DIRECTORS, 4"EDITIO ALTMAN rance of that icon of the Am llels between Van Gogh and Altman which incite the director's interest. Tanner '88, a mock documentary about the 1988 American ult hit which marked ich he had already di ddcb owed from the Gogh painting was particularly stunning in a Bred then Altman films) and Todd Solondz (whose disturbing 1998 Happiness begins his narrative story no to rema ure, uses a similar interlocking narrative within a mode of ironic social trying to remain true to his pa 21
DIRECTORS, 4 ALTMAN th EDITION 21 appearance of that icon of the American cinema, Lillian Gish, whose subsequent filmic death propels the narrative. Altman’s use of multi-track sound is also incredibly complex: sounds are layered upon one another, often emanating from different speakers in such a way that the audience member must also decide what to listen for. Indeed, watching and listening to an Altman film inevitably requires an active participant: events unroll with a Bazinian ambiguity. Altman’s Korean War comedy M*A*S*H was the director’s first public success with this kind of soundtrack. One of his more extreme uses of this technique can be found in McCabe and Mrs. Miller, generally thought to be among the director’s finest achievements. Nashville, Altman’s most universally acclaimed work, provides a panoramic view of the American experience and society as it follows the interrelated experiences of twenty-four characters in the country-western music capital. In its almost three-hour length, Nashville accumulates a power of the whole even greater than the vivid individual parts which themselves resonate in the memory: the incredibly controlled debut performance of Lily Tomlin and the sensitive performances of at least a dozen others; the lesson on sexual politics Altman delivers when he photographs several women listening to a song by Keith Carradine; the vulnerability of Ronee Blakley, who suffers a painful breakdown in front of her surprisingly fickle fans; the expressions on the faces of the men who watch Gwen Welles’s painfully humiliating striptease; and the final cathartic song of Barbara Harris, as Altman suddenly reveals the conventional ‘‘Star is Born’’ myth in his apparent anti-musical, like a magician stunning us with an unexpected trick. Overall, Altman’s career itself has been rather weird. His output since M*A*S*H has been prodigious indeed, especially in light of the fact that a great number of his films have been financial and/or critical failures. In fact, several of his films, among them A Perfect Couple and Quintet (with Paul Newman) barely got a national release; and Health (which starred Glenda Jackson, Carol Burnett, James Garner, and Lauren Bacall) languished on the shelf for years before achieving even a limited release in New York City. The most amazing thing about Altman’s Popeye, which was relatively successful with critics and the public (though not the blockbuster that Hollywood had counted on), was that Altman managed to secure the assignment at all. The film that emerged was one of the most cynical and ultimately disturbing of children’s films, in line with Altman’s consistent vision of human beings and social organization. Altman’s career in the 1980s veered sharply away from mainstream film, dominated instead by a number of film adaptations of theatre pieces, including Come Back to the Five & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean; Streamers; The Laundromat; Secret Honor; Beyond Therapy; and Fool for Love. Although many of these works are fascinating and contain incredibly modulated performances and surprisingly evocative cinematography (particularly Jimmy Dean), these films have not been particularly influential or financially successful. But they allowed Altman to continue to make notable films in a Spielberg-dominated era that was otherwise largely hostile to his provocative filmmaking. Vincent and Theo, one of the few Altman films in this period that did not start out as a play, received much positive notice. Altman’s decision to preface his film with documentary footage of a presentday auction in which millions of dollars are offered for a single Van Gogh painting was particularly stunning in a Brechtian way. He then begins his narrative story of Van Gogh’s lifetime financial failure, trying to remain true to his painter’s vision. Certainly, it is the parallels between Van Gogh and Altman which incite the director’s interest. Tanner ‘88, a mock documentary about the 1988 American presidential campaign which many critics consider among Altman’s master works, was even more amazing. It was a cult hit which marked Altman’s return to the kind of satire with which he had already excelled. Unfortunately, its distribution on cable TV prevented this work from reaching a wide audience. The most stunning development in Altman’s career is the total critical and financial comeback he made with 1992’s The Player, a film that appeared long after most Hollywood executives had written him off. The most insightful and scathing satire about Hollywood and filmmaking today, The Player hilariously skewered one target after another (the pitch, the Hollywood restaurant, the Hollywood party, the dispensable writer), in the process winning the New York Film Critics Circle awards for Best Film and Best Director. Contributing to the film’s popular success were the dozens of stars who took cameos as themselves in order to support Altman, whom they have always admired. The success of The Player allowed Robert Altman