11- "Stories We Tell" and "Silverlake Life: A View from Here"

by Sherry, Peter and Émilie

             Who am I? Who are you? Who are we? Those are some of the questions that many of us ask ourselves during our lifetime. As human beings, we often attempt to answer those questions by searching for the truth whether it is by referring to our loved ones, our surroundings, our beliefs and our culture. However, truth is a concept that varies from people to people as its definition is personal and no one is quite the same. In fact, those differences in mentality, in understanding and in perceiving sometimes bring on conflicts as a compromise or an agreement cannot be met. Also, as human beings, we all possess the need, or in some cases, the urgency, to socialize with our kind. Why is that? In short, we all need "witnesses to our life" as without those "witnesses" we might as well be not alive at all...

             This week, in order to come to a "partial" understanding of what the Self, or on a bigger scale, what Life involves, two documentaries were analyze: Stories We Tell by Sarah Polley and Silverlake Life: A View from Here by Tom Joslin and Peter Friedman.

Stories We Tell by Sarah Polley, 2013, Canada, 109 minutes

                This documentary shared many facts of life such as the lost of loved ones, for example, a mother, whether it is due to sickness or old age, and trying to come to a closure once they have passed away. Understanding the past therefore played an important role as it influences the present, the reality as it is known today. The concept of reality is also brought on as it is blurred with the concept of fiction; life can be seen as a performance and a quest for answers, for the truth. However, what is the truth? How can we be sure of the "truth"? Those are some questions that are illustrated in the film. Also, the "norms" established by society are criticized as they often "judge" someone or a situation based on what it appears to be. The role of women, men and family are clearly predetermined according to society and should therefore be "respected" in order to be accepted and considered "normal". Sarah, the filmmaker, not only created a documentary about her mother's, Diane Polley, life but also managed in the process to create a personal journal of her family and herself as well as present a romantic drama and a memoir for her mother. She interrogated all of the people her mother was surrounded with in order to make sense of her past as a child since her mother died when she was eleven years old.

                The documentary is filmed such that the what is usually unseen is presented to the viewers. For example, Sarah' father, Michael, the narrator, is filmed as he reads the story in a studio in order to record his voice for the documentary. At that time, we can see Sarah giving instructions to her dad on recapitulating a part of the story or on the way of delivering the story. We not only witness Diane Polley's life journey and come to understand that she was after all a woman of secrets, but we also participate in the making of the documentary as we can see the steps that Sarah had to undertake in order to create her story, her documentary. The authorship of the documentary is also a special aspect of the film. Even though Sarah is the filmmaker, she makes sure to include all the members of her family as well as some of her mother's friends such that she has a better overview of who her mother truly was. At this point, Sarah finds out that her mother not only had an affair during her first marriage, but also during her second marriage which resulted in her birth. Michael is therefore not Sarah's actual father, Harry, a man with whom her mother worked is her biological father. Once that discovery is made, she includes his vision of her mother in her documentary. She also includes archival footage and reconstitutions of events acted out by actors  such that her mother's life journey seems to be unravelling in front of us. The way she arranges her documentary shows that it is more a matter of emotions than actual facts. For example, when she asks her interviewers to discuss her mother's passing, no words are pronounced, only silent faces of pure sadness are shown.

               This week, during class, the movie was analyzed in a way such that our weekly topic of Self Portraits was exposed. A Self Portrait is basically an artist unveiling itself, showing  a side of their Self that is often hidden or not obvious by using their creativity and imagination as well as by reaching to their viewers, their audience, their "witnesses to life". In this case, Sarah's documentary can be considered as her Self Portrait as she reveals to her audience not only the artist within her but also the person she is as a daughter, a sister and a friend. She offers a perspective of her story, or more precisely, her life from the inside (her own emotions and reactions) and from the outside (her interviewers' emotions and reactions). For example, as she instructs her father Michael on what to do, he replies: "It's not the normal way of doing this, is it?"

Here is a link that offers a short article on an artist's Self Portrait:

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/photobooth/2014/02/seeing-themselves-photographers-self-portraits.html#slide_ss_0=1

               The fact that her documentary can relate to basically any human beings since it evokes many facts of life as discussed earlier, shows how the personal aspect of her film also corresponds to a universal aspect of life.

Silverlake Life: A View from Here by Tom Joslin and Peter Friedman, 1993, USA, 99 minutes

                  This documentary presents many issues that are present in society as a whole. The cause of AIDS which also relates to any type of diseases is definitely a subject that is universal. The fact that cures have not been found for this disease as it is for many other diseases made life seem as a "death sentence". However, it also engendered the concept of living to the fullest as if every day was your last day. Then, the concept of vitality was introduced as the filmmakers were searching for "witnesses" for their lives, making them feel more "alive" in their sickness. It gave them a way out of the misery they face every day due to their health conditions. Death was consequently presented in the documentary as well. Also, the fact that the two filmmakers, Tom and Mark, were a gay couple brought on the subject of homosexuality. They then shared the struggles they went through due to their sexual orientation; not being accepted as a person, not being understood and being looked down upon.

                As the documentary was personally filmed by Mark and Tom themselves, their story became even more personal to the viewers as it felt as if the nothing from "real life" was hidden, as if a part of the truth was presented through the film. The fact that the camera showed movement as Tom and Mark moved since they were filming by hand made the viewers feel as if they were right there beside them, feeling the same emotions as them and especially feeling empathy towards them. This "closeness" between the filmmakers and the audience is what made the documentary so special. The viewers could feel the purity behind Tom and Mark's emotions, facial expressions, reactions, etc. Also, the fact that the documentary presents the couple's private life in a way that their life seems universal, that their situation can relate to anyone whether it is by diseases, death, homosexuality and/or by feeling constricted and powerless. The filmmakers talked about subjects that are often avoided in society as they are generally associated to negative thoughts. However, they still managed to show how life is a cycle and that misery can be overcome when there is will.

