12 - Portraits of the Self

By Étienne and Étienne

Introduction

If there is one thing that society as yet to really understand is "differences". In our present days, we are proud to say that we are more open than ever and that discrimination barely exist anymore. Sadly, the truth is far from that. Let's think about it. Whether it is an homeless person to whom nobody dare to look at or a kid at school that hardly makes any friend due to his cultural origins, we still judge people too quickly without knowing them properly. The two screenings we had to do this week offers us us a better understanding of two social groups that are judge unfairly by society: gleaners and homosexuals.

The Summary of the film: The Gleaners and I

The Gleaners and I is a wandering road documentary that describes how many people are either forced to glean or do it by choice and then compares that description the perception we, the more fortunate folk, have of the general act of gleaning. The purpose of the documentary is not only to raise awareness about the potential value of gleaning, but also to emphasize the ways that our perceptions of people and objects influence the portraits we create of them and of ourselves. Filmed and Directed by Agnes Varda in the year 2000, this documentary takes place across all of France and serves to create multiple portraits of both the people interviewed and the filmmaker herself.

Agnes Varda begins by taking us to see La glaneuse de Jules Breton, a painting that illustrates the how gleaning was once done only by women and strictly in a harvesting/Farming purpose. She then turns the camera on herself, illustrating her age but in a creative way. Much like the portraits we prematurely make of the gleaners we see, her age is superficial and independent of her values and motivations. The documentary then travels to "La Beauce Francaise" where one potato farm can have up to 25 tons of leftover potatoes a season due to the strict commercial criteria. It’s here that Agnes Varda interviews homeless men and women who rely on gleaning for basic nutrition; homeless men and women who are often perceived as idiots who spend their day trash collecting. In the same region, she interviews soup kitchen volunteers who collect about 300 kilos of potatoes a day to sell to restaurants and to feed the less fortunate. Some of the volunteers are also homeless people trying to make themselves useful. Varda also engages in the gleaning, filming with close attention the heart shaped potatoes, as if to express her unique perception and appreciation of the situation. This documentary demonstrates that you don’t have to be homeless to participate in gleaning. Even 2 star chefs like Edward Loupé obtain most of their ingredients from gleaning in vineyards and farms.

As the movie progresses we start to understand that gleaning isn't only material. For the filmmaker it’s a gleaning of images, facts and actions while for us viewers it’s a gleaning of knowledge and emotions. With each different type of gleaning illustrated, the different laws are explained. For muscles, grapes or apples located on farms, the gleaners are allowed before dawn and after dusk all while following the guidelines put in place by the owners. The same rules apply on the city, but the gleaning of food is more frowned upon by market owners, who sometimes bleach the left overs so they cannot be used. In the final section, Varda interviews a few gleaners from the city who aren't quite who they seem to be. She first interviews the man who always wears rubber boots. This man has a job, steady income, social security number and a residence, yet he gleans in an effort to reduce the excess waste created by modern society, that can harm nature and its creatures in so many ways. Later she encounters a band of gleaners who proceed in removing the copper wiring from T.Vs in order to sell it and have a minimum income. Finally she interacts progressively over many weeks with a young man named Alain. Alain has a Master’s degree in Chemistry and spends his time between selling papers and teaching French to immigrants. He gleans only for his survival, which to him isn’t the hardest life to live because he has food, friends and a shelter to stay in; all he needs.

This movie is reputably known for its use of the handheld camera and the unusual camera angles and techniques that come with. A few times Agnes Varda uses her camera to film herself filming, symbolizing her reflection onto her actions.  Later, Varda forgets to turn off her camera. As the camera hangs to her side filming, the viewer can see the shifting ground and the dangling lens cap with a jazz music background. Varda calls this shot "The Dance of the Lens Cap". This shows the diversity in the filming techniques. Throughout the movie, Varda films herself, using these techniques, combing her newly discovered gray hair, and there are many visuals of her aging hands, of which she realizes she portrays without completely understanding them. She frequently "catches" trucks on the freeway, making a circle with her hand in front of the camera framing the truck and then closing her hand as she drives past them.

