Life in a Day

A friend shared this video on facebook called Life in a Day

 The concept for this documentary was that on one day, July 24, 2010, thousands of people all over the world recorded their days. The 4500 hours of footage was then collected and edited into a 90 minute movie that is at times funny, heartbreaking, and mundane.

Most of the footage is very high-quality and obviously shot by semi-professionals. What I found most interesting was the footage from developing worlds such as Afghanistan... the meaning of the film seems to derive mainly from juxtaposition. You get the petty concerns of upper-middle class life held up next to someone uncertain whether they will live through the day. But there's something beautiful in the mundane and trivial too. (as Ulysses shows us!) Many of the shots are just visually very striking. The film is also organized from midnight to morning, afternoon, and night again, so there's a bit of narrative thread and reoccurring characters.

My only qualm was that I had to turn away at a few moments of violence (mainly against animals). But I suppose if the film is being accurate about what it means to be human and to be alive, then the way we treat animals is a part of this.