doc it out » Trifecta

SXSW 08: The Order of Myths

Agnes Varnum — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 19:44:16 +0000

Margaret Brown’s The Order of Myths, is one of those rare docs that churned up my thoughts and emotions, really getting me thinking about all kinds of issues relating to race and the American cultural landscape. Besides the great cinematography and lavish soundtrack, the film never belies complexity and is all the better for its confusion.

My grandparents live in an upper-middle class neighborhood in New Jersey, which is basically a suburb of New York City. Though the area is quite diverse, their neighborhood happens to be a subdivision that houses mostly only white families. I spent a lot of time there growing up and my first vivid memory of racism happened there. A black family had moved in next door and there were children who I played with. I remember being mesmerized by their beautiful dark skin and what seemed to me then to be exotic features. I went home and said something about wishing that I was black and my grandmother’s response was, “You don’t wish you were black.” No explanation given but the tone and severity and abruptness spoke volumes more than the actual words. It’s a bad thing to be black, according to her but I recognized the prejudice and continue to think of her as isolated in her thinking. Maybe simply a product of a generation.

As I watched Margaret Brown’s superb film, I was struck with profound sadness. It explores the Mardi Gras celebration in her hometown of Mobile, Alabama where the black and white communities hold completely segregated celebrations to this day. Can it be that this kind of racism still exists in our country? Occasionally I wonder if I’m being totally naive and this is one such moment. The film illustrates palpable racism in a way I haven’t seen.

But the beauty of the film isn’t in a stark portrayal, it is in laying bare the complexities. Margaret grew up in Mobile and her mother was a one-time Queen. The filmmaker’s roots are in this world and yet she doesn’t identify with the traditions, the legacies of slave times, that others in her community hold so dear. Whites don’t want to admit that this segregation is a hold-over from slave owning times and can’t understand how black folks can still be effected by it, while the black community sees the legacy of slavery playing out in everyday situations, including Mardi Gras, and rightly continue to be astounded by the injustice of it. Yet all hope isn’t gone.

There have been other strong films recently on similar aspects to this ongoing American story, namely Marco Williams’ Banished and Katrina Brown’s Traces of the Trade, which premiered with The Order of Myths at Sundance. I haven’t posted a Trifecta in a long while, but here it is: three films about race in America that shine a much need light onto this important subject with modern perspective.

Elsewhere:
Cinematical review of The Order of Myths
GreenCine’s Sundance wrap of the film
Spout interview with Margaret Brown

Trifecta: USA vs. Freedom

Agnes Varnum — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 19:08:23 +0000

Sami Al-Arian was a tenured professor at the University of South Florida. His family immigrated to the US after the 1948 expulsion of Palestinians from Israel. Al-Arian was 17 years old when he began his life in the United States. During his adult life, he remained concerned about the fate of Palestinians and was an activist on behalf of his homeland. Using the Patriot Act, the US government listed many foundations, activist organizations and nonprofits working on behalf of Palestinians as terrorist organizations. The government then used Al-Arian’s association with some of these groups as the basis for prosecuting him. And though he was found not guilty by a jury, the judge in the case took the unusual step of overriding the jury’s decision and keeping him in prison. His and his family’s story is recounted in USA vs. Al-Arian by Line Halvorsen.

Steve Kurtz awoke to find his wife of 20 years, Hope, dead beside him. He called an ambulance in an attempt to save her, but when the paramedics arrived, they saw scientific implements that worried them. Not understanding what they were seeing or why it would be in a private home, they called in the haz mat team and FBI to investigate potential bioterrorism. Kurtz is, in fact, an artist whose work examines genetically modified foods and demystifying germ warfare. His work has been exhibited at venerated institutions such as Mass MoCA and the Corcoran Gallery in DC. And while all evidence points to Kurtz’ using benign materials, and being trained and supervised by respected geneticists, prosecutors are pursuing prosecuting Kurtz for criminal mail fraud–an unprecedented legal action with far-reaching implication should they succeed. His case has not yet gone to trail. He is a professor at SUNY Buffalo, and his story is recounted in Strange Culture by Lynn Hershman Leeson.

