Rants, Rates, Slags, Slates.

Manic-depressive posts from Red Wright-Hand. Because there are thousands of worthless blogs out there and who am I not to add to their number?

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Total US troop deaths in Iraq to date (09/01/07) since 03/20/03: 3739

From 05/02/03 through 06/28/04: 718

From 06/29/04 through 01/30/05: 579

From 01/31/05 through 12/14/05: 715

From 12/15/05 through 01/31/07: 933

From 02/01/07: 653

(Sources: US Dept. of Defense, Iraq Coalition Casualty Count)

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I'm moving my lazy and red right hand to tell you that while I hate to join voices with a mass-media observation, the fact is that the most affecting films I've seen in recent months have all been documentaries. Capturing the Friedmans, Stone Reader, Cinemania, Stevie, Winged Migration and Spellbound, while varying in quality, all provoke emotions inaccessible to fictional scripts. (Although Lilya 4-Ever comes close.) Add Rivers and Tides to the list: an extraordinary account of Scottish sculptor Andy Goldsworthy, of whose work, I am mortally ashamed to admit, I was completely ignorant till last week. Goldsworthy works almost entirely out-of-doors with natural elements such as ice, stones, leaves (at one point he even paints with rain; please discover for yourself how he does this), making work whose inherent degradability is its point. Paraphrasing the man: "The element that brings it to fullest life also brings about its end," commenting on an icicle sculpture fierily illuminated by, before being finally melted by, the sun. The film succeeds perfectly at at least two things: proving that what might seem at first to be childish gimmickry is in fact a deeply respectful observance of natural processes (the twined flowings of water and air, the way stone can be said to move similarly); and the participation of film in Goldsworthy's resume, recording his one-time-only creations before they melt back into the surroundings; in other words, you have to see Rivers and Tides in order to see certain things he's done. (Of course, Goldsworthy's been keeping photographic records of his sculptures before the moviemakers came around, but still, this time you get to see them rise and fall.)

Enough for now. I hope to post more later, either today or tomorrow, about the selective presentation of factual truth in these and other documentaries, likely contradicting everything I just wrote in the paragraph above.
posted by Red at 10:46 AM