TORONTO — Here are some more recommendations from this year’s Docs Program at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Ernest Cole: Lost and Found, the latest offering from acclaimed Haitian filmmaker Raoul Peck (Lumumba, I Am Not Your Negro, The Young Karl Marx), brings to life an overlooked South African photographer. In 1967 Lester Cole published an acclaimed photo book titled House of Bondage, with powerful images of the oppressive South African apartheid government, to which some draw parallels to the current hyper-Israeli version. He was soon exiled from his apartheid country only to experience the harsh realities of racism in America.
It was in New York that he captured amazing photos of forgotten people, homeless and indigent victims of an uncaring system. He eventually succumbed to homelessness himself and died of cancer in 1960. Film director Peck, who focused on U.S. racism in last year’s Silver Dollar Road, took on the assignment of bringing Cole’s name and works to the public. Tens of thousands of Cole’s photo negatives were discovered recently in Sweden, and some are included in this moving black-and-white portrait of a socially committed artist. It presents insights into the mechanism of apartheid while it also addresses the challenges of artists living in exile. The script is based on Cole’s own writings, as LaKeith Stanfield (Judas and the Black Messiah) takes on Cole’s voice as it continues past his own death at 49 years old, providing a poignant assessment of the life of a committed genius artist whose valuable work might have been forgotten to history. It’s a highly engrossing story filled with moving interviews and magnificent photographs—another major accomplishment by Raoul Peck, one of the most progressive artists in the business.
There were many great docs at TIFF on a wide range of subjects, but Patrice: The Movie is certainly one of the most inspirational and entertaining films about the fight for disability rights. James Lebrecht, disabled himself, had a head start on the subject in matter making the award-winning, groundbreaking Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution. His creative flair carries over to his new film focusing on a down-to-earth spirit named Patrice Jetter (“I am a totally cool person with a disability who could do most anything!”). This proud, flamboyant woman school-crossing guard with limited disabilities reenacts important stages in her life, like getting punished in school, moving out of her house for the first time, getting her first job, and all done while acting in cartoon-like sets, alongside children with disabilities playing her young friends and family. She falls in love with wheelchair-bound Garry, and they develop one of the most honest and loving relationships ever shown in movies. The story focuses on their relationship and the need to fix the complicated disability system and reform the Disabilities Act to allow marriage between people with disabilities without any financial penalties. As it stands now, individuals with disabilities lose their benefits when they get married. This greatly entertaining and creatively humane film will appeal to people with or without disabilities because it ultimately implies that we’re all not that much different. It’s rightly called a “romantic comedy” because activism can be fun!
Of the limited Chinese films shown at festivals that show the country in a positive light, comes a spellbinding story about an unusual marriage counselor who utilizes a most unorthodox way to fix marital infidelity. In Mistress Dispeller, which I briefly commented on earlier, we see how socialist China encourages creative alternatives to improving personal relationships. In this case, a wife hires a counselor to hopefully break up her husband’s relationship with a younger mistress. The rare footage and emotional intimacy captured in this stunning doc make it feel like the viewer is watching an acted recreation. It’s too unbelievable! Very clever psychological tactics are used to set up conditions for the wife and mistress to ultimately meet face-to-face to try to resolve the love they share for the same man. In the end, the mistress eventually says, “I feel like the love he gave me, I gave back to his wife.” This is a practical non-religious approach to dealing with the human condition while noting also China’s skills at bringing together longtime major antagonists, such as Saudi Arabia and Iran. It’s thrilling to see a massive country like China find ways to bring people together at all levels of society.
As for important docs I was unable to preview at TIFF, they include a “work in progress” entitled The Bibi Files, produced by prolific U.S. filmmaker Alex Gibney. It’s an extremely timely investigation into the serious charges of corruption facing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
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