Running back into Michigan Theater to catch the next screening, I sat down among a full crowd for two films, The Sole of the Foot (Robert Fenz, 2011) and Disorder (Huang Weikai, 2009).
The Sole of the Foot, a 34-minute film, focused on various real-life scenes in France, Israel and Cuba. It specifically addressed the concept of borders and their ability to simultaneously keep some people “in”, while keeping other people “out”. In France, Fenz focused on a North African community that was not well-accepted among those that lived within their vicinity, in Israel, he portrayed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and in Cuba,”their right to rule themselves denied by foreign powers”. There was artistic quality in that Fenz chose to incorporate different stylistic elements for each country he shot. “Israel definitely featured more experimental shooting,” he said, as he explained the many bombings that occurred during his stay that became a bit of an obstacle. “I was shooting from the window of our apartment”, and with that, he developed a fascination for the many winding, uneven walkways of Jerusalem. The film, as a whole presented a tapestry of cultures, landscapes and people.
Disorder captures a chaotic China, and the problems that plague its major cities due to increasing urbanization: pigs run wild on a highway, a baby is found in a park abandoned, a community is severely flooded, a supermarket is caught in possession of frozen bear claws…The black and white footage of these scenes compiled from amateur videographers creates a security camera ‘caught-on-tape’ effect that invites the viewer into a world full of ugly truths. The absurdity that is Disorder almost produces a feeling of discomfort among the audience because the events are so inconceivable, and not to mention, uncontrollable. The film portrays a reality, in which problems only seem to worsen because of a lack of cooperation between Chinese police and citizens, who many times find such upheavals to be a spectacle, rather than issues of concern. Weikai’s work is truly brilliant in that it illustrates the dysfunction and dangers that harm Chinese society as a result of the country’s accelerated industrialization and expansion.
Watch the trailer here:
Overall, this was my favorite screening yet. Both The Sole of the Foot and Disorder illustrated realities in ways that immersed the audience in exploration and understanding of life as it is, beautiful and complex.
