Children of Alcohol
1984 · 18m · Canada
Directed by Gil Cardinal
Genres: documentary, family
Tones: contemplative, tender
At a mountain campsite, young people whose parents drink heavily share anger and coping strategies, speaking openly about life inside alcoholic households.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Everyone expects the documentary to wallow in victimhood, but Cardinal lets these kids *argue* — they're mad, they're strategic, they're thinking — which is the opposite of the trauma-porn consensus docs usually settle for.
A formally restrained observational piece that inherits the lineage of direct cinema while respecting the subject's dignity; the editing knows exactly when to hold on a face and when to let silence do the work, and that's the mark of a filmmaker thinking in *sentences*.
The decision to film at eye level with the kids rather than from above them — to let the camera sit among them as a peer — reframes the entire ethical register of the doc and makes vulnerability feel like power instead of exposure.