The Redemption of Butt Naked (Eric Strauss and Daniele Anastasion) is a complicated, difficult film. It is not only difficult to watch, in terms of the footage of atrocities committed during Liberia’s sixteen-year civil war, but scenes of victims confronting their oppressor are so thickly layered feelings of anger co-mingle with feelings of anxiety, deep sadness and confusion.
This superbly constructed documentary by NYC micro-production company Part 2 Pictures takes the controversial perspective of mass murderer, marauder and rapist General Butt Naked, a difficult and complicated angle in itself – but manages to succeed without, I would argue, the moral pitfalls that such an orientation could indeed produce.
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Last week I wrote an editorial exploring the role of the arts in creating healthy and prosperous countries. With the government of Canada making major shifts across the board last night, becoming a Conservative majority government (I refuse to call it the “Harper Government”) many artists and arts organizations are writhing at the thought of the potential for further arts cuts and the additional silencing of alternative voices.
With at least four years of a Conservative, social program slash-happy, government ahead of us, what is there for artists to do? Artists must be purposful in their practice and be tactful in their dialogue.
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“Where are all the women? Are you all gay? Next time, I’ll bring the showgirls.” Not the string of words one expects from a politician of any ranking, much less one that is the leader of a G8 country. Yet this is precisely what Silvio Berlusconi said, in front of television and film cameras, while visiting one of his corrupt construction sites in the region around Aquila, in the arresting and relentlessly probing documentary Draquila – Italy Trembles, currently screening at Hot Docs in Toronto.
Sabina Guzzanti has been called Italy’s Michael Moore, and while the comparison is 100% accurate, the resemblance is a no-brainer. Always in pursuit of corruption, hypocrisy, greed and the general misdeeds of those in power, Guzzanti hits the pavement with film crew to track down her story with an insatiable investigative zeal combined with wit and humour. But her humour is much more nuanced and less schticky like Moore’s and her investigative reporting is much much more thorough than the baseball-clad American.
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The pre-story of the documentary Mama Africa, currently screening at Hot Docs, is a sad one indeed. Finnish filmmaker Mika Kaurismäki was a life-long fan of singer and activist Miriam Makeba and set out to make the definitive documentary biography of her her life and work. At the Q&A following last night’s sold out screening of his film he told the audience that he had spent months and months preparing for the shoot and discussing details with Makeba over the phone. He purchased a plane ticket with plans to fly to Ghana and conduct the first interview with the international star in her kitchen as she went about one of her favourite activities – cooking for friends. Unfortunately just two weeks prior to this planned interview Makeba passed away after a concert in 2008.
Thankfully for worldwide audiences and for the memory of Makeba, Kaurismäki didn’t abandon the project after the sudden passing away of his main character. Shifting from the model of contemporary interviews with Makeba herself, Mika Kaurismäki has made a documentary that is mainly comprised of (often rarely seen) archival footage of Makeba interviews, concerts and personal videos.
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The mixed tape is a cultural phenomenon that, thankfully, refuses to die. From the time of the earliest printed booklets through to the ubiquitous mixing of audio cassette tapes in the 80s to the sampling and remixing of the 90s and 2000s, people have taken existing media and sculpted into their own assemblages. The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 (Directed by Göran Olsson), which is screening at this year’s Hot Docs in Toronto continues that tradition and does so with a passion and perfection in form and spirit that awakens, inspires and provokes.
The feature length documentary is entirely comprised of 16mm footage filmed by Swedish journalists between 1967 and 1975, covering the “race wars” and black power activism in the USA at that time. Beautifully shot and composed, the source material is a rich treasure trove of intimate interviews, streeters, and verité looking at racism in America from the perspective of those in Black communities fighting against oppression with guns and words.
