Dogora: Ouvrons les Yeux

Dogora was filmed in Cambodia and focuses on the everyday life of the people: their travels, work, play and enjoyment. We see life both in the cities and in the countryside, and sometimes some very intimate pictures have been captured, particularly of the children.

Dogora was filmed in the early 21st-century Cambodia and focuses on the everyday life of the people: their travels, work, play and enjoyment, and it ignores the tourist attractions that Cambodia is, famously and infamously, renowned for.

We see life both in the cities and in the countryside, and sometimes some very intimate pictures have been captured, which make the film quite memorable, particularly of the children.

The film has a striking score by Etienne Perruchon, which was, in fact, composed first. I struggled all the way through trying to work out the language, only to find when researching later that the language was invented by the composer 🙂

There is some memorable imagery, photographed by Jean-Marie Dreujou in very wide-screen (2.5 : 1), which, given the movement in the film, is often very effective, though it makes it a little awkward on a computer screen.

But the really striking feature about the film is how the images have been so well set to the sounds, and the editing, presumably by Patrice Leconte, is extraordinary.