling methods.