Rhetorical Analysis: No Visible Trauma Documentary

Rhetorical Analysis: No Visible Trauma Documentary Mount Royal University GNED 1403-001: Writing in a Digital Context April 8, 2022 Rhetorical Analysis: No Visible Trauma Documentary Marc Serpa Francoeur is one of the writers and directors of the documentary No Visible Trauma (Francoeur & Uppal, 2020). He is a documentary filmmaker and interactive producer who focuses on lifelong interests in diversity, social justice, and immigration issues. He has produced various interactive and linear documentaries since 2013, including The World in Ten Blocks in 2016, which DOC NYC listed as one of the top twelve nominations for the Oscars in the documentary category. Robinder Uppal is a documentary cinematographer, editor, and filmmaker and holds an MFA in Documentary from Ryerson University. He has created documentary films in Canada, Central America, and India. He was born and raised in Calgary to parents from India, and his current focus on interactive storytelling and documentary is based on a long interest in issues of multiculturalism and diversity. Francoeur and Uppal founded Lost Time Media, which has produced various interactive and linear documentaries since 2013. The two directors made Haven, which focused on North America's initial prescription program for heroin and won an award for short documentary. Francoeur and Uppal wrote and directed the documentary No Visible Trauma, which exposes the police brutality and lack of accountability in Calgary. The primary audience of the documentary is the general public and policymakers. The documentary aims to reveal the lack of police accountability and police brutality in the city of Calgary. Police accountability involves holding individual police officers and law enforcement agencies responsible for effectively providing essential services of maintaining order and crime control while treating people fairly within the law bounds. The general public needs to be informed about police brutality and racial injustices to push the policymakers to take a step in curbing it. The policymakers in Canada need to enhance police brutality. The public can engage in protests to make for change as we see law enforcement shoot innocent civilians and treat people unfairly against the law (Cinema Politica, 2020). The policymakers must create standard processes to hold police officers accountable and provide civil pay-outs to brutality victims. Laws must be put into place to ensure that the police department does not rehire fired officers who contribute to police brutality and racism and those officers who engage in any sort of police brutality must not be allowed to remain in the departments. Police departments handle complaints internally, which often reduces the accountability aspects as officers police their counterparts (Francoeur & Uppal, 2020). The time taken to charge officers must be reduced for any engagement in criminal conduct. The general public must push for change, and the policymakers must ensure that the bar of prosecuting and convicting police officers is greater than that of regular citizens. The documentary aims to expose and create awareness of the deeply troubled police department and show the negative consequences of unchecked police brutality. It vividly shows the Calgary Police shooting and killing citizens as well as kidnapping and beating a young immigrant from Ghana (Francoeur & Uppal, 2020). The documentary shows how unarmed persons are shot during wellness checks and reveals how the criminal justice system fails to hold police officers accountable for their actions. The abuse of power by people who have experienced it, such as Godfred Addai-Nyamekye is revealed throughout the documentary. It tells the story of victims of police brutality, especially people of colour who are beaten and assaulted (Francoeur & Uppal, 2020). The purpose is to ensure that police officers are held accountable and charged for breaking the law. The system is deeply flawed, where officers remain unprosecuted and do not face any charges for their actions. The documentary raises other issues of a miscarriage of justice and racism in Canada. People of colour have been discriminated against, particularly by police officers, and have faced excessive force being used upon them. The documentary shows the double standards of how the police officers are allowed to get away with crime, whereas the citizens are even charged for experiencing the brutality. As seen in the documentary Addai-Nyamekye is traumatized by police by being forced to defend himself against a charge of assaulting an officer (Cinema Politica, 2020). He spent years suing for damages for the post-traumatic stress and physical injuries he experienced. The same energy of accountability is not reciprocated when dealing with the police officers involved in the brutality and outright assault of individuals not resisting arrest and who are unarmed. The documentary's goal is to create awareness and create a close-up of how Canada's police use force and engage in criminal acts, such as switching off body cameras as they assault and beat up the suspects (Francoeur & Uppal, 2020). The film emphasizes the victim's experiences and legal failures to raise a more extensive conversation on excessive force