Archive for April, 2007

¿¡Revolución!?

Published
by
James McNally
on April 26, 2007
in Documentaries, Film Festivals and Hot Docs
. Closed

¿¡Revolución!?

¿¡Revolución!? (Director: Charles Gervais, Canada, 2007): A few years ago, I saw a documentary about Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez called The Revolution Will Not Be Televised. The filmmakers actually captured the events of a 48-hour-long coup in 2002, and I was riveted by the film and by the story of this small but oil-rich nation. Now Canadian director Charles Gervais has provided an update on how Chavez’s revolution is changing Venezuela.

In the earlier film, the opposition to Chavez seemed more organized and the situation on the ground more volatile. In the years since, there has been no further violence, the press has remained essentially free, and poor Venezuelans continue to benefit from generous programmes which have greatly improved health care and education.

The problem is that Chavez has continued to pick fights with the United States. He has blamed them for the 2002 coup and has hinted darkly that the U.S. is preparing a military invasion of his country to seize its oil reserves. In his efforts to break his country away from an unbalanced trade relationship, he has aligned himself with every anti-American government in the world, which seems patently unwise. But Chavez is a passionate man, and one gets the impression that he doesn’t often think too far ahead. His recent alliance with Iran’s smiling but hardline president Ahmadinejad seems especially dangerous.

Meanwhile, people on the streets seem to support him, with the caveat that no one wants to see him in power for 40 years like Castro. The opposition’s main jibe is that Chavez is importing his ideas from Cuba and exporting them all over Latin America. It is true that there has been a marked leftward swing in most of Latin America’s governments lately, and a few (Ecuador, Bolivia) have openly emulated Chavez’s platform. This is what irks the Americans the most, that they can no longer have the unfettered political influence in Latin America that they once had.

Gervais’ film uses an incident from 2005 as a philosophical starting point. In that year, Chavez gave away one million copies of Cervantes’ book Don Quixote, citing Quixote as the ultimate dreamer and man of action, a true revolutionary. Using brilliant animations and voiceover, the film uses Quixote to outline a ten-point plan for revolution, and then measures Venezuela’s progress. The last point is instructive: Becoming Expendable. It is here where are left at the end of the film. Chavez has done many great things for his country. But his personality cult is unsettling, and even some of his supporters seem worried that he’ll attempt to hang onto his power too long. It’s important to remember that Quixote was also seen as a fool by many people, and that some of his efforts caused more harm than good. Many revolutionary movements have stalled at this point, and it remains to be seen whether Venezuela can maintain its many successes without Chavez.

I approach Venezuela and Chavez from the same perspective as Gervais, as a hopeful sympathizer. His aims and achievements have been commendable; the man himself is a puzzle. The film seems to get the balance right, while communicating the passion and surprising political acumen of Venezuelan citizens from right across the socio-economic spectrum. Lively music and innovative use of animation and voiceover made this extremely polished film even more captivating.

Seville Pictures is distributing the film and it will receive a theatrical release on May 25th in Toronto (at the Royal Cinema). Watch for it.

UPDATE: I’ve now posted my own interview with director Charles Gervais when we spoke during Hot Docs.

Official site for the film

Q&A with director Charles Gervais from the Hot Docs site

8/10(8/10)

The Bodybuilder and I

Published
by
Brooke Smith
on April 24, 2007
in Documentaries, Film Festivals and Hot Docs
. Closed
Editor’s Note: In addition to Jay and myself, from time to time we’d like to feature some guest reviewers who can help us cover even more films than we can on our own. Brooke Smith is a professional journalist and movie buff, and best of all, she’s my wife. Hopefully, I can convince her to post a few more of her reviews.

The Bodybuilder and I

The Bodybuilder and I (Director: Bryan Friedman, Canada, 2007): I was looking forward to this documentary as I have been known to do a few bench presses at the gym. But bodybuilding was simply the backdrop for this very personal journey for a son and father.

Bill Friedman had been a bad husband, a workaholic and an absent father. But after a second divorce and a bout of depression, he quit his job at the law firm, headed to the gym and started pumping iron. In fact, he became a competitive bodybuilder.

Knowing this information from reading the synopsis gave me a bias. I didn’t like Bill. He was obnoxious, gruff and…well, let’s just say I felt for his son, director Bryan Friedman. I took Bryan’s side against an absent father who never had time for his kids, who was only looking out for number one, perhaps someone who didn’t deserve a son.

