Documentary films have already had a deep year so far in 2021. While it may be tough to find a theater that’s dedicating screens to them, there’s some stuff well worth checking out. All Light, Everywhere is a provocative and alarming look at the nature of the relationship between cameras, the images they capture, and their observers in the context of surveillance and law enforcement.
What started out as a project about a high school film class in Baltimore veered way off course and some of that aimlessness found its way into the final product. There are probably three sets of parallel narratives in play, all pointing in the same direction but there’s a sizable amount of back-and-forth between them, including lengthy asides about the introduction of photography in astronomy. It’s foundational, for explaining the image-observer relationship, but it’s one of a few areas that could have been cleaned up in the editing room.
Director Theo Anthony had a bold vision for this project. The visual storytelling is compelling but there are also some visual effects shots and behind-the-scenes moments that maybe didn’t need to be in the final edit. There are also some strange, lifeless text overlays combined with voice narration that isn’t sequenced smoothly. Maybe that’s the point since the whole film is about how we observe images, but it felt unrefined in doing so. It stands out in that way, mixing a lot of B-roll with historical footage and imagery and the cinematography by Corey Hughes is quite strong.
Simply put, surveillance isn’t designed to help those being surveilled but it’s definitely sold that way. In the most detailed view, this film is a scathing teardown of the idea of police body-cameras as a measure of transparency and accountability. Examining the corporate approach, the manufacturing end, and the departmental side of the equation shows how the system is strategically designed to aid and protect the police, not the citizens.
There are a handful of things you can take away from this movie and I encourage everyone to do so and come to their own conclusions. This the kind of film that everyone should see because of the ramifications that this kind of surveillance technology and infrastructure has on our lives.
Recommendation: Go see it if you can and support local theaters, but it’s a viewing experience that would be well suited for the home.