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Home , Chronicle of a Summer, Fires Were Started, James Marsh (director), Listen to Britain, Louisiana Story, Nanook of the North

The Great Documentaries II Instructor: Michael Fox Mondays, 12 noon-1:30pm, June 7-28, 2021 [email protected]

With nonfiction films entrenched as a genre of mainstream movie entertainment, we examine standouts of the contemporary documentary. The five-session lineup is comprised of a of films about recent historical events bookended by personal documentaries. This lecture and discussion class (students will view the films on their own prior to class) encompasses perennial issues such as the responsibility of the filmmaker to his/her subject, the slipperiness of truth, the tools of storytelling and the use of poetry and metaphor in nonfiction.

Four of the films can be streamed for free (three on Kanopy, one on Hoopla) and the other can be rented from Amazon Prime and other platforms. All the films are probably available via ’s DVD plan.

The Great Documentaries II is a historical survey that follows and builds on Documentary Touchstones I and II, which I taught at OLLI a few years ago. I’ve appended a list of those films and more information at the end of the syllabus, if you have never seen them and wish to journey further back into the history of documentaries. Most of the titles are available to watch for free on YouTube, although the quality of the prints varies.

June 7 Sherman’s March (1986, Ross McElwee, 158 min) Kanopy After his girlfriend leaves him, McElwee voyages along the original route followed by Gen. William Sherman. Rather than cutting a swath of destruction designed to force the Confederate South into submission, McElwee searches for love, camera in hand, “training his lens with phallic resolve on every accessible woman he meets.” Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, named one of the Top 20 docs of all time by the International Documentary Association, added to the in 2000.

Ross McElwee (b. 1947, Charlotte, North Carolina) is a leading progenitor of the first-person documentary. His films include Past Imperfect (1991), Time Indefinite (1993), Bright Leaves (2003), In Paraguay (2008) and Photographic Memory (2011).

June 14 The Fog of : Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert M. McNamara (2003, , 107 min) Amazon, , Google Play, DirecTV (rental) The story of the U.S. through the eyes of JFK and LBJ’s Secretary of Defense, Robert S. McNamara. One of the most controversial and influential political figures of the 20th century, McNamara offer a candid, intimate and unintentionally revealing journey through seminal events in contemporary U.S. history. Leader of the world's most powerful military force during a volatile period, McNamara discusses the 1945 bombing of , the and the . Academy Award for Documentary Feature.

Errol Morris (b. 1948, Long Island, New York) followed his quirky portraits (1978) and Vernon, Florida (1981) with a breakout hit, The Thin Blue Line (1988), which controversially employed re-enactments, made dozens of year-end 10 Best lists and was famously dismissed by an screening committee. His subsequent films include A Brief History of Time (1991, about ), Fast, Cheap & Out of Control (1997), Mr. Death (1999), Standard Operating Procedure (2008) and (2013, about ), The B-Side: Elsa Dorfman’s Portrait Photography (2016), (2018) and My Psychedelic Love Story (2020).

June 21 (2008, , UK, 94 min) Kanopy On August 7, 1974, a Frenchman named stepped out on a wire illegally rigged between the World Trade Center’s twin towers. After dancing for nearly an hour on the wire, he was arrested, taken for psychological evaluation and jailed before being released. This film incorporates Petit’s personal footage to show how he overcame extraordinary challenges to achieve his feat. Grand Jury Prize at Sundance and Academy Award for Documentary Feature.

James Marsh (b. 1963, Truro, Cornwall) also directed the dramatized documentary Wisconsin Death Trip (1999) and Project Nim (2011). His fiction films include The King, Shadow Dancer, The Theory of Everything (about Stephen Hawking and his wife, Jane), (about amateur sailor ) and King of Thieves (based on an actual crime). His next film is a biopic based on concert pianist James Rhodes' memoir.

June 25 Nostalgia for (2010, Patricio Guzman, , 90 min) Hoopla, Amazon (rental) The filmmaker ravels 10,000 feet above sea level to the driest place on earth, the , where astronomers gather to observe the stars. The sky is so translucent that it allows them to see right to the boundaries of the universe. The Atacama is also a place where the harsh heat of the sun keeps human remains intact: Pre-Columbian mummies; 19th century explorers and miners; political prisoners "disappeared" by the Chilean army after the military coup of September 1973. While astronomers examine the most distant and oldest galaxies, surviving relatives of prisoners whose bodies were dumped here search for the remains of their loved ones, to reclaim their families' histories. European Film Award for Best Documentary, IDA Award for Best Feature