Yet, at a turning point in the film, when Bryan and Bill discuss the past, I realize that it takes two people to create animosity. Bryan has to let go of his anger. Ah, Bryan, get over it. Stop whining and blaming your dad for your problems.

As father and son journeyed to self-discovery, I journeyed with them. And I think that’s what makes the film very strong. Their feelings come right off the screen. The all-business dad and the woe-is-me son are human. And in between more comedic sections: Bill practicing his routine (for the bodybuilding competition), tanning or trying on his costume, the relationship is starting to develop through the bodybuilding, the sweat and the inevitable tears.

The father/son message comes through: although you can’t make up for lost time, life is too short to hold grudges. Forgive and forget and start anew. And that’s what Bryan and Bill are doing.

9/10(9/10)

UPDATE: The film was awarded Best Canadian Feature Documentary at the Hot Docs Awards ceremony held on April 27. Congratulations to director Bryan Friedman and everyone involved in the film.

Without The King

Published
by
James McNally
on April 24, 2007
in Documentaries, Film Festivals and Hot Docs
. 8 Comments

Without The King

Without The King (Director: Michael Skolnik, USA, 2007): Swaziland has a population of just over a million people, and 42.6% of them are HIV positive, the highest infection rate in the world. In addition, more than half the population live on less than a dollar a day. Meanwhile, as the last functioning monarchy in Africa, the king and his many wives live in luxury oblivious to the suffering of their people.

Director Michael Skolnik, just 28 years of age, has known Swaziland’s King Mswati III since 1999. After taking a Zulu language class at UCLA and discovering that his teacher was an advisor to the king, he became interested in the Kingdom of Swaziland and its unique political situation. As the king got to know Michael’s work as a filmmaker better, he asked him to make a film about him. So this could very well have been called “About The King.”

Instead, when Skolnik spent time in the country, he discovered the grinding poverty, the soaring HIV rate, and the people’s simmering anger. Mswati’s father, King Sobhuza II, banned all political parties back in the 1970s, and the king appoints the prime minister, the cabinet, and a third of the members of the largely ineffectual parliament. Despite claiming to make his decisions based on consultation with “the people” and their representatives, King Mswati doesn’t really seem to know what’s going on outside his lavish palace. He acknowledges that when he goes out on ceremonial visits, he knows that officials clean things up and hide the reality from him. And yet, he seems to do nothing. In the interviews Skolnik conducted with him for the film, the king, not yet 40, seems affable but without much substance.

In contrast, his eldest daughter, Princess Sikhanyiso, introduces herself onscreen by performing a rap. At the age of 18, she is about to leave Swaziland to attend college in California, and at the beginning of the film, she seems spoiled and self-centred.

We also are introduced to several local political activists who speak candidly and at great risk about their frustration with the lack of democracy. A new constitution is approved but without any input from the people, and political parties are still banned. The situation seems to be escalating, and politicians’ offices are being bombed.

Meanwhile, with time away from her sheltered lifestyle, the princess begins to see some of the real problems facing her country. She repeats what many others do in the film, that the Swazi people don’t want to get rid of the monarchy, that it’s part of their culture. The film’s title comes from something she says: “Without the king, we have no culture.” However, at least for now, with the king they have no justice.

By the end of the film, she’s begun to grow up a little, and with her sister accompanies the film crew to one of the many AIDS orphanages in the country. She seems genuinely moved, and vows to make some needed changes. One wants to believe her.

The truth is that between AIDS, poverty, and a brewing rebellion, Swaziland could extinct itself within a generation. This film might actually make a difference. Not by shaming western audiences into more donations, though I’m sure that wouldn’t hurt, but because of the director’s intimate access to the royal family. When they see this film, they won’t be able to ignore the urgent needs of their country, willfully or otherwise.

For that reason, it doesn’t really matter what I think of the film. For the record, I’d say that it was a well-made but not necessarily innovative film. The use of mournful music over the scenes of poverty bothered me a little. But just because of the potential of the film to make a difference to an entire country, I’m grading it a little higher. Let’s hope the king agrees with me.

Here is the Q&A with director Michael Skolnik from after the screening:


Duration: 21:32

8/10(8/10)

UPDATE: The film was awarded the Special Jury Prize International Feature Documentary at the Hot Docs Awards ceremony held on April 27. Congratulations to director Michael Skolnik and everyone involved in the film.

