This audio documentary is produced by Radio Netherlands (RN). It is produced and presented by Anna Yeadell and it runs for 00:29:30 minutes. This documentary is a producer’s quest for the artist who painted a picture left to her by her grandmother. Yeadell talks about how she discovered the 90 year old artist still painting with an incredible story to tell about how she survived the Second World War, her husband’s death and pursuing her dream.
I found this documentary to be very interesting because I got to listen to the artist talk about her life and her art, which I didn’t expect since she is very old. The documentary was very simple and only included interviews with a few people which make it very personal. But nevertheless, listening to this old lady telling her story, which is filled with lessons about life, was very insightful and touching. Her words were of wisdom, and I felt like the whole point behind this documentary is not the painting itself but the message behind it.
The sound quality was very good, all the voices were clear, except that I heard a shuffling sound when Ursula was talking, and towards the end of the documentary, in one of Ursula’s sound bites, I heard the sound of an airplane in the background. This shows that not much effort was put into the editing process. Natural sound was not used at all, except for some piano music which played in the background at the start of the documentary and ran for almost 3:20 minutes. It started playing again when Ursula brought up the subject of her husband’s death and the war and this set up a tragic atmosphere.
The narrator’s voice was really clear and was suitable for transition from one topic to another because it was youthful and clear, which is contrary to the interviewee’s voice, I felt like she was putting a lot of effort to talk. But, Ursula’s voice is so expressive and underlines this whole nostalgic mood.
I felt like the documentary was too long for such a topic, especially that only two people were interviewed. It included a lot of sound bites of Ursula, which is understandable since the documentary is about her, but they could have been shorter. Towards the end, it was hard to concentrate on what she was saying because she was struggling to pronounce her words.
The documentary begins strongly, they start with a sound bite of Ursula, which compelled me to keep listening because her voice is expressive and has this very sad and frustrated but asserting and determined feel to it. Although this documentary features a 90 year old woman who’s life is close to an end, the ending of the documentary leaves the listener full of hope and provides the listener with some very compelling words of advice: “you must not stand still because that means going back, you must always go forward, and that’s what I try to do,” said Ursula.
http://www.prx.org/pieces/1626-rn-documentary-the-girl-at-the-window
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