to go forward with his most ambitious project since Nashville. Another panoramic narrative featuring dozens of characters, a rich soundtrack, striking cinematography, and sensitive performances, this film is set in contemporary Los Angeles and based on short stories by Raymond Carver. The result, Short Cuts, is one of those rare contemporary American films which truly examines American values (or what passes for them) and dissects life as it is being lived today. The film is memorable from its opening images of helicopters sweeping over Los Angeles to spray for the Medfly infestation to its closing images of urban violence and earthquake; from its depiction of Angelenos struggling to connect with each other through phone sex and illicit liaisons to its presentation of bitterness, silence, and missed rapprochement as the standard American condition. Central to Short Cuts is the ubiquitousness of violence in American life, particularly against women, and the thesis that men’s passive insensitivity often masks a profound hatred of women and a propensity for aggression. No act of violence in Short Cuts results in punishment, just in more apathy. A trader in ironies and social criticism, Altman emphasizes all the ways we deceive each other; and hardly any of the relationships presented—between parents and children, between husbands and wives—are marked by open, honest, useful exchanges; indeed, the jazz theme ‘‘I Don’t Know You,’’ which is sung by one character as her daughter is about to commit suicide, works as the film’s most prescient theme. Notable, too, is how another character describes her own paintings as being ‘‘about seeing, and the responsibility that comes with that.’’ From that message, Altman cuts to a group of men who’ve found the body of a raped woman, but choose to ignore it, lest it interrupt their fishing weekend. As a reaction against an eighties culture that championed special effects and mindless entertainment (Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Conan, etc.), Altman’s admonition to see the world and take responsibility emerges as the courageous stand of a visionary artist still viable and surprising. Like Nashville, Short Cuts is a key Altman film which will undoubtedly come to be regarded as a masterpiece of the American cinema. In fact, both films can be seen as providing the inspirational blueprint for many other filmmakers—particularly Paul Thomas Anderson (whose controversial 1999 Magnolia uses several cast members borrowed from the Altman films) and Todd Solondz (whose disturbing 1998 Happiness uses a similar interlocking narrative within a mode of ironic social criticism)
ALVAREZ DIRECTORS, 4 EDItION In 1994 Altman took on the fashion industry in Ready to Wear 1963 Ciclon; El Barbaro del Ritmo: Fidel en la URSS (Pret-a-Porter). Critics and the public were less kind in their regard 1964 Via libre a la zafra del 64; Primeros Juegos Deportivos for this panoramic satire, but the film was nevertheless witty and controlled, more subtle and light-hearted than had been anticipated. 1965 Solidaridad Cuba y Vietnam: Cuba dos de enero; Pedales The films finale-whereby a group of models parade nude-marked sobra Cuba; Now, Segunda Declaracion de la Habana; La he witty and appropriate conclusion of Altmans satire on the escalada del chantaje olitical/ideological implications of fashion and its capacity to de- 1966 Abril de Giron; Cerro Pelado: Ano Siete, Ocho aros de mean our values. Unfortunately, three recent Altman films seems less Revolucion impressive, if focused on the indigenous local color of their respective 1967 La guerra olvidados (Laos, the Forgotten War); Hasta la regional portraits. Kansas City, in 1996, presents a murky canvas of victoria siempre(Till vic lways); Golpeando en la gangsterism,"dope addiction, and black jazz in the early thirties selva: Hanoi, martes 13 Kansas City. The Gingerbread Man, in 1998, reportedly written by 1968 Amarrando el Cordon; L.B.J. Altman pseudonymously, is a thriller about a lawyer involved with 1969 Despegue a la 18.00 79 Primaveras(79 Springtimes of Ho a troubled young woman. In contrast to the sharp visual and aural Chi Minh) larity of Hitchcock's thrillers, The Gingerbread Man is suffused 1970 Once por cero; Piedra sobre piedra; El serio del Pongo with such stunningly atmospheric cinematography and overlapping anapanacuna sound (indeed, it virtually never stops raining in the film), that we feel 1971 Quemando tradiciones; Como, por que y para que asesina ce we are eavesdropping on real people, rather than watching a un general? La estampida; El pajaro del faro a narrative work its way to a fairly predictable (if effective)conclu- 1972 De America soy hijo . y a ella me debo sion. And finally, the 1999 Cookie's Fortune, set in Holly Springs, 1973 Yel cielo fue tomado por asalto; El tigre salto y mato.pero Mississippi, is a rather charming evocation of the genuine quirkiness torina.. moira(The Tiger Leaped and Killed, But He of small-town life, using some of the typical Altman structures from Will Die, He will Die) Nashville, but within a much smaller framework. 