Miss Universe 1929 – Lisl Goldarbeiter. A Queen in Wien

Published
by
James McNally
on April 23, 2007
in Documentaries, Film Festivals and Hot Docs
. Closed

Miss Universe 1929 – Lisl Goldarbeiter. A Queen in Wien

Miss Universe 1929 – Lisl Goldarbeiter. A Queen in Wien (Director: Péter Forgács, Austria/Netherlands/Hungary, 2006): The title isn’t the only thing unwieldy about this film. Based on the old photos and films of Maritz (Marci) Tanzer, the film attempts to trace Marci’s love for his cousin Lisl Goldarbeiter, “the most beautiful woman who ever lived,” and Austria’s first Miss Universe. The action takes place over the course of their lifetimes, encompassing war and peace, Naziism and Communism, Austria and Hungary. There is a wonderful story in here, but I constantly found the way the film was constructed maddening and annoying. Film clips appear out of sequence, are repeated, and are purposely cropped or panned in such a way as to draw attention to the director. In addition, the grating soundtrack kept pulling me out of the story rather than drawing me in. The decision to narrate the film in English was ill-advised, also, since some of the narration isn’t translated correctly. For example, I highly doubt that Marci Tanzer was “captivated as a prisoner of war” by the Russian army.

Lisl was indeed a very beautiful woman, and Marci’s dedication to her is touching. There is value in Marci’s old films as a social history, and there is a good love story here. I just felt it wasn’t well-told.

5/10(5/10)

Protagonist

Published
by
James McNally
on April 23, 2007
in Documentaries, Film Festivals and Hot Docs
. Closed

Protagonist

Protagonist (Director: Jessica Yu, USA, 2007): I am SO tired right now, but I’m also glad that I made the effort to see this film. This was my third film of the day, and I had a gap of about three hours before it which made it very tempting for me to just go home and miss this. I’m very glad I didn’t.

Protagonist grew out of a meeting director Jessica Yu had with the two producers, who wanted her to make a film about the Greek playwright Euripedes. Intrigued by the idea, but not quite sure how to bring it to life, Yu read all of Euripedes’ plays over a summer, and came up with the idea of relating a recurring story arc through the telling of four modern-day real stories. She chose four men from different backgrounds who seemingly have nothing in common, and then as their stories unspool, she weaves them together with some dialogue from the plays, acted by specially-made puppets and using the original Greek language (with subtitles of course), and some innovative animated intertitles. If it sounds daring, it certainly is, but it works completely.

The four men are all “formers”: a former terrorist from Germany, a former kung fu fanatic, a former bank robber, and a gay former evangelist. Though I found myself wondering why she picked these particular men, they are all excellent storytellers, and as the film progresses, we see that their stories are all exploring common themes.

In each of the men’s stories, there was an effort to overcome their fragility as human beings in order to transcend what they considered their weakness. They aimed to be saints or supermen, and in all cases, they failed. The idealistic young political activist became involved in a botched terrorist operation that killed three people. The evangelist had himself convinced that his gay thoughts were gone forever. The abused child who took revenge on his father liked the feeling of power so much that he began to terrorize others. And the kid everyone picked on became powerful by following a martial arts teacher who taught violence by demonstration.

At some point, each of the men realized they were on the wrong path, and that their real selves had been fragmented or suppressed in some way. Despite their thrill-seeking behaviour, they had not transcended themselves, but only lost themselves. Each had to learn what manhood really meant, and in all cases, it meant humbling themselves and admitting that their previously-held certainty was a lie.

This was a somewhat challenging viewing experience, and trying to put all the threads together demands some work from the audience. It requires one to use a few parts of the brain that average documentaries don’t reach. You could say it’s a very artistic film, and I was impressed at how Jessica Yu is pushing the documentary form into new shapes, all the while maintaining the core value of telling interesting stories in an interesting way. Protagonist has been the high point of the whole festival for me, so far.

Here is the Q&A with director Jessica Yu from after the screening:


Duration: 13:18

Hot Docs programmer Myrocia Watamaniuk interviews Jessica Yu

Podcast interview with Joel Heller on Docs That Inspire

Official site for the film

10/10(10/10)

UPDATE (11/4/07): There is a trailer posted now on Apple’s site. As well, the film has a distributor (IFC Films) and a new poster (below). It opens on November 30th in some cities.

Protagonist