and holding police officers accountable. The documentary shows authority figures who promote brutality, indicating that the Calgary police have deep problems with morale and credibility. The documentary was created in the middle of a global uprising against systemic racism and police violence. In 2020, there were demonstrations in the U.S. in every state and city, one of the largest and most widespread protest movements against systemic racism and police brutality. The documentary was created at a time when police brutality had struck a cognitive and emotional chord in the imagination of being beaten, shot, and killed by police officers. Police have dehumanized people of colour, and the protests have raised the awareness of racism and how black populations are targeted by police brutality. The uprising led to fiery multigenerational and multiracial rage showing how people of colour are disproportionately affected by police brutality (Cinema Politica, 2020). The documentary elevates the awareness of the denial of African humanity and the resentment from police officers. The documentary promotes the reclaiming of public memory and focuses on the holistic understanding of police brutality in Canada despite massive racism and police brutality not being associated with it. The film accelerates the conversation of excessive force and assault and the persistent injustices and inequalities. With the appeal of Kairos in mind, the timing of the documentary is perfect for showing that even in Canada, police brutality persists and the officers committing the crimes are not held accountable. The film is created at a time when change is needed in the police departments to ensure that authoritarian impulses, racism, and incompetence are removed. The police officers expected to uphold and implement the law are constantly breaking the law and not protecting the people they are expected to serve. The type of logic present in the documentary is cause and effect. Tsvetkov, Subocheva, and Ryazantseva (2021) argue that cause and effect logic provides evidence to indicate how something happened. It shows the connection between two things when one thing causes the other to happen. The documentary shows how the continued failure to take action against police brutality has created an environment of the continued assault on civilians. The police officers reported to engage in such criminal acts are dealt with internally, leading to officers' suspicion of policing their fellow peers (Francoeur & Uppal, 2020). It is impossible to see bias in areas where police officers are allowed to resign rather than being fired and charged for their crimes. The legal failures and injustices have led to the continued abuse of power, assault, and killings by police officers. Calgary has experienced continuous failure of police accountability, leading to a rise in the number of police killings. There is a cause-and-effect relationship where recruits learn from their superiors and experienced officers to commit a crime and get away with it. The directors have presented information from both sides of the argument by showing the side of the police and the victims. The film documents the story of the victims involved in police brutality as they recount their encounters with the police. The film reveals the experiences of the victim and the legal failures. It begins with the desperate call of Addai-Nyamekye to 911, calling for help. Addai-Nyamekye had his car stuck in the snow, and when the police showed up, he beat him and drove him across time, and dumped him in a strange area at -28o C (Francoeur & Uppal, 2020). The police show up and beat him, and photographs show Addai-Nyamkeye's cut lip and bruised eyes. The police reports indicate that the victim had no visible trauma. The film provides video from camera footage evidence efficiently illustrating the issues of assault and the fragility of self-defence claims from the police officers. The documentary involves statements and press conferences from the police departments addressing the global problem of police on how they don't trust their communities. A former police chief, Roger Chaffin, talks extensively about the responsibilities of the badge and the shame of abusing it (Francoeur & Uppal, 2020). The directors interview Calgary's new police chief, Mark Neufeld, who provides the wrong apple argument. The director represents no bias in presenting information as it seeks to involve all the participants of the events. The documentary uses different sources, including one-on-one interviews, media sources, and policy documents, to ensure that the police and victims share their side of the story. However, the film can be viewed as one-sided since no one defends the use of excessive force. Authority figures who appear in the documentary concur that the Calgary police force experiences severe issues with the police force and a lack of credibility (Cinema Politica, 2020). The film may be less successful when it lists individuals who declined interviews and uses doomy music. The primary mode of appeal to persuade an audience is pathos, i.e., it elicits emotions in the audience (Stucki & Sager, 2018). The documentary retells the stories from the victim's perspective and recounts the physical trauma and post-traumatic stress that the