When I was still in search for an Op-Doc to write about, I started watching “Gorillas in the Crossfire”. Most of the other documentaries that I had watched had left me disinterested after the first few minutes, but after seeing this scene in “Gorillas in the Crossfire” I knew that my search for an Op-Doc was over. This particular scene astounded me at the level of seriousness that it radiated. This was the first moment in the film where the audience could see the gorillas reacting to the horrific environment around them. As somber music played in the background, a mother gorilla and her baby embraced each other which stirred an array of emotions in myself. Another key element in the magnitude of this scene was the graphic text. It hurts me enough inside to see these animals living their lives in anguish, but to couple that with text describing their rapid rate of extinction was almost unbearable. I am an extremely big animal lover which was why I clicked on this documentary in the first place, but when I saw how awful the gorillas looked sitting in that forest, I understand not only the topic of my paper, but the way in which I would write it. By watching this particular scene, I knew that I wanted to write my analysis in a way that described how I felt at that moment; I wanted to write about the intense amounts of emotion that this documentary exuded.

When I was in the early stages of writing, and I mean so early that the only thing on my paper was my name, I struggled with finding clear evidence to support my thesis about the use of pathos in the film. I knew by watching the film that the pathos was there, but I couldn’t figure out how to write about what I was watching in an in-depth way. The next day, after a long, unsuccessful night in the library, Mrs. Forgette gave me a very valuable piece of advice which was to watch the film without sound and then listen without watching. At first this seemed very strange. After she said it, I kind of dismissed the idea, thinking that in no way it could help me. As I sat hopelessly looking at my computer later that night, I thought “Why not?” and decided to try Mrs. Forgette’s idea. After watching and then listening to the video, I was completely shocked at how much information and I had written down in my notebook. I literally had five pages worth of notes full of vivid examples relating to the visual and audio elements of the film and could only muster up a tiny paragraph in the two days before. Every single example that I incorporated into my analysis came from that night of watching and listening to the film.

My thesis discussed how the mountain gorillas of Congo were overshadowed during the war and that the filmmaker created the documentary to give a voice to the gorillas. It took me a while to find a photo that accurately depicted my thesis, but I don’t think that I could have found one better than this. This picture states that the gorillas are calling on us. They need us to be their voice and do everything in our power to protect them. Throughout the film, the filmmaker utilizes all aspects of the documentary in order to make the audience sympathize with the gorillas. His goal with doing this was to make us see how they lived their lives and realize how they need us to be their voice. This pictures is straight forward in telling the viewer what needs to be done.