1974 60 Minutos con el primer mundial de boxeo amateur, Rescate; As a postscript on Altman, one should add that he, more than any Los cuatro puentes other director, should never be counted out as an important force in 1975 Abril de Vietnam en el aro del gato: El primer delegado American film culture. If Altman's work is sometimes uneven, the 1976 El Tiempo es el viento: El sol no se puede tapar con un dedo; fact that he continues to work on projects which are political, Luanda ya no es de san Pablo: Morir por la patria es vivir: ideological, and personal-refusing to compromise his own artistic Maputo: Meridiano Novo; Los Dragones de Ha-Long vision-is a sign that he remains even in his late seventies, the United 1977 Mi Hermano Fidel: El Octubre de todos States' single most ambitious auteur. His future agenda is ambitious, 1978 Sobre el problema fronterizo entre Kampuchea y vietnam including a film of Another City, Not My Own, the strange Dominick y la noche se hizo Dunne novel based on Dunnes experiences as a journalist covering 1979 El Gran salto al vacio: Tengo fe en ti; La cumbre que nos une; the sensational murder trial in Los Angeles of O. J. Simpso El desafio .Ithough Altman might seem to be the perfect director, in a culmina 980 Celia, imagen del pueblo: Marcha del pueblo combatiente: E/ ing masterpiece, to deal with the human circus of venality and mayo de las tres banderas: Un Amazons de puebi opportunism which was the Simpson trial, Altmans peripatetic embravecido; Lo que el viento se llevo; La guerra necessaria popularity with Hollywood backers suggests that this project is by 1981 La importancia universal del hueco; Tiempo libre a la roca means a sure thing, no matter how eagerly anticipated the results Comenzo a refumbar el Momtombo: 26 es tambien 19 Mazazo macizo Co -Charles Derry 1982 Nova sinfonia; A galope sobre la historia; Operacion abril del Caribe 1983 Los refugiados de la Cueva del muerto(+ sc); Biografia de un carnaval; Las campanas tambien pueden doblar mariana ALVaREz. Santiago 1984 Gracias Santiago; Dos rostros y una sola imagen; El soriador del Kremlin; Por ez elecciones libres Nationality: Cuban. Born: Havana, 1919. Education: University of 1985 Taller de la vida: La soledad de los dioses, Reencuentro served as vice president of newly formed Instituto Cubano del Arte meridian 37: Memorias de un reencuentro e Industria Cinematograficas (CAlC), 1959; director of the Latin 987 Brascuba American ICAIC newsreel, from 1960. Died: 20 May, 1998, 1997 Concierto por la vida; Concierto mayor Havana, Cuba, of parkinsons disease. Publications Films as director By ALvaREz: book- 1960 Un aio de libertad(co-d) 1961 Escambray: Muerte al invasor(co-d) Santiago Alvarez: Cronista del tercer mundo, edited by edmundo 962 Forjadores de la paz: Cumplimos: Crisis en el Caribe Aray, Caracas, 1983
ALVAREZ DIRECTORS, 4th EDITION 22 In 1994 Altman took on the fashion industry in Ready to Wear (Prêt-à-Porter). Critics and the public were less kind in their regard for this panoramic satire, but the film was nevertheless witty and controlled, more subtle and light-hearted than had been anticipated. The film’s finale—whereby a group of models parade nude—marked the witty and appropriate conclusion of Altman’s satire on the political/ideological implications of fashion and its capacity to demean our values. Unfortunately, three recent Altman films seems less impressive, if focused on the indigenous local color of their respective regional portraits. Kansas City, in 1996, presents a murky canvas of gangsterism, ‘‘dope’’ addiction, and black jazz in the early thirties Kansas City. The Gingerbread Man, in 1998, reportedly written by Altman pseudonymously, is a thriller about a lawyer involved with a troubled young woman. In contrast to the sharp visual and aural clarity of Hitchcock’s thrillers, The Gingerbread Man is suffused with such stunningly atmospheric cinematography and overlapping sound (indeed, it virtually never stops raining in the film), that we feel like we are eavesdropping on real people, rather than watching a narrative work its way to a fairly predictable (if effective) conclusion. And finally, the 1999 Cookie’s Fortune, set in Holly Springs, Mississippi, is a rather charming evocation of the genuine quirkiness of small-town life, using some of the typical Altman structures from Nashville, but within a much smaller framework. As a postscript on Altman, one should add that he, more than any other director, should never be counted out as an important force in American film culture. If Altman’s work is sometimes uneven, the fact that he continues to work on projects which are political, ideological, and personal—refusing to compromise his own artistic vision—is a sign that he remains, even in his late seventies, the United States’ single most ambitious auteur. His future agenda is ambitious, including a film of Another City, Not My Own, the strange Dominick Dunne novel based on Dunne’s experiences as a journalist covering the sensational murder trial in Los Angeles of O. J. Simpson. Although Altman might seem to be the perfect director, in a culminating masterpiece, to deal with the human circus of venality and opportunism which was the Simpson trial, Altman’s peripatetic popularity with Hollywood backers suggests that this project is by no means a sure thing, no matter how eagerly anticipated the results. —Charles Derry ALVAREZ, Santiago Nationality: Cuban. Born: Havana, 1919. Education: University of Havana; Columbia University, New York. Career: After revolution, served as vice president of newly formed Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industria Cinematograficas (ICAIC), 1959; director of the Latin American ICAIC newsreel, from 1960. Died: 20 May, 1998, in Havana, Cuba, of parkinson’s disease. Films as Director: 1960 Un año de libertad (co-d) 1961 Escambray; Muerte al invasor (co-d) 1962 Forjadores de la paz; Cumplimos; Crisis en el