“Not only Guzman's masterpiece: It is one of the most beautiful cinematographic efforts we have seen for a long time. Its complex canvas is woven with the greatest simplicity. For 40 years, Guzman has had to struggle every inch of the way, with a vivid memory and intimate suffering to reach this work of cosmic serenity, of luminous intelligence, with a sensitivity that could melt stone. At such a level, the film becomes more than a film. An insane accolade to mankind, a stellar song for the dead, a life lesson. Silence and respect.”—Le Monde

Patrico Guzman (b. 1941, Santiago, Chile) has documented his nation’s history—in particular, the Allende government, the military coup and the Pinochet regime—from a variety of perspectives in numerous powerful films, including The Battle of Chile, Parts I, II and III (1975- 79), Chile, Obstinate Memory (1997), The Pinochet Case (2001), Salvador Allende (2004), The Pearl Button (2015) and The Cordillera of Dreams (2019). He has lived in France for many years.

June 28 (2012, , Canada, 103 min) Kanopy, Amazon, Criterion Polley is both filmmaker and detective investigating the secrets kept by a family of storytellers. She playfully interviews and interrogates a cast of characters of varying reliability, eliciting candid yet mostly contradictory answers to the same questions. As each relates their version of the family mythology, present-day recollections into nostalgia-tinged glimpses of their mother, who departed too soon, leaving a trail of unanswered questions. Polley unravels the paradoxes to reveal the essence of family: complicated, messy and loving. In the course of exploring the elusive nature of truth and memory, Stories We Tell reveals itself as a deeply personal film about how our narratives shape and define us as individuals and families. Writers Guild of America Award for Best Documentary Screenplay, Directors Guild of Canada Allan King Award for Best Documentary.

Sarah Polley (b. 1979, Toronto, Ontario, Canada) started acting at the age of four, won a Gemini Award (Canada’s Emmy) for “Lantern Hill” (1989) and achieved fame and fortune as the lead of “Avonlea” (1990-96). Her film roles include The Sweet Hereafter (1997), for which she also sang three songs on the soundtrack album. Polley directed several narrative shorts before helming the features (2006) and Take This Waltz (2011). She is in pre-production on Women Talking, an adaptation of Miriam Toews’ novel that Polley is directing and acting in (with Frances McDormand).

Reference books: Documentary: A History of the Non-Fiction Film. Erik Barnouw, Oxford University Press, second edition, 1993

Documentary Film: A Very Short Introduction. Patricia Aufderheide, Oxford University Press, 2007

Touchstone Documentaries: (Robert Flaherty, 1922) An hunter and his family struggle to survive in the harsh conditions of Canada’s Hudson Bay region. Enormously popular upon its release, Nanook remains a milestone for its pioneering use of narrative techniques: a defined central character, structured and shaped scenes, and dramatic pacing (alternating action and calm). www.criterion.com/current/posts/42-nanook-of- the-north

Robert Flaherty (1884-1951), arguably the first documentary filmmaker, also made Moana (1926), (1934) and (1948). The son of a mining engineer, Flaherty became a filmmaker in order to document his travels as an explorer and prospector in the Canadian Arctic. He lived and worked with the Inuit, who served as his guides, companions, technical crew, navigators, dog sled driver and collaborators on many expeditions. He made more than 1,500 photographs of the Inuit from 1908-24, which are now housed in the National Photography Collection in the Public Archives of Canada and the Robert and Frances Flaherty Study Center at Claremont College. www.sensesofcinema.com/2002/great-directors/flaherty/

Man with a Movie Camera (, Soviet Union, 1929) 68 min A day in the life of a city (though it was actually shot in , Kiev, Odessa and elsewhere) from dawn until dusk. After an opening statement, there are no words (neither voice-over nor titles), just dazzling imagery kinetically edited—a celebration of the modern city with an emphasis on its buildings and machinery. Voted the greatest documentary of all time in Sight & Sound’s 2014 poll.

Dziga Vertov (1896-1954), pseudonym of Denis Arkadyevich Kaufman, developed the kino- glaz (film-eye) theory that the camera is an instrument—much like the human eye—that’s best used to explore the actual happenings of real life. He had an international impact on the development of documentaries and cinema realism during the 1920s. Vertov sought to create a language of cinema, free from theatrical influence and artificial studio staging. As a newsreel cameraman during the Civil War, he filmed events that were the basis for factual films. He was 23 when he formed the Kinoki (Film-Eye Group), which issued a series of manifestos against theatricality in films and in support of his kino-glaz theory, and initiated Kino-pravda (Film Truth), a weekly newsreel that integrated newly shot factual material and older news footage. The subject matter of Vertov’s later features is life itself; form and technique are preeminent. He experimented with slow motion, camera angles, enlarged close-ups and crosscutting for compari- sons; he attached the camera to locomotives, motorcycles and other moving objects; and he held shots for varying lengths of time, a technique that adds to the rhythmic flow of his films. His work and theories were basic to the rediscovery of cinéma vérité, or documentary realism, in the .

