A couple of documentaries have come my way that are worth considering.
The first of these is “Escape to Canada” that came my way from
Disinformation, a left-of-center film distribution company based in
Canada. The other is “Primo Levi’s Journey,” which begins a theatrical
run at Quad Cinema on 8/17/2007.
“Escape to Canada” is a salute to the Great White North after the
fashion of “Sicko” but concentrates on three of Canada’s other assets
besides health care, namely gay marriage, the legalization of marijuana
and a haven for GI deserters. Directed by Albert Nerenberg, it is mixes
affirmation of 60s style counter-culture and cutting-edge political
issues. There is a tendency to flatter Canadian bourgeois politicians by
comparing them to George W. Bush that veers close to embracing Canadian
nationalism, but all in all it demonstrates that things are a bit more
civilized to the North. Perhaps, the main attraction is the fact that it
is a kind of Blue Nation, to use the political categories operative in
the USA. You generally get the impression that the average Canadian has
more in common with the residents of Madison, Wisconsin than with the
typical Red State denizen...
I was particularly interested to see “Primo Levi’s Journey” because I
knew next to nothing about him except for the fact that he had been a
prisoner at Auschwitz and wrote about his experience there in works like
“The Periodic Table” and “The Drowned and the Saved.” The film, however,
is connected to a lesser-known work–”The Truce”–that Levi wrote after
WWII ended. It is a kind of journal that tracks his circuitous journey
along with other Italian ex-concentration camp survivors across Eastern
Europe, the USSR and eventually back to Italy under the auspices of the
Red Army. Interspersing excerpts from Levi’s book, Director Davide
Ferrario follows the route that Levi took and interviews a wide variety
of people whose lives have been impacted by the end of socialism. Since
Ferrario has been connected professionally with experimental directors
ranging from Rainer Fassbinder to Poland’s Andrzej Wajda, it is not
surprising that the film has a rather oblique quality. Although it is an
artful work, it is really not the place where one will find a
straightforward narrative of Levi’s life, nor an analysis of the changes
that have taken place in the former USSR and the Eastern bloc.
full:
http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2007/07/29/two-documentaries-of-note/