As all the scenes are woven into this documentary, gleaning becomes illustrated as an act with purpose. Whether it is to feed yourself and your family, reduce waste or simply to acquire knowledge, emotions and ideas like Agnes Varda has done, gleaning has a goal that is unique to each individual and isn’t always for the strict necessities.

http://www.nbc29.com/story/19299550/central-virginians-take-part-in-commonwealth-day-of-gleaning

The Concepts

With this week’s topic being Portraits of the Self, Agnes Varda's methods for her interviews allow for the best and the truth of her subject to come out to the camera. Agnes Varda takes the time get to know her subjects and gives them the freedom of expression. Much like with Alain, the one who had a master’s degree, she went to see him for a few short minutes for a few weeks before he felt comfortable enough to reveal what he does and why he does it. She does the same with others like Salomon and the homeless men who gleaned the potatoes at the beginning of the movie. She first began by speaking with them while they were gleaning and subsequently they should her and explained how they lived. Agnes Varda interacted with her subjects without judgement or preconceived notion in mind and without applying any exterior pressure. As a result the subjects felt at ease and confident enough to reveal the complete and honest truth about themselves. Her interviewing techniques allow for the creation of complete Candid (Honest, truthful) portraits of herself, her topic and of her subjects.

Our understanding of the concept of waste is often questioned in this documentary. Why is it that what most of us call trash, both food and material, is often taken to be somebody else’s treasure? When we throw out potatoes that are too big, broken televisions or potentially (according to the wrapper) post-dated food, we often do it in neglect of not only the consequences but the potential that this "waste" still carries for others. It takes someone who has nothing to appreciate the value of something he doesn't have while we viewers often forget what value certain objects can have. It’s a matter of habit, where we are surrounded by something for so long that we almost forget its significance, that it even exists.

If we combine these 2 concepts we realize that filming the other, is figuratively filming the self. This is when we define the self to be built through intense self-reflection, and the other to be built by a series of portraits. When Agnes Varda filmed and documented the reality of the gleaners, both rural and urban, it pushed both her and us, the viewers, to reflect on the reality we live in and on whom we are as individuals. Her film, composed of only candid portraits, allows for a concrete comparison between us as viewers and them as gleaners and witnesses to a different reality of living. As spectators we glean these images in order to produce a meaning and questions for us to reflect on. We could say that a documentary film can be used as a mirror for the spectator to observe and reflect on.

We as spectators, as gleaners, often compare ourselves to those presented in documentaries or movies. We try to understand the portraits filmmakers make of their subjects in order to make our own portraits, both of them and of ourselves. This allows us to establish relationships between us and concepts such as waste, consumption, art, humanity, etc, as well as relationships with the people featured in documentaries. It becomes essential that documentaries take the role of true portraits of humanity if it is ever to change and improve.

Small steps are being taken:

http://www.cuesa.org/article/get-out-and-glean

Additional Film: Silverlake Life

The additional screening we did was the movie Silverlake Life. Published in 1993 in the United States, this 100 minutes documentary, directed by Tom Joslin, shows how his life changed when he and his lover Mark Massi were both diagnosed with AIDS. At that time, the number of death related to that disease was enormous. In fact, 1993 marked the highest point of AIDS with more than 80 000 cases in the United States only (Centers for Disease Control statistics). Therefore, it is without great surprise that many films related to HIV, AIDS and homosexuality were released at that time like Philadelphia (featuring Tom Hanks) and And the Band Played On.

Despite the fact that the movies mentioned above were highly acclaimed by the public, they were nothing more than fiction movies and that’s what makes them less touching and realistic than the documentary Silverlake Life.

This film shows the principal struggles and difficulties that the couple must face as they live their final moments before an inevitable death.  The disease they must live with drains them completely from their energy and this becomes more and more visible as the film progresses. Simple tasks quickly become nearly insurmountable. For example, at some point we see Joslin trying to go shopping but he must always take breaks and go lie down in his car because, for him, the amount of work required to accomplish this task is too important. However, this documentary is not necessarily depressing and macabre. In fact, it delivers a fantastic message of courage, compassion and true love. In the couple’s daily life, we see that they take care of each other and they learn how to appreciate every moment together despite the fact that it is far from easy. It shows to the world a whole different aspect of gay couple in society and it proves that there is nothing wrong with same-sex relationships. As a matter of fact, one of the important messages of the film is that love has no frontiers, whether it is gender or illness.

