The Five Obstructions

Something really magical happens while you're watching this film. Something unique. Yes, at the moment I'm writing this, I'm affected by the succinctly compelling language of the film itself. I am compelled wholly by this film, in so many ways. As an artist, I cherish its reverence for the creative process - the moment of imaginative conception in all its glory. As a filmmaker, in particular, I am impressed by the versatility of this man, the subject of the film, Jorgen Leth (pictured here), who is able to work so ingeniously. As a person, I am challenged by the concepts of beauty and limitation impressed through the film. Overall, I am blown away.


Alright, so it's not perfect, but only because nothing is! But it's darn close. That's right: darn. You'll notice it's missing half a shoe in my assessment. I'm modifying my format here, and not including my rubric anymore -- I felt it was oppressing the flow. However, I will say that a meager 3 points were subtracted from the overall score, which is pretty astounding. This film is really worth watching, whether or not you consider yourself "artsy." Lars von Trier, the director, has such an overwhelming love for Jorgen Leth, his subject, that he has enlisted him to recreate his own 1967 film, The Perfect Human. Von Trier creates a series of obstacles for Leth to overcome in his re-shootings. These range from "no edit can exceed 12 frames" to "shoot it in Cuba." At one point in the three year process, von Trier insists that he is providing a therapy - at another point, he chastises Leth for not producing the "crap" he's anticipated. Von Trier is visibly mystified by his subject's tenacity and brilliance through every hindrance, forcing the viewer to ask Who is the student, and Who is the teacher? By the end of the film, I wasn't sure what had happened, and who won in this ambitious challenge. The only thing I found certainly: the greatness of Jorgen Leth.

As a student of Education these days, I found myself continuously asking, "How can I use this film in my classroom?" There are some red flags in the idea of using the thing in its entirety: there's a fair smattering of nudity and sex imagery, for example. But, I'm going to find a way to incorporate the film into my teaching somehow. There's a lesson to be learned here about technique, genre play, risk taking, etc. As I said, this film exposes valuable lessons on the process of creation, whether you create "art" or anything else.