LOU’S VIEWS: Heartland fest’s bests … and the rest

This year’s Heartland Film Festival (Oct. 15-20) includes a record 87 features and short films.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t pre-screen them all. But, with the help of Rebecca
Berfanger from IBJ’s sister publication Indiana Lawyer,
award winning dramatic features, documentary features, and shorts got a viewing.
Plus many of the not-in-competition films.

Below you’ll find the ones that we strongly recommend roughly in order of our
preference — then some thoughts on others we’ve screened. 

We’ll be adding reviews throughout
the festival, so stop back often.

“After the Storm” (documentary feature). I’ll
confess that I saw the title and callously thought “Here
comes another Hurricane Katrina documentary.” But this account
of the experience of a group of New York Broadway folks as they help the damaged St. Mark’s Community
Center pull off a teen production of the hurricane-set musical “Once on this Island” proved magical.

It’s got drama. It’s got music. And it has a deep-seated sense not just of the triumph
of survival but also of the pain. There’s a moment where a preacher’s
son attempts to be brave while recounting his experience that, as I type this,
still brings tears to my eyes.

Beyond the emotions, what “After the Storm” has that many other documentaries don’t
is a compelling story arc. From casting to performance and beyond, there’s a pull that helps this
well-observed film transcend.

“Acholiland” (dramatic short). After watching this
harrowing, just-the-right-length tale of relief workers in a brutal moral bind,
I was surprised to learn that it’s a student film. Its style is
ragged, as befits the situation, but it’s remarkably polished, professional, and thoroughly
believable.

It begins with do-gooders making a relief drop in a desperate African village. But
shortly after they leave, they must return under orders to
reclaim half of the food and water in order to keep members of a recently raided refugee camp alive.
I’ll say no more.

“Big John” (documentary feature). Like a
Greek tragedy, the Norwegian father-son boxing team in “Big John” dramatically
rises and ultimately falls. But hindsight is 20/20 for Big John Klemetsen
and the son he trained for greatness. Beyond the boxing is the heartwarming and
realistic father-son relationship, including their band that plays Gypsy music. Big John also wants
to instill in his family a sense of pride about their Romany heritage while facing
another, more personal tragedy.

“Sergio” (documentary feature). One of the pleasures
of a good film festival comes from discovering lives you hadn’t
previously thought about. And as influential as he was, I’ll admit that I came into this film
with no knowledge of Sergio Vieira de Mello, his work with the United Nations, or what happened to him
at the U.N. bombing in Iraq. What seems at first to be a worshipful biopic transforms,
however, into a riveting search- and-attempted-rescue story. That de Mello’s mistress,
the two rescue workers, and the man trapped with him come across as more rounded characters is a plus,
not a minus in this powerhouse of a film that underlines both our strength and our fragility.

“Entre Nos” (dramatic feature). A woman arrives in the United States
from Colombia with her two children—only to be quickly abandoned
by her husband in this nuanced tale of a family’s survival. Understated
performances and a steadfast refusal to stage Hollywood-type big scenes help make this a very moving
winner.

“Rough Aunties” (documentary feature). A determined group of women
try to make things better for the most vulnerable members of their community–children who’ve
been abused and raped. Operation Bobbi Bear, in Durban, South Africa, works with local police, child protective services and
community members to hold aggressors accountable for their actions. The film is not for the faint of heart–and child
abuse isn’t the only devastating tragedy in this film–yet the small actions of these aunties might just restore
your faith in humanity.

“Welcome” (dramatic feature). It starts as
the intense tale of an Iraqi teen’s Herculean efforts to get
to England to be with his girlfriend, and then shifts its focus to
the French swim teacher who helps him. But the midstream shift in “Welcome” actually helps accentuate
the tension and heartbreak in this well-made, character-driven film. Of the features I screened, it’s the one most likely
to find breakout success.

“Side by Side” (documentary short).
A filmmaker sets out to understand why his father
and his neighbor haven’t spoken for 15 years. The result is a half-hour smile
that is joyfully, awkwardly human. 

“Holy Land Hardball” (documentary feature).
This one’s not in competition, but it’s a fun,
what’s-going-to-happen-next account of the American entrepreneur
(he developed pre-packed, cream-cheese-stuffed bagels) who decides he’s going
to bring Major League Baseball to Israel, a country whose interest in the sport is highly debatable.
If, like me, you have no idea how the experiment turned out, you’ll be captivated. If, unlike me, you are
a serious baseball fan, this is mandatory viewing.

