Film ReviewsThe Other Side: 'murican dream in pain and squalor
May 19, 2016 Anchorage Press
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The Other Side, a Franco-Italian production directed by Roberto Minervini, paints an American portrait of the deep South. The folks in the northern Louisiana swamp areas are orphans of the 'Murican system; they spin a version of the Dream into a myth interpreted through their circumstances. The documentary tells the story of different parts of a community, from individuals and families, to a paramilitary group preparing for what it considers to be the inevitable revolution of the classes. The Other Side is meant to be a documentary but sometimes feels like a well-crafted melodrama. The film was screened in the "Un Certain Regard" section at Cannes Film Festival 2015, which recognizes films that are different and original, vary in styles and content and are worthy of international recognition.
The Other Side is heart-wrenching-in particular during the first part, which comprises the majority of the film. We meet Mark Kelley and his girlfriend Lisa Allen, two lost soulmates who form part of a disillusioned and depressed community. They live in a part of the country with a 60 percent unemployment rate, where uneducated and poverty-stricken people have little recourse. The result is a prominent culture of abuse, a drug economy and rampant racism. Mark and Lisa live in squalor, making love, meth and struggling to numb the pain of what it is to be forgotten by a political and economic system. They are the white poor that live in limbo and are angry, too angry to be able effect change or design an escape plan out of their poverty; there's something seriously wrong when the idea of going to jail is seen as salvation. Minervini's depiction of Mark is compelling and complex. Mark inspires compassion from viewers even though he spouts the "N" word throughout, placing blame on Obama's tenure in office for his own lifelong misery. Minervini presents Mark as bit of a wild man, delivering him stark naked from the get-go like a newborn learning to walk. The camera follows Mark closely and intimately throughout the film. For better or worse, the aesthetic treatment of Mark transforms him from a person to a character, thus blurring the lines of The Other Side between documentary and creative nonfiction.
In The Other Side, Minervini also follows a paramilitary group preparing for that day when "they" come to get them and the men have to defend their women and children with their amassed ammunition. The transition from Mark's story to the group story is abrupt and other than geography, there is no clear narrative between the two major parts of the film. Minervini records the day-to-day of these men; it's chilling to watch how ensconced they are in paranoia. At the same time, the film captures some of the paramilitary men's backgrounds and fears. A number of them are veterans and extreme nationalists but they don't subscribe to a "liberty and justice for all," just for those who are white and for whom the Second Amendment is more a religion than a right. This begs the question: what is a Black man doing training with this group? This detail is never addressed. Another parallel subgroup followed in The Other Side is made up of young racist men and women who hate Obama so much that they go to extremes to demonstrate their hate, including a man saying "Obama, suck my dick" as he gets head from a woman wearing an Obama mask. Minervini's portrait of 'Murica is unflattering to say the least but there is truth in it. The Other Side is germane, and asks, the other side of what? The answer is, of everything-of those who have, of the law, of freedom.
The Other Side shows at 7:50 p.m. on Monday, May 23 at Bear Tooth.
The Other Side is heart-wrenching-in particular during the first part, which comprises the majority of the film. We meet Mark Kelley and his girlfriend Lisa Allen, two lost soulmates who form part of a disillusioned and depressed community. They live in a part of the country with a 60 percent unemployment rate, where uneducated and poverty-stricken people have little recourse. The result is a prominent culture of abuse, a drug economy and rampant racism. Mark and Lisa live in squalor, making love, meth and struggling to numb the pain of what it is to be forgotten by a political and economic system. They are the white poor that live in limbo and are angry, too angry to be able effect change or design an escape plan out of their poverty; there's something seriously wrong when the idea of going to jail is seen as salvation. Minervini's depiction of Mark is compelling and complex. Mark inspires compassion from viewers even though he spouts the "N" word throughout, placing blame on Obama's tenure in office for his own lifelong misery. Minervini presents Mark as bit of a wild man, delivering him stark naked from the get-go like a newborn learning to walk. The camera follows Mark closely and intimately throughout the film. For better or worse, the aesthetic treatment of Mark transforms him from a person to a character, thus blurring the lines of The Other Side between documentary and creative nonfiction.
In The Other Side, Minervini also follows a paramilitary group preparing for that day when "they" come to get them and the men have to defend their women and children with their amassed ammunition. The transition from Mark's story to the group story is abrupt and other than geography, there is no clear narrative between the two major parts of the film. Minervini records the day-to-day of these men; it's chilling to watch how ensconced they are in paranoia. At the same time, the film captures some of the paramilitary men's backgrounds and fears. A number of them are veterans and extreme nationalists but they don't subscribe to a "liberty and justice for all," just for those who are white and for whom the Second Amendment is more a religion than a right. This begs the question: what is a Black man doing training with this group? This detail is never addressed. Another parallel subgroup followed in The Other Side is made up of young racist men and women who hate Obama so much that they go to extremes to demonstrate their hate, including a man saying "Obama, suck my dick" as he gets head from a woman wearing an Obama mask. Minervini's portrait of 'Murica is unflattering to say the least but there is truth in it. The Other Side is germane, and asks, the other side of what? The answer is, of everything-of those who have, of the law, of freedom.
The Other Side shows at 7:50 p.m. on Monday, May 23 at Bear Tooth.