Hanover, while not quite nestled in a Canadian mountain range, has a rugged, outdoor allure of its own. Sitting in the shadow of the Whites with ties to Moosilauke and miles of the Appalachian Trail on the fringe of a national forest, it's natural that several cultural events from mountainous regions find their reflections here on the banks of the Connecticut, the natural gateway to Vermont.
Both pre-released and limited screenings of the Telluride Film Festival from Colorado and the Banff Mountain Film Festival from Alberta, Canada, take place at our college on the hill during the academic year.
The Telluride Film Festival, which took place in Colorado this year over Labor Day weekend, has existed for 29 years as one of the world's premier festivals of avant garde cinema. This last week, between Sept. 20 and 25,The Hopkins Center brought a sampler of the festival to Loew Auditorium in the Hood Museum for the 17th year in a row.
The selection consisted of six of this year's films, including Michael Moore's "Bowling for Columbine," the first documentary in 46 years to be selected for competition in Cannes, "Respiro," winner of the Grand Prize at the 2002 Cannes' Critics Week, the Brazilian "City of God" and Scottish "Morvern Callar."
Despite three showings a day, most were sold out well before the curtain rose as a crowd of Upper Valley community members and students filled the small theater. In the rush of orientation and moving in, however, many students missed the rare chance to experience ground-breaking film before its widespread release.
I managed to make it to three showings: the raw, but beautiful "Respiro," the dark and violent "City of God" and "Morvern Callar," a journey into the tortured dreams of a 20-something Scottish checkout girl. Below I give my take on the films I did see, though I encourage everyone to look out for all the films in their upcoming releases and to take advantage of the festival early next fall.
"Respiro"
A rush of childhood energy, action and violence opens a film built on images of basic, yet sometimes unsettling human interaction. Pasquale, an adolescent boy growing up on a Sicilian island spends his time fighting with other island, gangs and defending his manic-depressive mother, Grazia (Valeria Golino), from the gossip of neighbors and friends. Writer-director Emanuele Crialese uses a combination of Grazia's emotional intensity and the beauty of the island to create vivid scenes, which are often transformed into dreamscapes. Crialese does this through the use of unusual camera angles such as under water shots complemented by a surreal score.
Though the film slows and attention waned for me after Grazia's "disappearance," the rapturous closing scene was almost powerful enough to convey the small seaside community's personality and strike a balance between the existence of natural human violence and childhood innocence.
"City of God"
Photography is the medium of choice for Rocket, a boy who chronicles his life through the '60s and'70s in the Brazilian ghetto, known in Brazil as the City of God.
The irony of the ghetto's nickname is stripped away after the film is viewed beyond a certain level. While children slaughter chickens and other children in the street, hoodlums and gang leaders distribute guns as freely as candy, and one boy's fate is as delicate and liable to burn away as a poorly rolled joint, God is accepted as the creator of man and the bearer of truth about man's sinful nature.
It is no surprise that stripping humans of money, privacy and the wealthy, governing politics of middle-class American suburbia will result in the creation of a chaotic city.
Most of the main roles in the film were children, and they contribute to the poignancy of the movie by mixing truth and reality without seeming to make a conscious effort to act. The coming-of-age aspect of the story, however, pales in contrast to the striking and grotesque picture of ghetto life and gang mentality.
"Morvern Callar"
The opening scenes of this movie were more than a little wretched. One thing Telluride did not spare viewers this year was a bombardment of in-your-face blood, death and decay.
Morvern (Samantha Morton, "Minority Report") lays on her floor Christmas morning stroking the back of her dead boyfriend, spread out on his stomach on the kitchen floor, oozing blood from his wrists. She then goes on trying to live her life as usual, but finds herself unable to deal with certain situations and daily clutter (i.e. noisy dance clubs, drugs and the feigned naivet of strangers).Instead she invests herself in sensation and drowns herself in music, blocking out the sound of the grocery store where she works, the Scottish city in which she lives and even her best friend, with a cassette tape and crappy pair of headphones.
It was obvious that the majority of the night's audience did not appreciate or enjoy the 90 minutes of Morvern's random journey. Scenes switched quickly and the inexistent plot and lack of explanation did breed confusion. The cinematography did, however, catch the beauty of lights and screaming sights that many people tend to miss in everyday life (a strobe-lit disco, raging bonfire and the flicker of headlights on water).
Many of the film-goers may have left thinking something resembling Morvern's friend's comment that: "We could have been out clubin' it, but instead we're surrounded by donkeys and cactuses," they should have taken a hint from Morvern's boyfriend's suicide note: "Don't try to understand. I wrote it for you. I love you."