A Propos de Nice (Jean Vigo, France, 1930) 25 min A conventional travelogue turns into a satirical portrait of the town on the French Riviera and its wealthy inhabitants. Jean Vigo (1905-34) made only a handful of poetic films, including Zero for Conduct (1933) and L’Atalante (1934), but they are among the most beloved in all of cinema.

Land Without Bread (Las hurdes) (Luis Bunuel, Spain, 1933) 30 min Bunuel visited a region where the “backwards” peasants struggle to survive without the rudi- mentary basics of “advanced civilization.” A Surrealist with a Jesuit education, Bunuel directed many daring satires including Belle de Jour (1967) and The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972).

Triumph of the Will (, 1934) 110 min Employing 30 cameras and 120 assistants, Riefenstahl recorded the 1934 Nazi Party Congress and rally in Nuremberg, depicting Hitler simultaneously as a man of the people and a Wagnerian hero. “Riefenstahl concentrates on cheering crowds, precision marching, military bands and Hitler’s climactic speech, all orchestrated, choreographed and illuminated on a scale that makes Griffith and DeMille look like Poverty Row directors.” www.albany.edu/writers-inst/webpages4/filmnotes/fns07n6.html http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/michaelwalford/entry/triumph_of_the/ http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20080626%2FREVIEWS08%2F9 11177318%2F1023

Leni Riefenstahl (1902-2003) was a dancer, actress, filmmaker and photographer. won gold medals in (1935) and (1937 World Exhibition). By 1945, however, it was no longer hailed as art but condemned as National Socialist propaganda. For the rest of her life, Riefenstahl maintained that her intentions were artistic, not political. Olympiad, her two-part documentary record of the 1936 Olympics, won the gold medal in Paris (1937), first price in Venice (1938) and the IOC’s Olympic Award (1939).

The Plow That Broke the Plains (Pare Lorentz, 1936) and The River (Pare Lorentz, 1938) The Plow That Broke the Plains “is a record of land... of soil rather than people -- a story of the Great Plains; the 400 million acres of wind-swept grass lands that spread from the Texas panhandle to Canada... A high, treeless continent, without rivers, without streams... A country of high winds, and sun... and of little rain... By 1880 we had cleared the Indian, and with him the buffalo, from the Great Plains, and established the last frontier... A half million square miles of natural range... This is a picturization of what we did with it.”

The River describes the importance of the Mississippi to the U.S. It laments the environmental destruction committed in the name of progress, particularly farming and timber practices that caused massive erosion and washed vast amounts of topsoil down the river into the Gulf of Mexico. The film ends with a celebration of the TVA and the use of dams to control the river and prevent flooding. http://xroads.virginia.edu/~1930s/film/lorentz/front.html

Born in West Virginia, Pare Lorenz (1905-92) was a film critic in New York when he was asked to set up a Federal film program in 1935 that would effectively highlight the problems of American agriculture. A production unit was formed under the sponsorship of the Resettlement Admini-stration (later it became part of the Dept. of Agriculture), where Lorentz made these artful New Deal propaganda films. www.parelorentzcenter.org/biography/

Night Mail (Harry Watt and Basil Wright, UK, 1936) 27 min This masterpiece of the British Movement, much imitated in commercials and modern short films, depicts a mail train en route from to Scotland. Benjamin Britten wrote the score and W.H. Auden authored the “verse commentary.” Harry Watt (1906-87) was a Scottish documentary and feature film director who began his career working for John Grierson and Robert Flaherty. Basil Wright (1907-87) was an English documentary filmmaker, film historian, film critic and teacher.

Listen to Britain ( and Stewart McAllister, UK, 1942) 20 min Documentary, public information film, morale booster; propaganda film—these descriptions could be applied to many of the short films that flourished and reached a peak of expression in the 1930s and ‘40s. Humphrey Jennings’ films covered the whole of World War II in Britain. His quiet, emotive style produced some of the most memorable film images of the war; London Can Take It (1940), (1942) and (1943), for the GPO and , were U.S.-funded and were equally for American and British release. Jennings (1907- 50) was a filmmaker, photographer, literary critic, theatrical designer, poet, painter and theorist of modern art.

Why We Fight: (Frank Capra, USA, 1942) 52 min The first in a series of seven propaganda films commissioned by the Office of War Information (OWI) and George C. Marshall to justify to U.S. soldiers their country's involvement in World War II. They were later shown to the public to likewise marshal support. One of the major directors of Hollywood’s Golden Age, Frank Capra’s (1897-1991) films include Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and It’s a Wonderful Life.

