Editor’s Note: I’ve decided to begin posting some reviews of films screening at Hot Docs 2009 early, hopefully helping anyone attending make some decisions about what to see.
Antoine is screening on Tuesday May 5 at 7:30pm at the Royal Cinema and Wednesday May 6 at 4:30pm at the Cumberland Cinema.
Antoine (Director: Laura Bari): Six-year-old Antoine Houang will steal your heart. Blind since birth, Antoine nevertheless approaches the world with endless curiosity and enthusiasm. A poet in a tiny body, he spends his days playing a game of “private detective” investigating the disappearance of a certain “Madame Rouski.” Bari shoots the entire film from a kid’s-eye perspective and never intrudes. But she takes cinema verité to another level, resulting in a lush voyage into a precocious imagination. Although Antoine cannot see, the film itself is filled with bright colours and unforgettable images. The adventurous Antoine runs, skates, rides horses, (pretends to) drive a car, and more. Bari, an educator, collaborated with Antoine over a two-year period and let him choose the detective game as a structuring device. Her film was both a creative endeavour and an attempt to learn more about the process of personality formation in children. But that’s not explicitly spelled out in the film, nor need it be.
Entering Antoine’s world means you will listen as he takes calls from the elusive Madame Rouski on his cellphone, as he recalls his memories and his “non-memories”, and as he gathers his friends Mäelle and Juliette to help him investigate the case. A true collaborator on the film, Antoine chose sounds to record and is often seen wearing his headphones and carrying his microphone around. In between updates on the “case,” we see Antoine at home and at school, where he’s integrated in a regular Montréal classroom.
Some might wish this was a more traditional documentary, with more focus on his family or his teachers, but I was swept away by the intelligence and joy of this little boy and didn’t want to leave the world of his vivid imagination. That being said, the passing of time in the documentary (ie. the seasons, his sixth birthday, the end and beginning of the school year) pulled me out of the “plot” a little, and made me wonder how a child of his age could sustain a game for so long. It was only later that I learned that the game was something worked out between him and the filmmaker. That also makes me wonder a little bit about some of the incredibly poetic things Antoine says. I want to think that it’s all him, but it seems too incredible.
Nevertheless, Antoine is a remarkable boy, and Bari has made an absolutely delightful film. Much like Juraj Lehotsky’s Blind Loves (review), she has collaborated with someone without sight to bring their imagination to life, and the result is something both visually beautiful and incredibly moving.
Official site of the film
(9/10)
Tagged as:
#hotdocs09,
blindness,
canada,
childhood,
children,
Montréal
Blindsight (UK, director Lucy Walker): I loved this, and not just for the obvious reasons. Blindsight is a documentary about a group of blind Tibetan teenagers who attempt to climb one of Mount Everest’s sister peaks. Now, this kind of thing is usually a can’t miss. Inspirational. Moving. Pretty standard, right? And even if the film were just that, I’d still have liked it. But it was so much more. Blind herself, German Sabriye Tenberken established a school for blind children in Tibet, in a culture that sees blindness as a curse, as evidence that a person did bad things in a previous life. Many of the children at the school have been shunned their whole lives, and at best, are a burden to their families. As part of their education, Tenberken shares with them the story of American Erik Weihenmayer, the first blind person to reach the summit of Mount Everest. She sends him a letter inviting him to come and visit her students. Instead, he comes up with a plan. He’ll arrange an expedition for them to climb 23,000 foot Lhakpa Ri and provide all the guides and equipment. Sabriye finds six willing participants and this is when the fun starts.
Erik’s team are mostly American, mostly male, and mostly sighted. As experienced mountaineers, they’re Type-A personalities, very gung-ho and goal-oriented. Sabriye is European, female, and blind, and the students for her are more than a “project,” no matter how well-intentioned. Additionally, the students are Tibetan, and not old enough or confident enough to always stand up for themselves. As the expedition unfolds, they become pawns in between the two adult “sides,” wanting to please both, while at the same time wanting to gain the confidence that comes from accomplishment. As an additional obstacle (other than being blind, that is), they are speaking English as a second or in most cases, a third language, and struggle to understand and make themselves understood.
When it turns out that none of the students have any climbing experience, and that some are much more coordinated than others, it begins to unravel Erik’s original plan for them all to reach the summit together. As both students and teachers begin to suffer the effects of high altitude, decisions must be made as to whether to continue on or to send some down the mountain. Among the effects of high altitude is increased irritability, and you can see how this feeds the conflict between the adults. At the risk of oversimplifying, on one side are those for whom the destination is all, and on the other are those who just want to enjoy the journey. I won’t tell you how it all turns out, except to say that this was one of the most surprising and thought-provoking stories I’ve seen in a long time.
The film also weaves bits of each climber’s story into the narrative, and this was sorely needed, since once on the climb, the kids tended to keep their heads down and their mouths shut. With all the drama going on around them, that wasn’t surprising. The backstories are by turns charming and heartbreaking, and I found it very strange that I found myself closer to tears at the beginning of the film than at the end. This was contrary to my expectations, and another pleasant surprise.
In addition to all the human drama to cover, director Walker and her small crew had to contend with the frigid and oxygen-deprived conditions herself, lugging equipment up the mountains and hoping it wouldn’t break down. As with all great documentaries, the filmmaker was just lucky enough (or smart enough, or prepared enough) to be at the right place at the right time, and she’s captured a very special story that has as much to say about people who want to do “what’s best for the kids” as it does about the kids themselves.
Visit the film’s web site
Braille Without Borders (Sabriye Tenberken’s organization)
(10/10)
Tagged as:
blindness,
tibet