“Spooner” (dramatic feature). From
the “Lars and the Real Girl”/“Adam” school of unlikely, geek romances
comes this story of a 30-year-old about to be evicted from his parent’s house
and the woman he becomes infatuated with. The main character treads dangerously close to the stalker
line—and the object of his affection is, in grand Hollywood tradition, a bit too attractive—but
Matthew Lillard (you may know him as Shaggy in the Scooby-Doo flicks) and Nora Zehetner (from TV’s
“Everwood” and “Heroes”), plus some terrific supporting performances and sharply casual writing, should
make this the Heartland date film for 2009.

The Rest of the Fest

“Bicycle” (dramatic short). An original short that doesn’t
overstay its welcome, “Bicycle” concerns a man whose means of transportation is stolen—and
then recovered—piece by piece. A deadpan actor in the lead and a deft directorial hand help considerably.

“Chicken Cowboy.” A repeat from the Indianapolis International Film Festival,
this short from Indiana-born Stephen Neary is a breath of silly air.

“For My Father” and “Seven Minutes in Heaven”
(dramatic features). Two Crystal Heart-winning fiction films this year (both from
Israel) deal with suicide bombings, each in its own strong way. “For My Father” begins with
the failed effort that leads to an unlikely connection between a Palestinian man trying to
bring honor back to his father and a woman estranged from her Orthodox Jewish family. “Seven Minutes
in Heaven” deals with a bombing’s aftermath, as a women tries to piece together the events
that led to the bus bombing that injured her and killed her boyfriend. “For My Father”
is the more straightforward of the two (yes, there’s a pop-music-enhanced scene of the two
riding a bicycle together), albeit with third-act plotting you wouldn’t find in an American mainstream film. “Seven
Minutes in Heaven” is more cryptic and evocative. There’s a “Sixth Sense” quality to the heroine’s
efforts to put the pieces of this life-changing incident together. Both have their rewards.

“The Final Inch” (documentary short).
The attempt to eradicate the last strains of polio in the world is the noble subject of this documentary.
The facts are interesting, but the filmmakers unfortunately play many of the same notes and miss a key
dramatic transition. The result is informative but redundant.

“The Best Part of My Day” (dramatic short). While the
camera keeps its distance and we don’t hear the characters speak, all is fine.
But the fun structure is ultimately undermined in this story of an awkward guy trying
to win the attention of his neighbor. Once we hear the characters, the magic is lost.

“P-Star Rising” (documentary feature). There’s an interesting father-daughter
dynamic going on in this documentary about a struggling father and his star-potential child. But much of what happens feels
either staged, irresponsible or annoying, and the end result doesn’t make the crucial documentary leap beyond the specific.

“Weathered” (dramatic short). woman avoids dealing with the loss of her fiancé
by developing an addiction to doctor’s appointments. “Mad TV” regular—and Indiana University alum—Nicole
Parker gives more dramatic weight to the undeveloped premise than the film ultimately deserves. Give this woman a real role.

“Kavi” (dramatic short). The filmmaking is strong and the subject matter chilling,
but watching this grueling look at a young brick-making slave and his family is like screening only the roughest parts of
“The Killing Fields” or “The Deer Hunter.” Only with a child at the center.

“Ragman” (dramatic short). Walter Wangerin Jr., who penned the brilliant novels
“The Book of the Dun Cow” and “The Book of Sorrows,” also wrote the much-repeated
short short story that forms the basis for this film. The filmmakers are very loyal to the thin and obvious
allegory of a rag man wandering a city taking the pain away from its troubled citizens. But the shift
to third-person necessitated by the jump from page to film doesn’t help the material, which may reinforce
the faithful but is unlikely to win any converts.

“The Eagle Hunter’s Son” (dramatic feature) The highlight of this
film is the scenery – sweeping images of mountains on the border of Mongolia and Kazakhstan that
a young boy crosses when he runs away from home to find his brother who left the village for a rewarding job in a city.
A brief scene where the boy joins the circus with his father’s eagle (the boy’s guardian angel of sorts) offers
some break to the monotony, but the pacing seems slower than necessary and the symbolism of the eagle in Mongolian culture
is never fully explained. A documentary about Mongolian eagle hunting surely would have been more interesting.

Small Collection” (dramatic short). Familiar territory
(the loss of a loved one) is trod in an unsatisfying but original way in this short, where the voices
of memory echo over places remembered.

“Grande Drip” (dramatic short). If you believe we could use one
more film about an adorable coffee shop employee, one more film about a cold businessman opened up to the
world, and one more film about a homeless guy offering life lessons, then this is the short for you. If you are looking for
something original, keep looking.

“Marbles With Thoreau” (dramatic short). A pair of generic urchins meet with a would-be
enigmatic Henry David Thoreau at Walden Pond, but amateurish, pandering writing makes this slight project
feel like the kind of film you watch—and make fun of with your neighbor—on a day in fifth
grade when your teacher doesn’t feel like teaching.

Remember to check www.ibj.com/arts for more Heartland reviews.

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