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At last night’s Hot Docs opening and Canadian premiere screening of Morgan Spurlock’s POM Wonderful Presents the Greatest Movie Ever Sold the peppy logo-clad filmmaker told the audience his film will have the effect of changing the way we look at advertising, TV, and films. Maybe Spurlock has been hanging out with a different crowd recently, because his grasp of audience intelligence—especially a doc audience—is certainly off the mark in terms of advertising savvy. While his film, as hilarious and entertaining as it is, won’t be affecting the way I look at advertising, it definitely changes the way I now look at Morgan Spurlock.
Spurlock is a master story-teller to be sure, and this was readily apparent in one of the funniest, rollicking Q&As I’ve had the pleasure to sit through. Story after story rolled off his lips in all manner of imitation and animation – and had pretty much all in attendance slapping knees and grabbing sides in fits of laughter. His 2004 doc-buster hit Super Size Me told the story of one man’s experiment to eat only McDonald’s food while suffering the consequences. His 30 Days television series was a masterpiece jewel in the cheap tin crown of reality television fare. With all these storytelling accomplishments and talent under his belt his most recent work, a 90 minute celebration of advertising, marketing and commercialization bereft of any engaging narrative, comes as a whopping disappointment.
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It’s that time of year again — when documentary makers, buyers and fans dust off their shoes and head to Toronto to feast on a ten-day diet of non-fiction cinema. Once again, like the 18 years before, the world’s second largest doc festival is delivering its usual panoply of prize-worthy productions, political powder kegs and populist programming. That’s a lot of Ps to be sure. I’ll be seeing as much political fare as humanly possible over the course of the festival, and will keep Art Threat readers on the up and up on the best titles to seek out.
There are two exciting aspects of this year’s edition of Hot Docs to report right away. The opening night film is decidedly punchier than last year’s pampers commercial Babies with none other than documentary’s darling himself, Morgan Spurlock, in attendance to introduce POM Wonderful Presents the Greatest Film Ever Sold (if he makes it that is – at last tweet he was stuck at Newark airport). Also, Coca-Cola will NOT be this year’s environmental film showcase sponsor (unlike last year) — news that doc filmmakers, human rights advocates and environmentalists will surely appreciate. Now some political films that I won’t be missing:
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Last Wednesday, April 20, the activist group known as Liberate Tate staged another protest performance at Tate Britain. Set on the anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon explosion that killed 11 workers and spilled 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf o Mexico over 87 days last year, the group poured an oil-like substance over a naked member of the group who laid motionless in a fetal position in the Single Form exhibition.
Single Form, an exhibition dedicated to the human body, is one of a series of BP funded art displays staged throughout Tate Britain. The performance art comes in tandem with a letter printed in the Guardian and signed by 166 artists. The letter urges the Tate “to demonstrate its commitment to a sustainable future by ending its sponsorship relationship with BP.”
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Konstantin Dimopolous’s blue trees are in bloom in Port Moody! Well, they were last week at least. Luckily, Kate Barron from Vancouver Biennale got pictures of these bright blue and passive pink beauties. Kon’s electric blue trees are a reminder that plants are the world’s lungs, a vital organ that too often goes unloved. But really, how can you not just absolutely adore these?
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The International Documentary Film Festival of Amsterdam (IDFA), the largest of its kind in the world, has just put four documentaries online—two for free and two with a charge ($3.99)—under the heading “Arab Spring.” The four films, available online for the first time, look at a beauty contest in Libya, a Cairo cemetery home to a million homeless people, Moroccan courier-smugglers, and the impact of satellite television in the Middle East, respectively. With the corporate media’s attention quickly shifting away from the slaughter in Syria and the struggle in Libya toward the gag-inducing Royal Wedding, this offering from IDFA couldn’t be better timed.
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The Redemption of Butt Naked (Eric Strauss and Daniele Anastasion) is a complicated, difficult film. It is not only difficult to watch, in terms of the footage of atrocities committed during Liberia’s sixteen-year civil war, but scenes of victims confronting their oppressor are so thickly layered feelings of anger co-mingle with feelings of anxiety, deep sadness and confusion. 
