THE NEW YORK TIMES -- “It’s an essential part of our total cultural history: the face as window, the core of our identity, the most distinguishing feature of the body,” said Bill Nichols, professor emeritus at San Francisco State University and a pioneer in the field of documentary studies. “When you have a lack of the actual face, in most cases it will induce a sense of disturbance.”
But “Welcome to Chechnya” could represent the introduction of a new kind of “soft mask,” one that hides a subject’s identity while still allowing for a complex emotional attachment. Nichols said he was won over by France’s film. “It’s a huge enterprise but I think it works,” he added. “It allows us to feel that whammy of: This guy was beaten up and tortured and electrocuted and I am seeing him — him being his ‘face’ — bare his soul.”