Between these two films and cases, there is powerful evidence that while our government is making war on foreign soil, we are at risk at home. In every totalitarian regime that I know anything about, undermining the intellectual core of a society is an early step for regimes to ensure that there is no thoughtful opposition to their aims. After our human rights come our civil liberties (click here if you need a refesher) and a willingness to give up those rights when a state of fear has been carefully crafted around us, is truly dangerous. After jail, which is where Al-Arian is now and what Kurtz is being threatened with, is execution. At what point do we start fighting these obviously criminal prosecutions and stand up for theirs, and in turn, our own, liberty?

To complete my Trifecta, I’ll add a/k/a Tommy Chong by Josh Gilbert. While I wouldn’t call Chong an intellectual, he represents a powerful cultural force. His comedy and celebrity are attributes that are considered subversive, particularly when they serve a cause that the administration does not agree with–namely, the farcical drug wars. This film also illustrates unchecked, overzealous prosecution.

One striking image that appears in all three films are groups of white men in suits, with perhaps one white woman, making up the team of prosecutors. The same image in all three films is profoundly scary to me.

The good, bad and ugly

Agnes Varnum — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 01:13:56 +0000

I am a bit late in posting about it, but I had the chance to see Tara Wray’s doc at Anthology Film Archives’ New Filmmakers Series a couple of weeks back and was really moved by her effort.

The story revolves around Tara’s relationship with her mother and their reunion in her Kansas hometown after many years apart. Their relationship is one fraught with high expectations on both sides, and as is usually the case with mothers and daughters, their expectations are rarely met.

Her mother is a woman who lives in a world all her own, and it is an alternate reality to the one that Tara and probably the majority of viewers live in. To Evie Wray, Tara and those of us like her, are wound too tightly. We bind ourselves with, dare I say, expectations, whereas Evie prefers to take life as it comes, without an eye toward the future or the past. She speaks as though she were in a perpetual dream, but when I listened closely to her and Tara trying to communicate, it was so obvious that they are living on different planes. Evie wants Tara to accept her as she is and Tara needs for her mother to come down to the earthly plane once in a while to check in, to let her know that she is safe and happy. Tara’s personality requires roots while her mother has only wings.

Of course, this is my interpretation through the lens of my own mother/daughter relationship and as was discussed on Chuck Tryon’s blog, and has often been discussed in the context of personal documentary, is it fair to assume anything about their story from seeing just a small part? Evie seems deeply disturbed by Tara’s assumption that her mother might have an undiagnosed mental health issue; even though Evie turned out to have a premonition about her life that came true, Tara still refuses to accept that her mother is a deeply sensitive woman and is continues to reel from her mother’s past erratic mood swings.

This is a film that I don’t want to go into the details about because it is in the details where the story is found. The film does a wonderful job of switching emotional directions on a subtle dime, taking us on a journey through the landscape of that aforementioned fraught mother/daughter relationship. I was identifying with each of them at different times and feeling frustration with both also.

Manhattan, Kansas is a story of nuance, emotion, turmoil, humor and life, such as it is. It reminded me of other outstanding films from this year that walked along similar lines — 51 Birch Street by Doug Block and So Much, So Fast by Steven Ascher and Jeanne Jordan (I’ve written about both films on the blog, so no need for more here). These three films, taken together, explore deep facets of family relationships in beautiful ways.

If you are interested, here is a link to Evie Wray’s art gallery. Pretty cool!

Free Speech Trifecta

Agnes Varnum — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 11:00:06 +0000

I felt it rolling around in my brain yesterday when I was writing the Mavericks post. While all of these stories deal with free speech – the ability to say what one believes, whether she is a left-leaning musician or a conservative radio talk show host, without having to worry about personal safety. But what is so striking is the level of violence the so-called American conservatives levy against those they disagree with. While we’ve never really been a country to solve our problems without violence, it still surprises me that the root of democracy – dialogue – seems like a path of last resort to so many.

