Contre l'Oubli

Produced for the 30th anniversary of Amnesty International, this comprises 30 'film letters' concerning 30 cases of human rights abuse in 30 countries worldwide (though Greece and the UK are the only Europeans in the dock). Even here - especially here - auteur principles apply, and the imaginative minimalism of Depardon (Colombia) or the lucidity of Resnais (Cuba) prove more effective as argument, never mind as cinema, than say the glib Hubert (Greece) or self-conscious Leconte (Russia) segments. Least substantial are the straight-to-camera monologues, though a distraught Anouk Grinberg is moving on the persecution of Aung San Suu Kyi. Biggest impact is made by Martine Franck's piece, in which Henri Cartier-Bresson bears witness to the murdered children of Mauretania.