Sadly, the world they live in has yet to understand this fact. Even though the film doesn't show political facts, we clearly see that, at that time, homosexuals were left alone facing this “gay cancer”. For example, Mark Massi gets ask to put on a shirt when he swims at a public pool because the manager is afraid that the marks on his back might scare the clients. He finds it pretty insulting because he doesn't see his body as disgusting. This kind of emotion is visible at few occasions throughout the movie and it is interesting and eye-opening to see how the couple reacts to it. Also, at one point of the movie, the couple visits Joslin’s family and we see that it is hard for them to accept Massi in the life of their son. They tend to judge him because of his sexual orientation and his disease.

The structure of the documentary is very interesting. It is a "point of view" kind a movie filmed with a handheld camera by the couple itself. No third parties are asked to emit an opinion on the subject and this helps the audience to get an intimate bound with Joslin and Massi.

Also, in the montage, the syntagmatic axis is very well done. One of the best links that are shown is when the couple go see a marathon in their village and they talk to one of the runners. When she gets ask if she thinks she will make it all the way, she replies: "With all the wonderful people and entertainment, even if it is long, I'll make it all the way". I found it very interesting because this simple answer resumed perfectly the combat that the couple was facing and the that fact that they were there to take care of eachother was what was helping them to survive all the way.

The film ends with the death of Tom Joslin. The editing was left to Peter Friedman. He did an excellent job in delivering a product that is both thought provoking and interesting. He truly understood what the couple was trying to accomplish by doing this film and a result allows the public the view them under a new, positive light. Friedman had a strong bond with them and the respect he had towards them is visible in the structure of the film for it is a truly candid portrait of both Tom Joslin and Mark Massi

In this short interview, co-director Peter Friedman sums up the nature of Tom Joslin and Mark Massi:

http://www.pbs.org/pov/silverlakelife/video-interview.php#.UYQamqJSiAg

After the release, Silverlake Life won many awards and forced many people to change their opinion on homosexuality. This documentary film was a major tool in the fight against homophobia and the lack of knowledge regarding AIDS. In a way, their deaths were not in vain.

The Personal Response

We live in a world where we tend to judge people without knowing them. The two films presented separate groups of people discriminated by society for being different on multiple levels. However, when we see them through honest, candid portraits, we are able to compare and find resemblance with them and their lifestyle. The opinion we made of them is then based on facts and testimonies instead of popular opinion and preconceived ideas.

When we see the world through their eyes, it forces us to have a second look on the world we live in and how we react to difference. For example, in Silverlake Life, we quickly have a sense of attachment with Joslin and Massi. We see their relationship as something completely normal and it is hard to understand why their family cannot see it this way. It forces us to think on how society as a whole can judge them if their close ones can hardly accept them. In The Gleaners and I, the gleaners are seen and treated as filthy, homeless outcasts only because they pick up and reuse what we see as trash. However, as an over consuming society, we throw a lot away only because we don’t want it and not because it isn’t useful anymore. While society takes its wealth for granted, gleaners act responsibly and evaluate the consequences before they act. Yet we place them in a degraded, separate social class.

Its movies like this that make us realize how we take things for granted and also create opinions on subjects we aren't necessarily properly informed about. I for one learned that forming an opinion based on rumor and biased ideals makes me less objective. During last year’s student strike, I wasn't informed on the arguments and points up for debate and as a result I portrayed the Quebec government as an abusive force of power. I later found I was wrong. The actors in these movies were misunderstood and degraded just the same as African American’s were in the 20^th century, just the same as Chinese immigrants in the 1800’s and so on (http://history.state.gov/milestones/1866-1898/ChineseImmigration). These documentaries are meant to teach us and allow us to reflect on our attitude and approach to people and concepts we don’t quite understand. Therefor they are critical to our society’s proper development.

Conclusion

It will take a while before every form of discrimination and unfounded believes about different social groups stop. As humans, "difference" is something hard to accept. However, the situation keeps on getting better. If we learn to open our mind and learn from people before judging them, maybe that someday the problem will be solved. However, to acheive such a goal, every person counts.