Caribe 1963 Ciclon; El Barbaro del Ritmo; Fidel en la URSS 1964 Via libre a la zafra del ‘64; Primeros Juegos Deportivos Militares 1965 Solidaridad Cuba y Vietnam; Cuba dos de enero; Pedales sobra Cuba; Now; Segunda Declaracion de la Habana; La escalada del chantaje 1966 Abril de Giron; Cerro Pelado; Año Siete; Ocho años de Revolucion 1967 La guerra olvidados (Laos, the Forgotten War); Hasta la victoria siempre (Till Victory Always); Golpeando en la selva; Hanoi, martes 13 1968 Amarrando el Cordon; L.B.J. 1969 Despegue a la 18.00; 79 Primaveras (79 Springtimes of Ho Chi Minh) 1970 Once por cero; Piedra sobre piedra; El sueño del Pongo; Yanapanacuna 1971 Quemando tradiciones; Como, por qué y para qué asesina a un general?; La estampida; El pájaro del faro 1972 De America soy hijo . . . y a ella me debo 1973 Y el cielo fue tomado por asalto; El tigre salto y mato . . . pero morira . . . morira (The Tiger Leaped and Killed, But He Will Die, He Will Die) 1974 60 Minutos con el primer mundial de boxeo amateur; Rescate; Los cuatro puentes 1975 Abril de Vietnam en el año del gato; El primer delegado 1976 El Tiempo es el viento; El sol no se puede tapar con un dedo; Luanda ya no es de San Pablo; Morir por la patria es vivir; Maputo; Meridiano Novo; Los Dragones de Ha-Long 1977 Mi Hermano Fidel; El Octubre de todos 1978 Sobre el problema fronterizo entre Kampuchea y Vietnam; . . . y la noche se hizo arcoiris 1979 El Gran salto al vacio; Tengo fe en ti; La cumbre que nos une; El desafio 1980 Celia, imagen del pueblo; Marcha del pueblo combatiente; El mayo de las tres banderas; Un Amazonus de pueblo embravecido; Lo que el viento se llevó; La guerra necessaria 1981 La importancia universal del hueco; Tiempo libre a la roca; Comenzo a retumbar el Momtombo; 26 es también 19; Mazazo macizo; Contrapunto 1982 Nova sinfonia; A galope sobre la historia; Operación abril del Caribe 1983 Los refugiados de la Cueva del Muertro (+ sc); Biografía de un carnaval; Las campanas tambien pueden doblar mañana 1984 Gracias Santiago; Dos rostros y una sola imagen; El soñador del Kremlin; Por primera vez elecciones libres 1985 Taller de la vida; La soledad de los dioses; Reencuentro 1986 Las antípodas de la victoria; Aires de renovación en el meridiano 37; Memorias de un reencuentro 1987 Brascuba 1997 Concierto por la vida; Concierto mayor Publications By ALVAREZ: book— Santiago Alvarez: Cronista del tercer mundo, edited by Edmundo Aray, Caracas, 1983
DIRECTORS, 4 EDITION ALVAREZ By ALVAREZ: articles- Predominantly associated with the educational or the exotic in the United States, the documentary film occupies a very different place in Santiago Alvarez habla de su cine, "in Hablemos de Cine(Lima), the cinema of revolutionary Cuba. Between 90 and 95 percent of the films produced under the revolution have been documentaries, and Interview in Cineaste(New York), vol 6, no 4, 1975 the man most responsible for the international stature of Cuban El Periodismo cinematografico, in Cine Cubano(havana).no documentary cinema is Santiago Alvarez. 94.1979 As the director of the weekly ""Latin American Newsreel Cinema and evolution: Talking with Santiago alvarez, in Issue produced by the Cuban Film Institute(ICAIC), Alvarez directed an A Monthly Review of International Affairs(London), May 1980. enormous number of newsreels as well as many other short and Interview with M. Pereira, in Cine Cubano(Havana), no. 104, 198 feature-length documentaries. Never having formally studied cinema Interview with C. Galiano and R. Chavez, in Cine Cubano(havana he became a filmmaker by"handling millions of feet of film. no.107,1984. Alvarez felt himself to be a journalist, but believed that cinematic Now, in Cine Cubano(Havana), no 110. 1984 journalism should have a permanence beyond simple reportage. To Hablar de estas fotos: Conversacion con Santiago Alvarez, in achieve such transcendency, Alvarez's newsreels are typically Revolucion y Cultura(Havana), November 1986 monothematic and integrated, with the result that they appear more Entretien avec Santiago alvarez. ' interview with Marcel Jean like individual documentary films than the sort of generalized 24 Images(Montreal), November-December 1989 reporting normally associated with newsreels The dominant characteristic of Alvarez 's style is the extraordinar On ALVAREZ: books- ily rhythmic blend of visual and audio forms. Alvarez utilized everything at hand to convey his message: live and historical docu Nelson, L,Cuba: The Measure of a Revolution, Minneapolis, 1972. mentary footage, still photos, bits from TV programs and fiction Myerson, Michael, Memories of Underdevelopment: The Revolution films, animation, and an incredible range of audio accompaniment ary Films of Cuba, New York, 1973 Believing that 50 percent of the value of a film is in the soundtrack, Michael, editor, Santiago Alvarez, London, 1982. Thomas, editor, ' Show Us Life": Toward a History and Alvarez mixed rock, classical, and tropical music, sound effects, participant narration-even silence--into the furious pace of his Aesthetics of the Committed Documentary, Metuchen, New Jer visual images For Alvarez, cinema had its own language, different Chanan, Michael, The Cuban Image: Cinema and Cultural politics i from that of television or of radio, and the essence of this language is Cuba. London 1985 Alvarez's documentaries focus on both national and international On ALVAREZ: articles themes. For example, Ciclon is an early newsreel on the effects of hurricane flora in cuba. although it lacks