Shut Up & Sing by Barbara Kopple
It’s 2003 and war is about to be unleashed on the people of Iraq. The Dixie Chicks step out onto a London stage launching their “Top of the World” tour. Front woman Natalie Maines quips to the British audience that she’s embarrassed President Bush is from her home state of Texas to cheers and applause. The British press report her comment which is picked up by the American news, and the careers and lives of these three strong, talented women become targets for pro-war Americans who react by trashing their CDs and worse in protest.

An Unreasonable Man by Henriette Mantel and Steve Skrovan
The life and times of one public advocate turned independent politician Ralph Nader. Perhaps you know the story, but perhaps you don’t. Check out the film.

The Fire Next Time by Patrice O’Neill
This is the third leg of my Trifecta that occurred to me after I wrote yesterday’s post. In the small Montana town of Kalispell, environmental activism sparks antagonists to target citizens and whose passions are further inflamed by a radio shock-jock inciting serious danger. O’Neill made two films about the “Not in Our Town” movement that began as a reaction to hate crimes; it is a movement that encourages dialogue and reconciliation, but when O’Neill and The Working Group arrive in Kalispell, they are unprepared for the level of hate and fear that exists there.

I’d also like to supplement this Trifecta with POV Borders: American ID. Borders is an online project of POV that uses video and forums to engage audiences online about given topics. This Trifecta is about the internal culture of America – how we deal with one another and how our actions effect each other. American ID asks non-Americans, “how do you see the US?” Answers are at once conceivable and surprising.

Trifecta: The Great Debacle

Agnes Varnum — Fri, 28 Jul 2006 11:00:44 +0000

Over the past couple of years, I’ve been watching movies professionally. It sounds odd, but when I watch upwards of 300-400 films each year (not including my Netflix and TV, which yes, I’m also addicted to), in addition to the fact that doing that is largely how I make my living, it’s safe to call me a pro viewer. Documentary comprises the majority of projects I watch, and following from that, I’ve experienced a lot of perspectives on a variety of global issues. I’d agree with anyone who wanted to argue that documentary is subjective, BUT when I’ve seen several films that deal with the same issue or perhaps different sides of a multi-faceted issue, I have discovered a more 3-dimensional view.

I’ve been toying with this idea for a while, and this is my first go at it, so excuse me if it’s rough around the edges. A “trifecta” is a bet, usually in horseracing, on which 3 will come in first. Here, it is 3 films that I’m recommending together as different facets of an issue that have given me a new way to look at or think about something happening in our world. Since they are usually docs, I can’t promise availability as that is spotty, but since most folks reading this go to festivals and that is the most likely venue, I’m going to try to make this a regular feature here.

I don’t really want to review the films entirely, preferring to give a little synopsis. If my dream came true, after viewing all three films together, we could have a discussion about the issues and what, if any, new ideas or perspectives we have come away with. We’ll see how it goes.

The Great Debacle
The world’s supply of oil is on the decline. The geopolitics of oil now is how to make the most money out of what remains, but the unasked questions revolve around how to meet the world’s energy needs when oil is no longer our primary source, and the legacy of oil and other cheap energy now and down the road. What are the coporations and governments, whose economics drive this trajectory, doing now and what will they do in the future? How does the public fit in, or do we? What are the ramifications of actions in which we are all complicit? These are some of the questions that these films brought into sharp focus for me when taken together.

A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash
By Basil Gelpke and Ray McCormack
Self-proclaimed conservative Basil Gelpke and his co-director reveal the slow yet unmistakable downward spiral of oil. Conservatives and oil executives freely share what is common knowledge in those circles in this uncompromising and balanced look at the reality that the general public has yet to accept.

Who Killed the Electric Car?
By Chris Paine
While Martin Sheen’s narration felt a little hokey at times, there is no denying this case study of what happens when the public tries to take control of its destiny. Corrupt politicians, corporate greed and indifference, whining liberals. Taken alone, this story might simply be a sad tale; taken with these other films, perhaps there is a larger windown from which to view this specific case study.

An Inconvenient Truth
By Davis Guggenheim
A tipping point indeed. Yes, global warming is upon us and this film, taken through the lens of one who has seen the other two, takes on new significance.

doc it out » Trifecta

SXSW 08: The Order of Myths

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The good, bad and ugly

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