No. 20 (2023) ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED March. 19th.

 

Film No. 20  (2023)  March 19th.  1:45 PM  LUNA LEEDERVILLE,  Cine 8,   Leederville.

"Her work was about power, and particularly about power that men had over women" (A friend describes Nan's early work with her camera and what her lens captured on film).

WINNER : GOLDEN LION (Laura Poitras) Venice Film Festival.

It's rare for The Golden Lion (Venice's most prestigious award) to go to a documentary. ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED became only the second documentary to win in the festival's 79 year history. It deserves a few accolades in my opinion; if The Lion is one, then I applaud the selection. 

It wasn't till the screen faded to black and I began to think about Nan Goldin, the focus of Laura Poitras's cameras, that I really began to appreciate  Nan and the film's message. 

Poitras (CITIZENFOUR, RISK) in general, makes films to prick public consciousness. Her work in bringing facts in relation to Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning's revelations of state secrets to the public has been thorough. Nan Goldin is an admirer of Poitras's work. Consequentially Goldin asked Poitras to film the work of P.A.I.N (Prescription Addiction Intervention Now), her activist movement to make the Sackler family be, in some way, held accountable for their greed and lack of conscience in the distribution of OxyContin, an addictive painkiller.

Put simply, Poitras found many dimensions to the life and times of Nan Goldin which gave answers as to why this prodigious photographic artist is a person of such international interest. It's a riveting watch. A Type personalities make the best fodder for interesting stories. Nan Goldin is a good person who has come to grips with who she is, and while there is anger emanating from her past, her activism allows her to vent, and at the same time do good.

ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED is the epitome of an intelligent work of art. Much like Nan Goldin's life story in photographs. 11GUMS.