person experiences. The film opens with a desperate 911 call from the victim who has been abused twice by the police. The directors tell the story of Adai-Nyamekyes, Daniel Haworth, and Anthony Heffernan, whose encounters with the Calgary Police Service go wrong (Francoeur & Uppal, 2020). The documentary shows how wellness checks turn into the unnecessary use of force as unarmed individuals are shot dead even when people are asking the police not to shoot, as in the case of Heffernan. Heffernan is shot four times and killed. Haworth is arrested on suspicion of theft, and his skull is fractured in the assault, causing traumatic brain injury. The documentary tells the stories directly by interviewing the survivors and families and using security camera footage to show the police assault. The documentary efficiently refutes the argument of self-defence used by Lindsay's attorney during the trial (Francoeur & Uppal, 2020). The directors don't use any enormous stylistic flourishes because the horrors of police abuse are evident. Watching the victims tell their stories of the encounters with police and seeing police blatantly shoot an unarmed person during a wellness check evokes real emotions in the audience. The film type can be seen as realism, as the documentary relies on narrative and visual realism (Jalil, 2019). The story is grounded on reality and the visuals that match. The documentary creates the effect of reality with no changes or manipulation of everyday life. Realism supports the documentary as it provides a fundamental connection between police brutality and lack of accountability. Reality keeps the audience grounded and connected to what they see on the screen. Realism helps establish the message that police services need to change and be held accountable. The colour in the film makes the scene resonate with the audience emotionally (Jalil, 2019). The filmmakers shot raw still images of the victims delivering a maximized dynamic range and overall image quality. The colours are desaturated to match the emotions that the documentary intends to create with the audience. Music plays an essential role in developing the tone and theme of the documentary (Petrovici & Ivan, 2019). The background music evokes emotions in the audience. The music used in the documentary plays into the audience's emotions and is essential in establishing the sorrowful message of police brutality. The information is valid and worthy of a positive evaluation because it addresses a sensitive issue in society. Police brutality and lack of accountability are significant issues based on authoritarian enforcement and systemic racism. Suspects have been killed unarmed, and encounters with police have led to lifelong post-trauma for people who have experienced it. The government and police department must address the issue and take information from such documentaries to inform new policies and laws. The police officers must be held accountable, and the community needs to feel protected and not threatened by the police service (Francoeur & Uppal, 2020). The documentary directors have comprehensively looked at the issue using evidence from media coverage, police reports, and interviews with the authority figures and the victims. I have been persuaded by the argument that the police department in Calgary and Canada at large needs reform. The documentary reveals the horrific acts by people expected to serve the community. The film shows how victims of police brutality experience physical assault and emotional trauma after encountering the police. The documentary shows injustices, inequalities, and abuse of power that should be viewed with seriousness. The police can handle issues internally, which ultimately leads to miscarriage of justice. Evidence from security footage shows blatant assault of unarmed and surrendering civilians, yet the police officers are found not guilty of any charges. I have gained new insights into how systemic racism has a role in police brutality. People of colour are disproportionately affected by police brutality, which stems from white supremacy and the dehumanization of individuals of colour. Actions must be taken to ensure that the police who commit criminal acts are charged and held accountable to deter other police officers from doing the same. Lack of accountability perpetuates the system of crime within police departments, and individual police officers and agencies fail to take responsibility for their actions. References Cinema Politica. (2020). No Visible Trauma. Canada Council for the Arts. www.cinemapolitica.org/film/no-visbile-trauma/ Francoeur, M.S. & Uppal, R. (Directors). (September 18, 2020). No Visible Trauma [Film]. Lost Time Media. Canada. Jalil, M. A. A. (2019). The Use of Elements of Film Expression and their Role in Narrative Transitions. Al-Academy, (92). Petrovici, I., & Ivan, D. (2019). Film as Aesthetic Experience and Work of Art. Postmodern Openings/Deschideri Postmoderne, 10(3). Stucki, I., & Sager, F. (2018). Aristotelian framing: logos, ethos, pathos and the use of evidence in policy frames. Policy Sciences, 51(3), 373-385. Tsvetkov, V. Y., Subocheva, A. O., & Ryazantseva, M. V. (2021, November). Cognitive logic in management. In AIP Conference Proceedings (Vol. 2402, No. 1, p. 050050). AIP Publishing LLC.