The Telluride Film Festival historically incorporates a fair number of documentary features and shorts alongside the main attraction, narrative features. This year, the documentary programming was thoughtfully political, and the selections thematically aligned well with the narrative features. This permitted my personal programming to have its own common thread and for synchronicities to shine.
The new family-oriented documentary from National Geographic, “Blink,” gives us a glimpse into the life of a Montreal family of six and their journey around the world. For the Pelletier family, this is no average exploration of some of the world’s finest natural wonders; they are racing against time, against the degenerative eye disease, retinitis pigmentosa. Of Edith Lemay and Sébastien Pelletier’s four kids, three of them (Mia, Laurent, and Colin) have been diagnosed with this incurable disease that leads to blindness. The only prescription doctors provide is to “fill their visual memory” as much as possible, and the expedition behind.
For a whole year, the Pelletier family travels through Africa to Asia and over to South America, crossing items off their bucket list such as “ride in a hot air balloon” and “drink juice on a camel.” As if hiking through the Himalayas wasn’t hard enough, the kids shout multiplication equations as they make the trek.
From co-directors Daniel Roher and Edmund Stenson, who directed and edited Oscar-winning “Navalny,” “Blink” strays from the compelling, thriller-like storytelling audiences experienced with their previous documentary. While the film is visually beautiful and captures a unique, heartfelt story, at times the film’s narrative falls flat. At a few points, we witness immense vulnerability from the children; the five-year-old, Laurent, poses the question “What does it mean to be blind?” to his mother, breaking her heart a bit more. The audience also bears witness to the fulfillment and irritations that come with parenting and homeschooling four children. As they do everything in their power to give their kids the world, the children still want to visit the moon.
Although the film lacks a traditional narrative arc, the “day in the life” approach serves the subject matter well. Moments of the movie felt reminiscent of home videos, and all of the photos and the footage will serve as a comprehensive archive for the children as they grow up. A woman from an Indigenous tribe they visited in the Amazon says, “What else can we do but accept it?” The rhetorical question provides parents Edith and Sébastien with the comforting thought that all parents are trying their best to better their kids’ lives.
Petra Costa’s new feature documentary film, “Apocalypse in the Tropics,” is a multi-year exploration of Brazil’s political state as its Evangelical party becomes increasingly powerful, having grown to 30% from just 5% of the population. Through mostly voice-over narrative and a few brief interviews, “Apocalypse in the Tropics” is broken down into six chapters, capturing the political state pre-global pandemic, through the COVID era, and into the 2022 election results.
Similar to Americans’ January 6th experience, Brazilians had their own form of a coup at the Capitol on January 8, 2022. In both instances, citizens witnessed their government and military folding pathetically, doing little to nothing to stop the extremists’ destruction. As the United States is also facing threats of dictatorship and theocracy, Costa’s narrative feels more relevant than it appears on the surface. At one point, the current, Evangelical president, Jair “Messiah” Bolsonaro, states he will “question any outcome of the election where he is not the winner; multiple murmurs emerged from the audience, “sounds familiar.”
Notably, in addition to the two presidential candidates, a third character, and perhaps the most influential is given a substantial platform throughout the documentary. Pastor Silas Malafaia, a devout Evangelical and media personality, has entirely shifted how the Church operates; when the Republic of Brazil found itself in despair when the State took away or failed to provide resources, many folks turned to their faith for solace and support. Malafaia has seized this opportunity to develop Dominionism alongside Bolsonaro. Their motives are unclear for serving as leaders to the people of Brazil; remaining powerful takes precedence.
“Apocalypse in the Tropics” is genuinely informative and captivating. The predominantly women filmmaking team also brings a fresh connotation to covering an apocalypse, in which they utilize the Greek root of the word “unveiling or revelation,” rather than the biblical definition found in the book of Revelations, “a final destruction of the world.”
As the 2024 United States election season is hitting its final stretch, the re-introduction of James Carville comes at a time when a new generation can experience the exploits of the powerful political operative, and they might even describe his nature as brat. “Carville: Winning is Everything, Stupid!” is an unfiltered look into Carville’s career in which director Matt Tyrnauer makes use of archival footage, a plethora of interviews, and a day-in-the-life approach to tell a well-rounded, unbiased story.
Telluride has historically programmed films that explore the unsung heroes of major events, in Carville’s case, he was the pivotal player in securing President Bill Clinton’s victory in the 1992 election, and since then he has been a reliable voice and advisor for the Democratic Party. Throughout the documentary, we not only learn of Carville’s life but of his life partner and fellow strategist, Mary Matalin, a dedicated member of the Republican party. Despite their differences in political affiliations, Carville and Matalin are deeply committed to one another, for over 30 years; it is rare to see couples come together nowadays when they have strong political differences. For this power couple, their differences are their strength as they keep each of them respectively sharp in their work.
Described as “relentlessly authentic,” by several of his peers, Carville’s comments continuously invite giggles; he does not shy away from the use of swear words and other explicit, eye-widening phrases. Additionally, it is refreshing to discover such a successful figure who stepped into their calling a bit later in life; he was 38 years old when he served on his first election campaign. While we could frame this as a rags-to-riches story, Carville remains true to his Southern roots, always sporting Louisiana State’s green, yellow, and purple. Almost 80, he fields phone calls all day, doing all he can to ensure the Democratic Party has a competitive edge for the 2024 election.
This film simultaneously positions Carville as the main character, a strategy legend, while pushing his approach to politics as a learning lesson. Carville’s long-standing relationships with members of various political affiliations are evidence of his ability to remain relevant even as the landscape changes; during a time of extremists, it’s refreshing to see the forming of an intergenerational consensus for the sake of democracy.
