What are the ethics of surveillance? And who is being surveyed? These are some questions I was left with after watching Kirsten Johnson’s film “The Above”. A second viewing was helpful; at the end KJ included the U.S. Army 1st Brigade After Action Report: they recommended keeping a surveillance blimp flown above Kabul at all times, even if the camera was broken. People act different when they believe they’re being watched. KJ’s use of this statement only at the end of the film reminded me of something she said to us last week. In her filmmaking, she said she doesn’t like telling the audience what to think/feel. Rather, she hopes they learn how to watch a film during the viewing. I felt she employed that technique with “The Above”. I discovered how I felt watching the surveillance blimp as KJ showed me just how many places it reached and just how mundane its footage must be. Mostly people living their ordinary lives; or at least as ordinary as possible under constant surveillance. It almost reminds me of 1984– Big Brother is always watching. And that mantra is most effective as a ever-present feeling: something that doesn’t necessarily need technological follow-through. KJ allowed viewers of “The Above” to relate to that feeling by putting us mostly in a position of looking up at the balloon, on the ground with the people of Kabul. Going a step further, she showed us what it would look like in suburban America. Asking us to fully relate to a feeling of being watched.