Night and Fog (, 1956) 32 min Commissioned to mark the 10th anniversary of the liberation of the camps by the Allies, this film remains the most powerful condemnation to emerge from the postwar era. Combining color tracking shots of postwar Auschwitz with black-and-white archival photographs and footage, Resnais links past and present while the chillingly understated narrative, written by survivor Jean Cayrol, raises searching questions about accountability and the suppression of truth. http://criterionreflections.blogspot.com/2010/06/night-and-fog-1955-197.html http://sensesofcinema.com/2015/book-reviews/night-and-fog-a-film-in-history/

Alain Resnais (1922-2014) created some of the most important films of the postwar era. In a career spanning 70 years, Resnais explored the relationship between time and memory, and truth and subjectivity. His films are intellectually rigorous yet buoyed by a lightness of touch and a sheer beauty that expresses the mind’s dreamlike interior. His oeuvre includes (1959), (1961), Providence (1977) and Same Old Song (1997).

Primary (Robert Drew, 1960) 60 min Primary documents JFK and Hubert Humphrey campaigning on the eve of the 1960 Wisconsin primary. HHH is an old-school politician attempting to appeal to voters’ agricultural roots by portraying himself as a champion of the common man. JFK can be perceived as a celebrity adored by urban voters and youth. This was the first film in which the sync-sound movie camera was able to move freely with characters throughout a breaking story. “Had as immense and measureable an impact on nonfiction filmmaking as Birth of a Nation had on fiction filmmaking.”—Matt Zoller Seitz http://www.rogerebert.com/demanders/the-society-of-the-real-how-an-intrepid-group-of- newsreel-cameramen-changed-documentary-film

As an editor at Life magazine, Robert Drew (1924-2014) specialized in the candid still picture essay. As a Nieman Fellow he worked out theories for filmmaking based on candid photography in motion pictures. He assembled a group of journalists and filmmakers that included , Gregory Shuker and D.A. Pennebaker. Drew managed the engineering of lightweight cameras and recorders and developed editing techniques to allow stories to tell themselves through characters in action. Drew’s documentaries include Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment, The Chair and Faces of November. www.hbo.com/documentaries/a-president-to-remember-in-the-company-of-john-f- kennedy/interview/interview-with-robert-drew.html?cmpid=ABC177

Chronicle of a Summer ( and Edgar Morin, France, 1961) 85 min As if to forecast, and preempt, the decades-long war to define the precepts of ethnographic nonfiction, Chronicle procedurally does away with dead-end questions of verity, construct and reality, and demonstrates plainly ways to approach equanimity with ‘subjects.’ Rouch and Morin are the architects of a social collaboration and are rigorously open-handed with the materials they’re using. Their loose vox-pop style, beginning each encounter by asking whether the interviewee is happy, disarmingly mixes with scenes that show how cinema, in any regard, must be artificial—employing classic shot-reverse-shot techniques in otherwise uneventful conversational moments.

Chronicle reminds us of a past when almost no one was camera-ready, when the idea of being part of the media (let alone engineering it) was foreign, and when the question of truth in performance was nascent. It doesn’t find innocence, exactly—the conversations are often extremely loaded—but rather a candor, an openness, that cannot be replaced now that we all see ourselves represented on all manner of screens, and can’t help but act with these images in mind.—Rachael Rakes

Jean Rouch (1917-2004) pioneered the , or cinema verite, movement in France, and employed it rigorously in numerous ethnographic films he shot in Africa before filming in Paris and St. Tropez.

The Thin Blue Line (Errol Morris, USA, 1988) 102 min A reconstruction of and investigation into a 1977 death sentence for the murder of a Texas policeman. We are told that a good prosecutor can convict a guilty suspect but it takes a great one to convict an innocent man. Something similar might be said of this influential probing of a roadside shooting and Randall Adams’ conviction. Demonstrating a miscarriage of justice is impressive, but it’s another thing to undermine the very notion of a stable truth.

The array of interviews makes it clear a raw deal went down. But Morris also includes the contradictions, the backtracking, the oddball asides. Most perversely, he creates a confounding palimpsest of deadpan re-enactments that flirt with the absurd (and find their echo in the iterative score). Close-ups–of sirens, of hurled milkshakes – evoke mystery, or myopia, in the search for meaning. The Academy Awards documentary committee infamously failed to nominate the film, which made dozens of critics’ 10 Best lists.—Nicholas Rapold Errol Morris (b. 1948) made two low-budget studies of quirky communities, Gates of Heaven (1978) and Vernon, Florida (1981), before breaking out with The Thin Blue Line. His most notable subsequent films are A Brief History of Time with Stephen Hawking, Fast, Cheap & Out of Control, : Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara and The Unknown Known with Donald Rumsfeld.