            This documentary corresponds to a Self Portrait of the two filmmakers, Tom and Mark. However, even though their "self portrait" are personal to each one of them, they are still universal and relate to every single person. For example, Tom brings up the question "What's the Answer?" a few times during the documentary. However, at the end, after Mark repeats that same question, he responds "What's the Question?" This scene can relate to the meaning of truth and how it varies from people to people as the question is never the same therefore the answer is the never the same. Also, the fact that we still don't know what the question nor what the answer is demonstrates the ambiguity present in Truth. The authorship of the documentary is shared between Mark, Tom, their family and friends as their "stories" also help build the couple's story: the documentary itself. After all, their surroundings, their "witnesses to Life" are what confirms that they are alive.

 

For more interesting responses to the documentary Silverlake Life, don't hesitate to visit the website:

 http://www.pbs.org/pov/silverlakelife/

Our Personal Response

Through the two films, one being Stories We Tell that was viewed in class and the other Silverlake Life: A view from here that our group viewed together; there are things that we can learn about ourselves. Sometimes we are afraid to say who we really are based on society’s outlook but more importantly the opinions that we care most about are from our family and friends. This is shown in both films. In Stories We Tell, Diane Polley never reveals to her family about her love affair that resulted in the birth of Sarah, the filmmaker.  She told her close friends but never her family.  Diane had made the newspaper when she divorced her first husband and wasn’t going to make it known that she had a love affair while being with her second husband, Michael. We can assume that the main reason she didn’t tell her family was because she was afraid to hurt her husband, and her children that have grown up to see what their role models of marriage and family were like.  She was afraid to tell her family because she didn’t want them to judge her as well.  We can all relate to this because we never want the ones who are closest to us to judge us or look down upon us for something that we have done.

 Silverlake Life also corresponds to this because when both Mark and Tom were diagnosed with AIDS, Tom felt it was really difficult to tell his family of his diagnosis that would someday cost him his life.  It took Tom a long time to tell his family since both of his parents weren’t fond of the idea that he was with Mark who was of the same-sex as him, but they also weren’t very fond of Mark himself to begin with.  They eventually found out as Mark had been telling people he was diagnosed with AIDS, so  Tom decided he would tell them as well. What prolonged Tom in confiding in his family and finally telling them his diagnosis of AIDS, was the fear of how they would react and think of him, how they would judge him, similar to Diane’s story in Stories We Tell.

What we can learn about ourselves through these films is that our close and loved ones, although it might not seem like it at first, are the ones that are the most understanding and will accept us no matter what we’ve done or what tough conditions that we face in life.  And this can challenge our understanding of the world we live in since we often tend to distance ourselves from the ones we care about when we feel ashamed or when we are affected by something bigger than us such as diseases or even love. We can also relate the messages from these films to our lives, maybe on a smaller scale compared but we can certainly relate to what we have been shown in these films.  For example, going through the loss of a loved one, as in both Sarah’s family and, Mark and Tom’s family, is never easy for anyone. We can also relate to the fear of telling our loved ones something that we are afraid will hurt, affect or disappoint them; we all go through such situations in our lives.

                The filmmakers were very successful at communicating their ideas to their audience through the techniques that they used; their documentaries were created in a way that felt personal to each and every one of us. In Stories We Tell, Sarah interviews, or more precisely, interrogates everybody who was close to her mother Diane in order to get their sides of her mother's story since she wasn’t able to be there to tell it herself.  Her technique of getting her father, Michael, to read his version of her story as Sarah was growing up thinking Michael was her father, and when she found out that Harry, the man her mother had an affair with actually was her biological father, was impactful for the audience as it was unexpected. At this point, we learn that even if Harry is Sarah's biological father, Michael will always remain her father for her. In Silverlake Life, Tom had originally been the filmmaker and started the filming himself, but after he passed away due to his disease, Mark fulfilled his promise by finishing the film for Tom. Mark definitely touched the audience through his act of love. In the film, like Stories We Tell, we see many points of view from family members and friends but also Tom and Mark themselves.  The most powerful way that Tom and Mark communicated their ideas was when they showed the real effects that AIDS had on their everyday lives, so they filmed their everyday lives. “What a way to live, what a way to die.” as Tom said one day when he had to take a break from shopping because he was exhausted.  This is one of the many examples in the film that show the difficulties and hardship that Mark and Tom, but also of all the others diagnosed with AIDS, go through and how the simplest everyday tasks can seem or become unattainable. At the ending, Tom plays a footage of Mark and him healthy, dancing and saying: "What is the Answer? What is the Question?" The fact that they bring up these interrogations reaches the viewers as those same questions are often asked by each and every one of us...but never mentioned at loud.

Here's an interesting article about life:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-happy-life-may-not-be-a-meaningful-life/

              Ultimately, the two documentaries Stories We Tell and Silverlake Life: A View from Here not only correspond to a Self Portrait of the filmmakers themselves, but also imply to the rest of the world as the concepts they present: sickness (or diseases), family, love, truth, questioning and society are definitely applicable to any human being. Through these films we have been able to learn many things about life and ourselves as these two unique stories' filmmakers really did challenge our understanding of the world through the communication of their ideas. However, even if they did address the questions of Who We Are, they did not give precise answers. They only showed that life's purpose is searching for answers. The question remains: Who Are We after all?