La poudre aux yeux

Directed by Maurice Dugowson

What do you do if you are a reporter with a deadline and you are going blind? This French drama answers that question. Arnold is a crack television reporter assigned to cover an uprising in northern Sri Lanka. Recently he has suffered great headaches and his eyes have been tired. Before leaving he has a doctor check him and is appalled by the diagnosis that he is going blind. If he goes to Sri Lanka, the stress could hasten his loss of sight. If he does not go, he will lose the assignment to a rival reporter. Instead of going, he locks himself in his Paris apartment and creates the documentary from a combination of new and old video footage. He suffers through many emotional outbursts in the process. The highlight of his video is a scene in which he, using complex computer-work, "inserts" himself into Sri-Lankan street situation. Though the documentary is excellent, Arnold is crushed when his editor demands the scene be deleted from the film because it slows the film down.