the elaborate visual Sutherland, Elizabeth, " Cinema of Revolution-90 Miles from Home montage for which Alvarez later became famous, the film shows great skill in the use of sound. There is no verbal narration and the track is in Film quarterly(berkeley ), winter 1961/62 limited to the source sound of trucks and helicopters, and the organ Douglas, M.E., "The Cuban Cinema, in Take One(Montreal), July/ music which eerily punctuates the scenes of caring for the wounded August 1968 Adler, Renata, in New York Times, 10, 1l, and 12 February 1969 and burying the dead. ngel, Andi, "Solidarity and Violence, in Sight and Sound(Lon- Now,, a short dealing with racism in the United States and edited to don). Autumn 1969. the rhythm of Lena Horme's song, shows the master at his best in Rubenstein, Lenny, "79 Springtimes of Ho Chi Minh, in Cineaste working with still photographs. Particularly effective is a sequence New York), Winter 1970/71 which alvarez cuts between the chained hands of arrested blacks and Sauvage, P,"Cine Cubano, in Film Comment(New York) the linked hands of protestors to suggest a dynamic of collective ing struggle in which people are seen not only as products of their Chavez, R, El internaciolalismo en el obra de Santiago Alvarez. " 'in circumstances, but as historical actors capable of changing their Cine Cubano(Havana), March 1978 circumstances. Here, Alvarez fuses ideology and art by makin Burton, Julianne, "Introduction to Revolutionary Cuban Cinema, rd of marxs“" Theses on feuerbach.’ alvarez's Jump Cut( Chicago), December 1978 tribute to Che guevara, Hasta la victoria siempre, deals with much Hood, Stuart, Murder on the Way: Santiago Alvarez Season at the same concept. He begins with a series of beautifully shot stills of NFT, in New Statesman (London), April 1980. poverty in the altiplano. Then, following footage of Che speaking Piedra,M,"Un hombre mas joven 30 anos despues, ' in Cine the Sierra Maestra of Cuba, he dissolves a still of Che into a still of ubano(Havana), vol. 125. 1989 a Gulf Oil Company Bolivia. Through this technique he links Mraz, John, ""Santiago Alvarez: From Dramatic Form to Direct the earlier struggle in Cuba with the later guerrilla war in the andes. Cinema, in Documentary Strategies: Society/deology/History One of the finest examples of Alvarez's work is 79 Springtimes, in Latin American Documentary, 1950-1985, Pittsburgh, 1990 a beautifully controlled montage on Ho Chi Minh's life and death. He Labaki, A," "Santiago Alvarez, Urgence cinema, in Bref(Paris), opens the short by ironically mixing elapsed-time photography of no 31. Winter 1996/97. flowers opening with slow-motion footage of bombs falling from United States planes. He goes on to cut between scenes of United States atrocities in Vietnam and protest marches in the u.s., visually
DIRECTORS, 4 ALVAREZ th EDITION 23 By ALVAREZ: articles— ‘‘Santiago Alvarez habla de su cine,’’ in Hablemos de Cine (Lima), July/August 1970. Interview in Cineaste (New York), vol. 6, no. 4, 1975. ‘‘El Periodismo cinematografico,’’ in Cine Cubano (Havana), no. 94, 1979. ‘‘Cinema and Revolution: Talking with Santiago Alvarez,’’ in Issues: A Monthly Review of International Affairs (London), May 1980. Interview with M. Pereira, in Cine Cubano (Havana), no. 104, 1983. Interview with C. Galiano and R. Chavez, in Cine Cubano (Havana), no. 107, 1984. ‘‘Now,’’ in Cine Cubano (Havana), no. 110, 1984. ‘‘Hablar de estas fotos: Conversación con Santiago Alvarez,’’ in Revolución y Cultura (Havana), November 1986. ‘‘Entretien avec Santiago Alvarez,’’ interview with Marcel Jean, in 24 Images (Montreal), November-December 1989. On ALVAREZ: books— Nelson, L., Cuba: The Measure of a Revolution, Minneapolis, 1972. Myerson, Michael, Memories of Underdevelopment: The Revolutionary Films of Cuba, New York, 1973. Chanan, Michael, editor, Santiago Alvarez, London, 1982. Waugh, Thomas, editor, ‘‘Show Us Life’’: Toward a History and Aesthetics of the Committed Documentary, Metuchen, New Jersey, 1984. Chanan, Michael, The Cuban Image: Cinema and Cultural Politics in Cuba, London, 1985. On ALVAREZ: articles— Sutherland, Elizabeth, ‘‘Cinema of Revolution—90 Miles from Home,’’ in Film Quarterly (Berkeley), Winter 1961/62. Douglas, M.E., ‘‘The Cuban Cinema,’’ in Take One (Montreal), July/ August 1968. Adler, Renata, in New York Times, 10, 11, and 12 February 1969. Engel, Andi, ‘‘Solidarity and Violence,’’ in Sight and Sound (London), Autumn 1969. Rubenstein, Lenny, ‘‘79 Springtimes of Ho Chi Minh,’’ in Cineaste (New York), Winter 1970/71. Sauvage, P., ‘‘Cine Cubano,’’ in Film Comment (New York), Spring 1972. Chávez, R., ‘‘El internaciolalismo en el obra de Santiago Alvarez,’’ in Cine Cubano (Havana), March 1978. Burton, Julianne, ‘‘Introduction to Revolutionary Cuban Cinema,’’ in Jump Cut (Chicago), December 1978. Hood, Stuart, ‘‘Murder on the Way: Santiago Alvarez Season at NFT,’’ in New Statesman (London), April 1980. Piedra, M., ‘‘Un hombre mas joven 30 anos despues,’’ in Cine Cubano (Havana), vol. 125, 1989. Mraz, John, ‘‘Santiago Alvarez: From Dramatic Form to Direct Cinema,’’ in Documentary Strategies: Society/Ideology/History in Latin American Documentary, 1950–1985, Pittsburgh, 1990. Labaki, A., ‘‘Santiago Alvarez, l’urgence cinema,’’ in Bref (Paris), no. 31, Winter 1996/97. *** Predominantly associated with the educational or the exotic in the United States, the documentary film occupies a very different place in the cinema of revolutionary Cuba. Between 90 and 95 percent of the films produced under the revolution have been documentaries, and the man most responsible for the international stature of Cuban documentary cinema is Santiago Alvarez. As the director of the weekly ‘‘Latin American Newsreel’’ produced by the Cuban Film Institute (ICAIC), Alvarez directed an enormous number of newsreels as well as many other short and feature-length documentaries. Never having formally studied cinema, he became a filmmaker by ‘‘handling millions of feet of film.’’ Alvarez felt himself to be a journalist, but believed that cinematic journalism should have a permanence beyond simple reportage. To achieve such transcendency, Alvarez’s newsreels are typically monothematic and integrated, with the result that they appear more like individual documentary films than the sort of generalized news reporting normally associated with newsreels. The dominant characteristic of Alvarez’s style is the extraordinarily rhythmic blend of visual and audio forms. Alvarez utilized everything at hand to convey his message: live and historical documentary footage, still photos, bits from TV programs and fiction films, animation, and an incredible range of audio accompaniment. Believing that ‘‘50 percent of the value of a film is in the soundtrack,’’ Alvarez mixed rock, classical, and tropical music, sound effects, participant narration—even silence—into the furious pace of his visual images. For Alvarez, cinema had its own language, different from that of television or of radio, and the essence of this language is montage. Alvarez’s documentaries focus on both national and international themes. For example, Ciclon is an early newsreel on the effects of hurricane Flora in Cuba. Although it lacks the elaborate visual montage for which Alvarez later became famous, the film shows great skill in the use of sound. There is no verbal narration, and the track is limited to the source sound of trucks and helicopters, and the organ music which eerily punctuates the scenes of caring for the wounded and burying the dead. Now, a short dealing with racism in the United States and edited to the rhythm of Lena Horne’s song, shows the master at his best in working with still photographs. Particularly effective is a sequence in which Alvarez cuts between the chained hands of arrested blacks and the linked hands of protestors to suggest a dynamic of collective struggle in which people are seen not only as products of their circumstances, but as historical actors capable of changing their circumstances. Here, Alvarez fuses ideology and art by making graphic the third of Marx’s ‘‘Theses on Feuerbach.’’ Alvarez’s tribute to Che Guevara, Hasta la victoria siempre, deals with much the same concept. He begins with a series of beautifully shot stills of poverty in the Altiplano. Then, following footage of Che speaking in the Sierra Maestra of Cuba, he dissolves a still of Che into a still of a Gulf Oil Company camp in Bolivia. Through this technique he links the earlier struggle in Cuba with the later guerrilla war in the Andes. One of the finest examples of Alvarez’s work is 79 Springtimes, a beautifully controlled montage on Ho Chi Minh’s life and death. He opens the short by ironically mixing elapsed-time photography of flowers opening with slow-motion footage of bombs falling from United States planes. He goes on to cut between scenes of United States atrocities in Vietnam and protest marches in the U.S., visually
ANDERSON DIRECTORS, 4 EDItION depicting the position that the real enemy is not the people of the U.S., 1988 Glory! Glor but the ruling class and its mercenaries In the final sequence, Alvarez 1993 Is That All There Is?(+ sc, role uses what seems to be every available visual effect-torn and burned strips of film, film frames, bits of paper-to create an incredible animated montage. The soundtrack underscores the visual dynamic Other Films: with music and poems by Ho Chi Minh and Jose Marti. Even since his death in 1998, Alvarez continues to be thought of as 1949 Out of Season(Brendon)(narrator) e of the foremost documentary filmmakers in Latin America, 1952 The Pleasure Garden(Broughton)(pr, role) although some consider his earlier short films to be superior to the 1956 Together (Mazzetti)(supervising ed) later and longer works. This may result from the fact that in the earlier 1958 March to Aldermaston(supervising ed) films the line between heroes( Che, Ho Chi Minh) and villains 1960 Let My People Go(Krish)(sponsor) imperialism and racism) was more clearly drawn, while his later 962 The Story of Private Pooley(Alsen)(English-language ver- works reflected the international compromises with the Soviet Union sion of Der Schur des Soldaten Pooley)(narrator) and reformist Latin American governments that have been required of 1965 The Threatening Sky(Ivens)(English-language version of L the Cuban revolution. Nonetheless, Alvarez persisted in his indefati- Ciel, la terre)(narrator) gable quest for an"audacious and constantly renewed optic. 