My apologies for firstly underlining the blindingly obvious; what happened to the director of 'My Brother's Bomber' (Ken Dornstein) was unarguably, indescribably tragic.
To lose a brother so young, and in such a horrific tragedy as the Lockerbie terrorist attack would surely be devastatingly traumatic for anybody, I've got a brother, and I couldn't imagine a childhood growing up without him. But with that in mind, I still thought the movie sucked.
Mainly the problem lies with the movie diluting too liberally with the documentary format, borrowing mannerisms from the more blockbuster-esk Crime / Thriller genre. For me, documentaries succeed most when they give their chosen subject matter center-stage; they entertain through informing. Illuminating the shadowy.
MBB is often guilty of choosing to follow the director's personal journey rather than focusing on the story. There are plenty of, 'looking pensively out the taxi window' shots, or meandering dialogue like, 'I decided to get on a plane to X to see if I could uncover the truth' about Y', or 'I should have confronted the Lybian official, but what good would it have done' (I'm paraphrasing here to avoid too many spoilers). I don't want vapid, inane, clearly orchestrated, nonobjective, pontificating, meandering 'character development' in a documentary. I don't care. Just get on with the story!
What's even more frustrating is that what's actually included in terms of interview footage feels a little underwhelming too, and it's difficult to fairly say if that's down to the erratic structuring of the film, or if there simply wasn't that much of merit to work with. There's a lot of filler. And it's my personal preference, but I'd prefer some meat to the film; substance over sizzle. Perhaps it's unfair to judge this alongside the other documentaries featured in the Storyville series, but meh, it doesn't stack up well.
Although the runtime is only 90 minutes, the film feels long, and as the conclusion winds up it lacks that special 'lasting bite' that is so crucial to the enjoyment of any film, it could have been shorter, it could have possibly excluded some of the pointless narrative, or maybe it shouldn't have been made at all? Regardless, it feels as though this film was decided to be made well before it was established that there was a full story here worth telling.
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