Travis Cochran
Bradley Cohen
Julien Da Silva
Alex Henri
The Post Factual Age
Through class discussion, readings and the viewing of two films, the notion of truth is explored as factual and false representations of the past and present. It is argued that truth can be proven through documented events and hard evidence. Despite this seemingly very clear definition of truth, it was also made apparent that the mind is capable of imitating and contorting reality to fill the gaps in the truth, which, ultimately, leads to different perceptions of the objective reality. We also explored, through the experience of a documentary, that truth can masquerade as only a portion of the whole, through filming and psychological techniques. Furthermore, The Eventual Viewer, an article written by John Ellis, discusses the very reliability of documentaries, as well as entailing the responsibility of the reader to synthesise the information presented, so as to extract their own truth. The films Waltz with Bashir by Ari Folman and Stories We Tell by Sarah Polley also plunged into the truth of memory and questioned how much faith we can put in our memories when we attempt to piece together a reality. In this blog post, we will attempt to deconstruct and analyse both films, in an attempt to reveal what exactly defines truth through the lens of a documentary film.
Topic & Concepts
As presented by Ellis in The Eventual Viewer, documentaries are designed to give insight on a specific topic. However, this only allows people to watch from a distance which gives them an outside perspective. Because the viewer has not been a part of the event featured in a given documentary, they must then rely on the filmmaker to relay the relevant and truthful information. As suggested by Ellis, there exists a “reality/textuality” paradox among documentary filmmakers. This paradox is the consequence of giving the viewer proper footage of the real world versus giving the desired footage despite the need to produce a film with facts. As a result, the director chooses the most powerful images and sounds to use and dilutes the reality of the film.
As viewers, especially in our day and age, it is very important to retain some doubt when viewing, analysing and critiquing a film. Despite the fact that what is shown may be true, the scenes which are shown were specifically chosen; there may be greater weight on certain points of view or opinions, as decided by the filmmaker. Scenes which contain interviews, for example, can be clipped into showing desired statements or be given more or less screen time depending on a possible bias. If the filmmaker believes a person has a greater value of opinion, they may show more.
In addition, perspective plays an important role in the viewing of a documentary. The perspective of one person may be vastly different from that of another in every circumstance. Every camera angle and every line of dialogue provides different glimpses and experiences into past events. An example seen in class was an image of a white square with black borders: depending on how it was viewed, the image could be a face of a cube, base of a pyramid, or simply a white square with black borders.
In reality, truth is a very delicate subject which requires extensive support and insight to trust. One cannot simply take whatever is given to them as the one and only truth, because there is never only one side to any situation. This notion of multi-sided truth was supported with our viewing of Waltz With Bashir, an animated documentary which explores how people can very easily twist and change their memories to support a favourable truth. We all agreed as a class that cameras have the capability to capture the truth, but when cameras are not available or are not used, how can we tell what is true from what is false? It was a perfectly fine answer to say that a truth cannot exist without unanimous agreement but even then, our memories are not completely reliable. Unlike the ink in a book, our memories can still be rewritten and it only takes one person who thinks they remember a detail to set off a chain reaction of what we commonly call “false memory”.
Ultimately, our perception and understanding of the truth buds from our knowledge. If we know what is true without doubt, our perception of what is true can be very clear. The pursuit of this knowledge is what leads us on a wild goose chase across all forms of media. Humans naturally seek out the truth because the truth gives them comfort. We all seek understanding and sometimes when we want to know, we will go great lengths to find it as we saw in the film, Waltz With Bashir.
Waltz with Bashir
Waltz with Bashir is an animated Israeli 2008 documentary by Ari Folman, with a running time of about 90 minutes. The documentary features Ari himself, putting together pieces of the past gathered from his old friends who served with him in the Israeli Defence Force in the Lebanon War. he does this in hopes of recreating the memories of his witnessing of the Sabra and Shatilla massacre, which he has suppressed.
The documentary deals primarily with memory and the perception of events, exploring the ways in which these differ from person to person, as well as how individuals act within specific situations. In Folman’s film, it is shown how a person cannot trust his memory precisely as it is recalled. Folman shows this through his interviews with old friends who he believed to have experienced walking out of the water with. However, they have absolutely no recollection of this and argue it did not happen. As Ellis stated in The Eventual Viewer, the audience must maintain some doubt when engaged in a documentary, although Folman is already informing the viewers of his own doubt as he attempts to uncover the truth of his past. We begin to wonder and question rather Ari has simply made up this event or if his comrades have forgotten it.
One of Folman’s interviews featured a psychiatrist who explained how memory can be altered and false memory can be implanted. When adults were shown ten images of themselves as children, one of which was fake, most could not recall if it were real and others do remember an event which did not happen. For this reason, Folman demonstrates to his audience how memory is not always the most reliable means of documentation.
Waltz with Bashir immediately challenges the status quo of a documentary film in that the events depicted in the film are animated. This is, of course, an intentional decision made by Folman, in an attempt to illustrate the wonder of memory; the scenes being recalled by the various interviewees are always animated in full colour, adding a layer of depth to the already profound film. Make no mistake though, Waltz with Bashir is rooted in reality. The audio of Ari’s journey is synced to the animation seamlessly, making the documentary truly a spectacle to behold.
The animation of the documentary subtracted from the reality of the events but not in the goal to mislead but rather show more accurate representations of what the individual characters imagined. Some documentary films already do this, but animation in addition causes a greater feeling of not truly being a part of the past. In the final scenes, Folman uses actual footage of the massacre to bring the viewer back to their reality. This was an event that did happen which caused a lot of pain to many people; Folman brought the viewer from a distance to very up close with those involved. Through this decision, Folman created a strong empathetic connection with the viewer and rooted his own memory to the actual truth of the events in which he tried to suppress originally.
