All light everywhere5/27/2023 ![]() ![]() After the unnamed exec explains that having a taser pointed at a person affects their behavior, Anthony asks if that’s also true of the body camera: “Look at the effect it’s having on me right now: I’m dressed up, I’m more professional - I’m not cursing right now.” That last bit is intriguing - what is this guy like off camera? “Cameras are changing behavior just like weapons,” he continues, noting that they, “can change behavior in a very positive manner.”Īnthony peppers the film with curious photographical history, like Julius Neubronner’s pigeon-mounted cameras, developed in the early 20th century and a gorgeous predecessor to modern-day drone cams. One wonders how Anthony was given such unfettered access to Axon, but sometimes it seems like the featured exec isn’t aware how he comes off. This premise isn’t questioned on-screen, but it plays up to the plea for skepticism made early on. Axon has an open office setup, which the bland exec says encourages candor. The set up leads to material at Axon headquarters, with a cinematographer helping lead a company rep into the best photographic light this quickly brings home how everything we see is to some degree stage-managed. The results are never offered, but the meat of the movie is the answer: with a lot of complicated baggage. The film is framed by a study that purportedly examines how people react to media. But if a documentary can have set pieces, that’s what Anthony has done here, taking what could have been a cautionary infomercial for the Axon corporation, manufacturer of both body cams and tasers, into a chilling look at the surprisingly violent history of photography. Sure, we may be suspicious of how law enforcement uses cameras, but can we trust anybody to tell the truth with cameras? All Light, Everywhere covers some of this ground repeatedly, its message fairly clear from the outset. ![]() Yet Anthony, whose previous feature was the perhaps even bolder Rat Film, doesn’t position himself as a model of objectivity himself. The intent of this arc is obviously to cast doubt on law enforcement testimony, even with the evidence afforded by such cameras. Presenting a history of photography, Anthony draws a line from early devices like the photographic rifle to body-cams worn by police officers. On one level, the narrative here is clear. ![]() As surveillance technologies become a fixture of everyday life, Anthony interrogates the complexity of an ‘objective’ point of view, probing the biases inherent in both human perception and the lens.“You gotta understand – your perspective is different from mine.” Those words, spoken by a Baltimore resident reluctant to allow a drone surveillance company to operate in his neighborhood, seem to be the key to director Theo Anthony’s provocative non-fiction essay All Light, Everywhere. Drawing fascinating, frequently surprising connections between disparate subjects and ideas, All Light, Everywhere is grounded in Baltimore, depicting the communities most significantly affected by the more insidious applications of these technologies, while also exploring the filmmaker’s own relation to a technological weapon he himself wields: his camera. In a visually distinctive survey that traverses a long historical timeline, Theo Anthony connects contemporary usages of camera technologies within law enforcement and militaristic contexts with their historic precedents, proposing the idea that any camera can be a weapon, and often is. Focusing primarily on the use of police body cameras, All Light, Everywhere is a propulsive, kaleidoscopic essay film that explores the shared histories of cameras, weapons, policing and justice. ![]()
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