1966 Mucednici lasky(Martyrs of Love)(Nemec)(role) 1967 About"The White Bus( Fletcher)(role as himself) ohn mraz 1968 Abel Gance-The Charm of Dynamite(Brownlow )(for TV) narrator); Inadmissable Evidence(Page)(role) 1969 The Parachute(Page)(for TV)(role 1970 Hetty King-Performer(Robinson(narrator) ANDERSON, Lindsay 1971 A Mirror from India(Sarabhai)(narrator) 1981 Chariots of Fire(Hudson)(role as schoolmaster) Nationality: British. Born: Lindsay Gordon Anderson in Bangalore, 1991 Prisoner of Honor(for TV)(role as war minister) South India, 17 April 1923. Education: Attended Cheltenham Col- 1992 Blame It on the Bellboy(role as Mr. Marshall) lege and Wadham College, Oxford. Military Service: Member of 1994 Lucky Man(role as himself) Army Intelligence Corps during World War Il. Career: Editor, equence magazine, 1947-52; helped organize first Free Cinema program, National Film Theatre, 1956: directed first feature, This Publications Sporting Life, 1963: associate artistic director, Royal Court Theatre 1971-75: also directed TV plays and commercials. Awards: Oscar By ANDERSON: books- for Best Short Subject, for Thursday's Children, 1955: Palme d'Or Cannes Festival, for lf.. ., 1969. Died: 30 August 1994, of a heart Making a Film: The Story of Secret People, London, 1952. attack while vacationing in the Dordogne region of France If...: A Film by Lindsay Anderson, with David Sherwin, New O Lucky Man with David Sherwin. New York. 1973. Films as director: By ANDERSON: articles- 1948 Meet the Pioneers(+ Sc, co-ed, narration) 1949 Idlers That Work(+ sc, narration) Angles of Approach, in Sequence(London), winter 1947 1952 Three Installations (+ SC, narration); Trunk Conveyor(+ sC, The Need for Competence, in Sequence(London), Spring 1948 narration): Wakefield Express(+ sc) What Goes On, in Sequence(London), Summer 194 1953 Thursdays Children(co-d, +co-sc): O Dreamland(+sc) Creative Elements, in Sequence(London), Autumn 1948 1955 Green and Pleasant Land ( sc); Henry(+ sC, role); The British Cinema: The Descending Spiral, in Sequence (London), Children Upstairs ( sc): A Hundred Thousand Children Spring 1949 ( sc):E20 a Ton(+ sc); Energy First ( sc); Foot and " The Film Front, "in Sequence(London), Summer 1949 Mouth(+ sc, narration) Films of Alfred Hitchcock, in Sequence (London), Autumn 1949 957 Every Day except Christmas(+ sc) "Notes at Cannes, in Sequence(London), New Year issue 195 1963 This Sporting Life The Directors Cinema?, in Sequence(London), Autumn 1950 967 The White Bus; Raz, dwa, trzy(The Singing Lesson)(+sc) Retrospective Review: Wagonmaster and Two Flags West, 969.(+pr) Sight and Sound (London), December 1950 1972 O Lucky Man!(+ co-pr) Goldwyn at Claridges, in Sequence (London), New Year 974 In Celebration John Ford, in Films in Review(New York), February 1951 Wish You Were There( Foreign Sk Minnelli, Kelly and An American in Paris, "in Sequence (London), Whales of august New Year issue 1952
ANDERSON DIRECTORS, 4th EDITION 24 depicting the position that the real enemy is not the people of the U.S., but the ruling class and its mercenaries. In the final sequence, Alvarez uses what seems to be every available visual effect—torn and burned strips of film, film frames, bits of paper—to create an incredible animated montage. The soundtrack underscores the visual dynamic with music and poems by Ho Chi Minh and Jose Martí. Even since his death in 1998, Alvarez continues to be thought of as one of the foremost documentary filmmakers in Latin America, although some consider his earlier short films to be superior to the later and longer works. This may result from the fact that in the earlier films the line between heroes (Che, Ho Chi Minh) and villains (U.S. imperialism and racism) was more clearly drawn, while his later works reflected the international compromises with the Soviet Union and reformist Latin American governments that have been required of the Cuban revolution. Nonetheless, Alvarez persisted in his indefatigable quest for an ‘‘audacious and constantly renewed optic.’’ —John Mraz ANDERSON, Lindsay Nationality: British. Born: Lindsay Gordon Anderson in Bangalore, South India, 17 April 1923. Education: Attended Cheltenham College and Wadham College, Oxford. Military Service: Member of Army Intelligence Corps during World War II. Career: Editor, Sequence magazine, 1947–52; helped organize first Free Cinema program, National Film Theatre, 1956; directed first feature, This Sporting Life, 1963; associate artistic director, Royal Court Theatre, 1971–75; also directed TV plays and commercials. Awards: Oscar for Best Short Subject, for Thursday’s Children, 1955; Palme d’Or, Cannes Festival, for If. . . , 1969. Died: 30 August 1994, of a heart attack while vacationing in the Dordogne region of France. Films as Director: 1948 Meet the Pioneers (+ sc, co-ed, narration) 1949 Idlers That Work (+ sc, narration) 1952 Three Installations (+ sc, narration); Trunk Conveyor (+ sc, narration); Wakefield Express (+ sc) 1953 Thursday’s Children (co-d, + co-sc); O Dreamland (+ sc) 1955 Green and Pleasant Land (+ sc); Henry (+ sc, role); The Children Upstairs (+ sc); A Hundred Thousand Children (+ sc); £20 a Ton (+ sc); Energy First (+ sc); Foot and Mouth (+ sc, narration) 1957 Every Day except Christmas (+ sc) 1963 This Sporting Life 1967 The White Bus; Raz, dwa, trzy (The Singing Lesson) (+ sc) 1969 If. . . (+ pr) 1972 O Lucky Man! (+ co-pr) 1974 In Celebration 1982 Britannia Hospital 1985 Wish You Were There (Foreign Skies) 1986 The Whales of August 1988 Glory! Glory! 