Marwencol, Jeff Malmberg's directorial debut and winner of the Grand Jury prizes at SXSW 2010 and the Cleveland International Film Festival, follows Mark Hogancamp, a recent head injury victim who has come to embody the definition of an outsider artist.
Marwencol whizzes through its necessary exposition. We get the broad strokes of how unbearable Hogancamp used to be. A self-loathing alcoholic (and luckily, a devoted journal keeper), a brutal attack by five teenagers wiped out his memories and left him with permanent brain damage. This resulted in a total disinterest in alcohol and a debilitating fear of the world around him. We also zip quickly through the harrowing process of re-learning every basic life function and the bureaucratic brutality of getting kicked off his benefits barely into his recovery.
Instead Malmberg quickly plunges us into the world of Marwencol, a small Belgian village circa World War II that Mark has created in his backyard using hand-built model houses and hand-painted Barbie dolls. Marwencol has an elaborate and complex story that includes all of the people from Mark's real life. His mother (depicted by a doll from the Barbie Bond Girl collection) tends bar, his real life co-workers are Allied military officers and his first (post-beating) crush all make up the fabric of the Marwencol mythology. People fall in love, start businesses and eventually band together to kill the the Nazi occupiers.
Marwencol began as a dexterity exercise and emotional safe haven as Mark coped with severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It gave him a chaotic war zone he could shepherd into peace, while making his loved ones glamorous and powerful. It endeared him to members of the town who remembered Mark as an alcoholic and it's touching how supportive the community is of his homemade therapy. But when he began photographing his scenes and stories he quickly caught the attention of the New York art scene, who express no small amount of awe at his lack of irony. But this new recognition brings a fresh hell when Mark is invited to a gallery exhibition in loud and crowded Manhattan. And it will put a slow ache in the heart of any viewer to watch him struggle with first screwing up his courage to get to New York (thus the Nazi overthrow) and then his crippling anxiety around speaking to the people who attend his show.
Spending so much time in the Marwencol fantasy village has a dual effect. Mark relaxes in front of the camera, allowing him to talk about his motivations and the connections he's making between fantasy and real life in a way he might not have been able to if Malmberg had not dedicated several years to the filming process. The audience develops an intimacy with Mark, allowing viewers to better understand the way his emotions have twisted themselves as a means of protection from the memories and fears from his assault. An insight into the complexities of PTSD, this film is utterly necessary at this point in history yet doesn't end with overwhelming despair.
RIYL: The Living Museum, In the Realms of the Unreal, Unknown White Male.
Marwencol will screen at the San Francisco International Film Festival April 22 - May 6. It will also screen at Hot Docs April 29 - May 10.
Ooh thanks, James, good catch. You know us Americans, it's all just "FOREIGN".
Speaking of, I'm invading your homeland next week.
Posted by: Erin D. | April 21, 2010 at 10:23 AM
I loved the film, too. I'm pretty sure it's a Belgian village, though, and not Bulgarian.
Posted by: James McNally | April 21, 2010 at 10:20 AM