MCN: Five Obstructions


Gary Dretzka Leonard Klady David Poland Ray Pride Patricia Vidal	___________________________________ The second great find of this year’s festival for me (after Touching The Void) is Lars Von Trier and Jorgen Leth’s documentary, The Five Obstructions, which I consider the best film about filmmaking I have seen… well… maybe ever. In many ways, it is the filmic version of Steven Soderbergh’s book, "Getting Away With It", which ironically, I brought with me on this journey to re-read. Both are about personalities on the surface, but speak to the spirit of the process of actually making films, not just deconstructing them afterwards as we critics do or looking at it as a business process, or even as a surface discussion about production. The set up is this: In 1968, Jorgen Leth made a movie called The Perfect Human. This experimental-style short film is very close to von Trier’s heart. As a result of that, his subsequent relationship with Leth and his own artistic interest in shaking things up, he comes up with the idea of getting Leth to remake The Perfect Human five times, each with a set of obstructions. The obstructions obviously recall the Dogma 95 effort, but they are no Dogma rules. Each film has its own odd set of obstructions with goals stated ahead in meetings between Leth and von Trier before each production begins. The result is significant on various levels. And I don’t want to tell you how to feel about it. But as someone who is always looking for new ways of explaining the process of creating art – especially to one fellow journalist in particular – this is a spectacular study. The film industry – Hollywood – and those of us who follow it have created a retched mess by forcing the idea that film is a medium that is a one-off, never meant to be reconsidered. Yes, there are remakes aplenty. But the reason for most of them is money and little more. Film, the most complex of all art forms, can be very much like literature or theater. Like Shakespeare’s plays, many films can be launching points for films that reflect on the original works, surpassing them, falling behind them or simply adding more ideas to the existing ideas. There is nothing wrong with that. Quite the opposite. But on top of that, there is process. Very few people really understand the process of making a film and the many choices that are made. By creating this odd process in which he sets up rules/obstructions for Leth to deal with, von Trier forces Leth to do what a good artist does all the time… to deal with the situation, to rethink, to make adjustments, and to keep reflecting his own voice, regardless of the circumstances. I fully expect that The 5 Obstructions will be a key element of every film school curriculum for a long, long time. In fact, I would make it the first thing that every film school student sees at the start of each year of studies, as like all great art, its meaning will change for them every year. My experience with von Trier this festival has been lovely, very reminiscent of meeting Mike Figgis years ago, finding the genius guy who was sitting there regardless of how I feel about his work. I’ve liked some of Figgis’ work since, but I still admire the art and effort of his work more than some of the outcome. I have never liked a von Trier film deeply. Not even the much revered Breaking The Waves. I find him cruel and misogynistic… even, more so because he has made women heroines in almost all of his works… and they have all suffered for the distinction. by David Poland	The Five Obstructions __________ Director: Jørgen Leth, Lars von Trier __________ Country: Denmark/Switzerland/Belgium/France Year: 2003 Time: 90 minutes __________ Production Company: Zentropa Real/Almaz Film Production/Wajnbrosse Productions/Panic Productions Executive Producer: Carsten Holst Producer: Carsten Holst Written By: Lars von Trier, Jørgen Leth Cinematography: Dan Holmberg, Kim Hattesen Editor: Camilla Moeller Sound: Hans Moeller