Frederick Wiseman is one of the few film-makers working today that I genuinely admire. He started his long, sprawling career in the late 1960's, with one of his first documentaries, the daring and controversial "Titicut Follies". It was a grim, objective look into the cruel workings of a since-demolished Massachussetts mental asylum for the criminally insane. Patients are treated about as despicably as you can imagine, either sickly abused or disregarded by the doctors and staff.Cut to 43 years later, and Wiseman's new documentary "Boxing Gym" . One of the reasons I admire Wiseman so much is that he's one of the most dedicated film-makers I can recall. He's remained loyal to a distinct formula or code of film-making, which he pioneered. This basically has him going every year to a new American building or institution, filming days and days of footage, before cutting it down into a lean, 2-6 hour documentary (which usually airs on PBS). He's captured a vast canvas of subjects and people, from ballet and dancer, to high school and students, to the zoo and its workers, to boxing and boxers
(pssssst-Jane's favorite Wiseman films "Ballet' and "Zoo". got em both on my IPOD dubbed from a college library VHS collection).
Fred doesn't direct people on what to say or do, he is merely a luminous presence that with his camera records the day-to-day workings of the given institution. Since there is very little manipulation of the images, many will argue it's simply "observational cinema" or "cinema verité", a label which Wiseman sincerely objects to as untrue, and for the latter, a "pompous French term". He's a director who does very little "directing", however it's his editing that marks his stance as a serious artist. It's where he gets to be creative, and input his own personal feelings.
Take for example a nauseating scene from 'Titicut Follies' in which a doctor is feeding a patient soup through a straw and funnel directly into his nostril. The patient appears brain-dead or severely drugged, but has trouble breathing during the grotesque ordeal, gagging several times. At one point, a big sliver of ash from the doctor's cigarette falls and lands in the funnel. This sequence is inter-cut with grim, somber shots of the patient, only days after, being prepared for his burial. It's a profound use of editing, Wiseman inter-cutting the scene with shots of the patients skinny dead body, as if to say modestly that the institution abused and killed him.
Pioneer documentary film-maker Frederick Wiseman, with a career spanning a little under half a century, has done a lot in all this time. He's captured America in a very un-manipulated and refreshingly honest way, which is certainly unique amongst cinema. Some of his documentaries can drag and become quite boring, but most of them are meant to be screened privately for a college or institution. They're difficult to find, but are usually available in University libraries (YEP), or occasionally broad-casted on PBS (Yep and DUB EM WHEN THEY PLAY).
p.s. i just finished watching this new film and was most astonished at the amount of female boxers out there in the world. YOUNG female boxers, ATHLETES! The film has many side conversations about the Virginia Tech shooting that was happening during filmming, and ironically no boxer could comprehend the violence humans can behold. It was a telling theme within the film, as it was the very first time in my life that I viewed, and acknowledged "boxing" as a healthy sport, and not an excuse for unecessary violence. I think it is an important sport now, and this thought exists solely due to the impact of Wiseman's film. Evidence of the power of cinema.
p.s.s. the film shows parents (men AND women) bring their newborns in "carseats" while they work out in the Boxing Gym. Wild passionate stuff.
bye
xo
bye
xo