1993 Is That All There Is? (+ sc, role) Other Films: 1949 Out of Season (Brendon) (narrator) 1952 The Pleasure Garden (Broughton) (pr, role) 1956 Together (Mazzetti) (supervising ed) 1958 March to Aldermaston (supervising ed) 1960 Let My People Go (Krish) (sponsor) 1962 The Story of Private Pooley (Alsen) (English-language version of Der Schwur des Soldaten Pooley) (narrator) 1965 The Threatening Sky (Ivens) (English-language version of Le Ciel, la terre) (narrator) 1966 Mucednici Iásky (Martyrs of Love) (Nemec) (role) 1967 About ‘‘The White Bus’’ (Fletcher) (role as himself) 1968 Abel Gance—The Charm of Dynamite (Brownlow) (for TV) (narrator); Inadmissable Evidence (Page) (role) 1969 The Parachute (Page) (for TV) (role) 1970 Hetty King—Performer (Robinson) (narrator) 1971 A Mirror from India (Sarabhai) (narrator) 1981 Chariots of Fire (Hudson) (role as schoolmaster) 1991 Prisoner of Honor (for TV) (role as war minister) 1992 Blame It on the Bellboy (role as Mr. Marshall) 1994 Lucky Man (role as himself) Publications By ANDERSON: books— Making a Film: The Story of ‘‘Secret People,’’ London, 1952. If. . . : A Film by Lindsay Anderson, with David Sherwin, New York, 1969. O Lucky Man!, with David Sherwin, New York, 1973. By ANDERSON: articles— ‘‘Angles of Approach,’’ in Sequence (London), Winter 1947. ‘‘The Need for Competence,’’ in Sequence (London), Spring 1948. ‘‘What Goes On,’’ in Sequence (London), Summer 1948. ‘‘Creative Elements,’’ in Sequence (London), Autumn 1948. ‘‘British Cinema: The Descending Spiral,’’ in Sequence (London), Spring 1949. ‘‘The Film Front,’’ in Sequence (London), Summer 1949. ‘‘Films of Alfred Hitchcock,’’ in Sequence (London), Autumn 1949. ‘‘Notes at Cannes,’’ in Sequence (London), New Year issue 1950. ‘‘The Director’s Cinema?,’’ in Sequence (London), Autumn 1950. ‘‘Retrospective Review: Wagonmaster and Two Flags West,’’ in Sight and Sound (London), December 1950. ‘‘Goldwyn at Claridges,’’ in Sequence (London), New Year issue 1951. ‘‘John Ford,’’ in Films in Review (New York), February 1951. ‘‘Minnelli, Kelly and An American in Paris,’’ in Sequence (London), New Year issue 1952
DIRECTORS, 4 EDITION ANDERSON Lindsay Anderson As the Critics Like It: Some Personal Choices, in Sight and Sound "An Interview with Lindsay Anderson, with Peter Cowie, in Film (London) October/December 1952 Quarterly(Berkeley), Summer 1964 Only Connect: Some Aspects of the Work of Humphrey Jennings The Film Maker and the audience, in Film Makers on Film in Sight and Sound (London), April/June 1953; reprinted in The Making, edited by Harry Geduld, Bloomington, Indiana, 1967 Documentary Tradition, edited by Lewis Jacobs, New York, 1974 Interview, in Documentary Explorations: 15 Interviews with Film- Encounter with Prevert. 'in Sight and Sound (London), July/ makers, by G. Roy Levin, New York, 1971 September 1953 French Critical Writing, in Sight and Sound (London), October/ Stripping the Veils Away, an interview with David Robinson, in the Times(London), 21 April 1973 December 1954 From Theater to Film... Lindsay Anderson, an interview with M. Notes from Sherwood, in Sight and Sound (London), Winter 1956. Ten Feet Tall, in Sight and Sound (London), Summer 1957. Revolution Is the Opium of the Intellectuals, an interview with E The Critical Issue: A Discussion between Paul Rotha, Basil Wright, Rampell, in Cineaste(New York), voL 12, no 4, 1983. Lindsay Anderson, Penelope Houston, in Sight and Sound "Lindsay Anderson, Unfashionable Humanist, in Conversation, an London), Autumn 1957. interview with Gerald Pratley, in Cinema Canada(Montreal), Two Inches off the Ground, in Sight and Sound (London) Interview in American Cinematographer Los Angeles), October 198 Get out and Push!, in Declaration, edited by Tom Maschler, Interview with John Russell Taylor, in Films and Filming (London), London. 1958. Sport, Life, and Art, in Films and Filming(London), Febru- Interview with S. Stewart and L. Friedman, in Film Criticism, vol 16. no.1.1991/92
DIRECTORS, 4 ANDERSON th EDITION 25 Lindsay Anderson ‘‘As the Critics Like It: Some Personal Choices,’’ in Sight and Sound (London), October/December 1952. ‘‘Only Connect: Some Aspects of the Work of Humphrey Jennings,’’ in Sight and Sound (London), April/June 1953; reprinted in The Documentary Tradition, edited by Lewis Jacobs, New York, 1974. ‘‘Encounter with Prévert,’’ in Sight and Sound (London), July/ September 1953. ‘‘French Critical Writing,’’ in Sight and Sound (London), October/ December 1954. ‘‘Stand Up! Stand Up!,’’ in Sight and Sound (London), Autumn 1956. ‘‘Notes from Sherwood,’’ in Sight and Sound (London), Winter 1956. ‘‘Ten Feet Tall,’’ in Sight and Sound (London), Summer 1957. ‘‘The Critical Issue: A Discussion between Paul Rotha, Basil Wright, Lindsay Anderson, Penelope Houston,’’ in Sight and Sound (London), Autumn 1957. ‘‘Two Inches off the Ground,’’ in Sight and Sound (London), Winter 1957. ‘‘Get out and Push!,’’ in Declaration, edited by Tom Maschler, London, 1958. ‘‘Sport, Life, and Art,’’ in Films and Filming (London), February 1963. ‘‘An Interview with Lindsay Anderson,’’ with Peter Cowie, in Film Quarterly (Berkeley), Summer 1964. ‘‘The Film Maker and the Audience,’’ in Film Makers on Film Making, edited by Harry Geduld, Bloomington, Indiana, 1967. Interview, in Documentary Explorations: 15 Interviews with Filmmakers, by G. Roy Levin, New York, 1971. ‘‘Stripping the Veils Away,’’ an interview with David Robinson, in the Times (London), 21 April 1973. ‘‘From Theater to Film . . . Lindsay Anderson,’’ an interview with M. Carducci, in Millimeter (New York), January 1975. ‘‘Revolution Is the Opium of the Intellectuals,’’ an interview with E. Rampell, in Cineaste (New York), vol. 12, no. 4, 1983. ‘‘Lindsay Anderson, Unfashionable Humanist, in Conversation,’’ an interview with Gerald Pratley, in Cinema Canada (Montreal), June 1985. Interview in American Cinematographer (Los Angeles), October 1987. Interview with John Russell Taylor, in Films and Filming (London), March 1988. Interview with S. Stewart and L. Friedman, in Film Criticism, vol. 16, no. 1, 1991/92