JIFFEST-review-5Obstructions
JP/19/OBSTR
'The 5 Obstructions': (abu2 tua) A masterpiece tweaked to the power of 5
Paul F. Agusta Contributor/Jakarta
In 1967, Danish filmmaker Jorgen Leth made a short film titled Det Perfekte Mennetske (Perfect Human).
It portrayed a man, described as being the perfect man, engaging in a variety of "normal" daily activities such as shaving, getting dressed, walking, eating and drinking. It was a playfully meaningful short film that successfully poked fun at the idea of human perfection.
More than 30 years since Perfect Human, Lars von Trier, the creatively adventurous director behind and The Idiots as well as one of the founders of the Dogme 95 movement, approached Leth with an offer so unique it was impossible for any committed filmmaker to refuse.
The younger director sets forth an interesting challenge for his mentor; Leth is to remake Perfect Human five times while strictly following a set of rules or "obstructions" that von Trier has devised for each film.
These include having to shoot in various locations such as Bombay and Cuba and adapt the film according to the new locations. He also has to make a cut every 12 frames or every half-second (specifically for the first obstruction shot in Cuba).
In addition, Leth must direct a version in a medium he entirely despises -- animation -- and, perhaps the most interestingly devilish obstruction of them all, complete freedom to remake the film in any way he wants.
The resulting documentation of the filmmaking processes is what is captured by Trier in The 5 Obstructions, an interesting inclusion in the "House of Docs" section of this year's JiFFest.
Lars von Trier is no stranger to experimentation; one could even say he is addicted to it. His films tend to be ambitious in concept, but only occasionally live up to the promise of the original ideas behind them.
5 Obstructions, happily enough, is one of those occasions. With this film, von Trier is successful in underlining what seems to be his long-held belief that it is only through being restricted that an artist can truly be free.
It is a a belief that spurred him, along with a small group of fellow Danish film upstarts, to create the Dogme 95 manifesto or "The 10 Commandments" (which include seemingly arbitrary restrictions, designed to increase creative ingenuity on the part of the filmmakers, such as no artificial lighting being allowed, the camera being handheld, no outside props being allowed, etc.).
The opening portion of this documentary lags quite a bit and can be quite exhausting at times. It may even cause audiences to question the importance of the creative exercise that Leth and von Trier were engaging in.
However, toward the end, when Leth begins the making of the final obstruction, we finally see what it was all about. This was not just a film about how a perfect human being functions: It's a film about how a perfect filmmaker creates.
The final outcome of this brilliant, somewhat pretentious work, is a cinematic ode to the sanctity of the creative process -- artistic integrity -- as well as the importance of being willing to reexamine one's own ideas, no matter how solid they once appeared to be.
This film is a must-see for anyone in love with the most challenging, yet exciting art form ever discovered: the art of cinema.
The film is scheduled to be screened on Dec. 15 and Dec. 18 at TIM 1.