listening to questions at the post-screening Q&A
An American Pastorale (France, 2024)
- Auberi Edler, director, scriptwriter and cinematographer
- Part of the HKIFF's Documentary Competition program
Back in the 19th century, French diplomat-historian Alexis de Tocqueville published Democracy in America after spending 10 months in the United States of America. Now in the 21st century, French TV journalist turned documentary filmmaker Auberi Edler spent around that amount of time in a small conservative American town (actually, technically, borough) and has produced An American Pastorale, a documentary that could be said to show how democracy in America dies.
In March 2023, a year long electoral campaign began to elect the school board of Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania (as opposed to Elizabethtown, Kentucky, the setting for Cameron Crowe's 2005 romantic comedy, Elizabethtown!). As Republican and Democrat candidates went from door to door canvasing voters, Auberi Edler's camera was there to follow and record them.
Non-interventionist, offering neither narration nor commentary, Auberi Edler quietly captured on camera how a schoolboard election devolves into culture wars whose strands included book censorship, gun control and the undue influence of organized religion (and, in Elizabethtown, one evangelical church in particular) in people's lives and general politics. In school classrooms, churches, private homes and pretty much elsewhere in between, people of various political stripes -- all of whom are uniformly white in terms of their ethnicity though (note: I've checked and Elizabethtown really does have very few non-white residents) -- are filmed revealing their private as well as public thoughts and in so doing, reveal so much about themselves, their hometown and their country.
An American Pastorale had its world premiere -- shortly after the American Presidential Election last year but before Donald Trump returned to the White House -- at the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (where Auberi Edler came away with the Best Director prize). At the time of my writing this review, it has yet to be screened in the USA. (Indeed, it was only a few days ago that the North American distribution rights for it were sold.)
Based on its title, one might have thought that the natural/target audience for this documentary would be Americans. But an American friend who saw it (here in Hong Kong) told me it had made her cringe and another friend, upon my telling her about the film, told me she didn't think she could stomach viewing it; this particular because she actually personally knew someone from Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania!
Despite not being an American myself, I understand. An American Pastorale is not an easy watch for those who don't like seeing bigotry triumph, thanks in part to how ineffectual, even downright lame and weak, the opposition to far-right white nationalism in Christian clothing was (and is). Put another way: pretty much everyone seen in this quietly devastating cinema vérité-style documentary -- by a filmmaker who knows very well that, often, it's best to just let a person incriminate themself -- does not come off looking good. And their country too!
Those who know me know that I absolutely hate people talking in cinemas. But I have to confess: I found myself commenting aloud about, and in response to, certain statements and declarations made, seemingly seriously, by Elizabethtown residents -- and recorded for posterity in the documentary -- that just came across as so crazily asinine! (As an example, a gun lover talked about the possibility of Hamas going over to attack this rural American community!)
On a positive note: it's an incredible achievement on the part of Auberi Edler that she managed to get the people in the documentary to seemingly forget that her camera was trained on them, and their every word being recorded. To be sure, some of them did appear to be performing for the camera -- as well as an audience of their peers -- some of the time. But more fool them, for thinking that they would be made to look good in this thoroughly thought-provoking work which, actually, lays waste to whatever myths and delusions of grandeur that Americans would ever have about themselves and their country, for the world to see!
My rating for this film: 8.5
3 comments:
I read in another review that the film was shown to the towns folk but one showing for each side - and that both sides felt it was fair. This is America now. One more reason for me to not go back.
Hi Brian --
It'll be interesting to read what you think if you ever were to watch the film.
I think I am angry enough already at what is going on.
Post a Comment