Stories We Tell
Stories We Tell is a Canadian documentary by Sarah Polley from 2012, approximately 120 minutes. It is, in essence, the story of Sarah Polley, the movie’s director. Through the perspective of several people in or close to the Polley family, the first half of the film tells the audience the history of Michael Polley and Diane, Sarah’s parents; how they met, how they fell in love and how they fell apart. While Diane was a dynamic, lively social individual, Michael was a bit of a recluse; still fun to be around but preferring to listen to the music rather than dance to it. With four kids and in need of more adventure in her life, Diana decided to take a trip to Montreal for a few months to pursue her old love of theatre. This reinvigorated Michael and Diane’s marriage, but also caused some problems 9 months later when Sarah was born, as we learn that Michael was not the only one to make love to Diane during her stay in Montreal. The second half tells us of how the Polley family slowly uncovered the truth about Sarah’s parentage, deconstructing the jokes that her and her half-siblings told on that subject, and uncovering the truth behind the affair between her mother and her biological father, Harry Gulkin. In this analysis of a family’s story, shared through the perspective of over a dozen individuals, the audience must questions whose stories are true.
As previously mentioned, Stories We Tell is just that; it is a catalogue of the stories shared or kept secret by those who knew Diane well. From her husband to her lover; from her children to her friends; over a dozen people share the insight that create the narrative of the documentary. It’s because of this that your first viewing of the film might leave gaps in your perception of the story. Since the story is being told from the memories of so many people, it’s sometimes difficult to distinguish the true story from the “urban legends” spread by the Polley family. While the film tries to coalesce everyone’s account of the story into one cohesive narrative, it is still up to the audience to take what they are given and connect the dots as they see fit. In a moment where the film breaks the 4th wall (as interview based documentaries want to do), Harry Gulkin, Sarah’s biological father and the only person alive who had a firsthand account of the affair, actually addresses this concern. He believes that the story should be about him; only recounting his side of the story. Sarah urged for the film, her film, to be seen through the eyes of everyone who knew Diane and who knew something of the affair, whether it be fact or myth.
Personal Response
Waltz with Bashir challenges us to cast doubt upon our very own memories, in a way that allows spectacle and knowledge to coexist. In a unique way, Waltz with Bashir illustrates the points brought up in week one very clearly. Similar to the way documentaries as a whole provide only a viewpoint from which one can view a truth about the world, Waltz with Bashir deals with the very personal perception of memory: memories themselves are created from our own personal lens, from which we see our world. Seeing as everyone is a different person with different beliefs, morals, ideologies and attitudes, we found that everyone can interpret the film differently. It is humbling to think that we are alone in our own minds; perceiving, experiencing, and processing events in our own way.
Stories We Tell takes a less jarring approach to uncovering the truth, while still keep the shock value in tact. Just like Waltz with Bashir, the film enveloped us with the human experience; not just those of the film’s characters, but also our own. This fact is shown best by the utter lack of an “antagonist” in Stories We Tell; while Diane’s adultery and Harry’s selfishness often made us uncomfortable, we still saw them as human beings. Just like all the other characters, they were just people who had a lived a life; a life worth sharing so that maybe we, as the audience, could learn something about the complexity of our own lives. Our viewing of Stories We Tell forced us to look into the mirror and pick apart how we define ourselves. What supposed truths do we stick closely to? Which family stories are just that; tall tales to share between our blood. And which of our accepted rumours and lies are actually fact? It’s thanks to the personal, communal and “cozy” experience we got from watching Stories We Tell that allowed us to pose these question and further our redefinition of what “truth” is.
Armed with a new perspective on truth, we all find it hard to swallow what people tell us. Suddenly, everything seemed like a lie without any justification. How are we supposed to trust our memories if it’s so easy to make them up? Finding solace in a world of lies became everyone’s top priority that week. We, for one, believe that if we do not question, we aren’t being vigilant. Others might argue that we are too cautious and are taking things too seriously. We simply dislike living in a world without tangible truth, it unsettles us and we believe it should be unsettling to all. It is very common that large corporations or parties with absolute authority abuse the fact that they can manipulate the past. They have the power to glorify realities, erase people from history and even change their own looks in photos. Documentation can be destroyed or changed which forces an audience to recall very minute details with their memories.
Conclusion
During the first week, we explored the idea of what constitutes as the truth. We all noticed very quickly that the truth isn’t as solid as we thought it was. It could very easily be controlled, manipulated and even changed into something else. Through the viewing of a documentary, a form of media that is supposed to expose the truth under a spotlight, we found that it can very easily lie to us. Folman and Polley engage their viewers in journeys to discover their own truths because their memory is unreliable to them. The two filmmakers show how a person must be critical and always further inquire what is told is true; as Ellis suggests, the Eventual Viewer must retain doubt in documentary films and maintain a critical eye. Documentaries allow people to experience events from a safe distance and sometimes offer bias opinion, either consciously or not, through a reality/textuality paradox. Folman and Polley experience this doubt of truth in their lives and false memory; they both maintain critical outlooks of their pasts; and both create their own paradox of examining their memory, but only showing what they believe is relevant and helpful to their case.
Sources
- Ellis, John. Documentary: Witness and Self-revelation. Routledge, 2012, p 98-107.
- Folman, Ari. Waltz With Bashir. Israel, 2008, 90 minutes.
- Polley, Sarah. Stories We Tell. Canada, 2012, 118 minutes
