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

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The Great Documentaries II Instructor: Michael Fox Mondays, 12 Noon-1:30Pm, June 7-28, 2021 Foxonfilm@Yahoo.Com 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 trio 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 Netflix’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 Library of Congress National Film Registry 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 War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert M. McNamara (2003, Errol Morris, 107 min) Amazon, Vudu, 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 Tokyo, the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Vietnam War. Academy Award for Documentary Feature. Errol Morris (b. 1948, Long Island, New York) followed his quirky portraits Gates of Heaven (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 Academy Awards screening committee. His subsequent films include A Brief History of Time (1991, about Stephen Hawking), Fast, Cheap & Out of Control (1997), Mr. Death (1999), Standard Operating Procedure (2008) and The Unknown Known (2013, about Donald Rumsfeld), The B-Side: Elsa Dorfman’s Portrait Photography (2016), American Dharma (2018) and My Psychedelic Love Story (2020). June 21 Man on Wire (2008, James Marsh, UK, 94 min) Kanopy On August 7, 1974, a Frenchman named Philippe Petit 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), The Mercy (about amateur sailor Donald Crowhurst) 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 the Light (2010, Patricio Guzman, Chile, 90 min) Hoopla, Amazon (rental) The filmmaker ravels 10,000 feet above sea level to the driest place on earth, the Atacama Desert, 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 Stories We Tell (2012, Sarah Polley, 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 shift 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 Away from Her (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: Nanook of the North (Robert Flaherty, 1922) An Inuit 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), Man of Aran (1934) and Louisiana Story (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 (Dziga Vertov, Soviet Union, 1929) 68 min A day in the life of a city (though it was actually shot in Moscow, 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.
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