Highlights from The 16th Annual Phoenix Film Festival – Part 2
Article by Ray Schillaci
One must understand, it is very hard to catch all of the good films at the Phoenix Film Festival in just one weekend. This was probably why the festival expanded their program during the week after the awards ceremony, not only featuring the award winners, but also festival choices. Those that did have the chance to catch some of the award winners found they were as good or, in some cases, even better than some of the showcase films.
Two competition films in particular captured my heart and stirred my soul as they did with most of their audience. Writer/director James Sadwith’s remarkable tale based on his life story, Coming Through the Rye, and Ben Proudfoot’s stirring documentary, Rwanda & Juliet. Sadwith’s film garnered Best Screenplay and Best Picture while Proudfoot’s film won Best Documentary.
For those that yearn for the movies of the ’70s that spoke to many of us, James Sadwith and company deliver that long lost feeling, proving that one can entertain, educate, and enlighten with a quality production, no matter how small. Coming Through the Rye has a pithy style that steals our heart away with its wonderfully wise script, and subtle players. The new faces of Alex Wolf as Jamie Schwartz and Stefania LaVie Owen as Deedee ground this wonderful coming-of-age tale that has a young man on a relentless search for the elusive author of Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger, as underplayed to wonderful perfection by Chris Cooper.
Jamie Schwartz is a tormented soul in his prep school. He relates to no one but the lead character, Holden Caulfield, in the infamous J.D. Salinger classic, Catcher in the Rye. Jamie is so taken by the character, he wants to adapt it into a play for his school, play the lead, and have the girl he’s pining over play opposite him. But Jamie’s dreams are blocked with the school insisting that he needs Salinger’s permission. Jamie’s journey with a new friend, Deedee, who happens to believe in him, that helps him blossom and take us on a fanciful trip of self-discovery.
Coming Through the Rye is not just a road movie, a coming-of-age yarn, or a love story, Sadwith’s film is a timeless tale of seeking out dreams, and discovering what we desire is not always what is best for us. There is a subtlety in his storytelling and a great appreciation for characters large, small, and those that are bigger than life. The production as a whole is first-rate, from the wonderful fall images captured by cinematographer Eric Hurt to the lithe musical score by Greg LaFollett, Heath McNease, and Jay Nash that brings to mind Cat Stevens’ wondrous score from the Hal Ashby classic Harold and Maude.
Alex Wolf plays Jamie very much like the lead character from Catcher in the Rye – with angst, an intuitive perception, and a sense of anxiousness to have his voice heard. But what he does not have in those character traits is the attraction to liquor and cigarettes, and Wolf plays him more pure at heart. He’s also enamored by the fetching blonde, Maureen, portrayed with a benign innocence by Kabby Borders, while nearly oblivious to the far more interesting breath of fresh air, Deedee.
Stefanie LaVie Owen (credited as Stephanie Owen) delivers a star turn as Deedee. She is one of the freshest faces to come on the screen in quite some time. Her Deedee is stubborn, fun, unpredictable, and truly charming. We cannot get enough of her on-screen presence. Sadwith has managed to nurture the chemistry of Wolf and Owen, and has us, the audience, cheering for their relationship.
Then there is the hermit-like and not very pleasant J.D. Salinger. Chris Cooper has you believe he actually is the titular author. He embodies the man with not just his speech and facial expressions, but uses his whole body to tell the man’s story. Reserved, angry, but not without a soul, the spirit of J.D. Salinger is honored not only by the talented Mr. Cooper, but by the film as a whole. We cling to every word uttered by Cooper/Salinger, and perhaps take with us a glimpse of Holden Caulfield with a tearful goodbye that lifts the heart, and makes us wish they made more movies like this.
The Best Documentary not only blindsided audiences, but apparently the filmmaker as well. For Rwanda & Juliet is not an ordinary doc that is just out to inform. No, it entertains and manages to whisk us away on sojourn of both pain and tranquility rarely experienced in cinema today. During the Q&A, director Proudfoot admitted going into the film with an entirely different notion as to how he would tell the story, but found midway through documenting the events that the story took on a life of its own, much like the actors and the play they wanted to perform.
Andrew Garrod, a Professor Emeritus of Education at Dartmouth College, and co-editor of two books of essays from both Muslim college students who grew up in America and Asian American college students telling their life stories as well, takes on an extraordinary adventure. He sets out on a trip to Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, to mount the Shakespeare classic, Romeo & Juliet with actors who are the descendants of the Hutus and Tutsis. With two decades passed when Hutus had committed genocide to the Tutsis, Garrod thought old wounds could be healed with having these former enemies re-enact Shakespeare’s immortal tale.
What Garrod found was a group of people that were far more concerned with paying their bills, and feeling as if Garrod was acting as some white knight attempting to swoop down and make their lives instantly better. This was far from Garrod’s intention. He had only hoped to resolve any tension or conflict there was with the power of Shakespeare and looked toward a brighter future for these people with the power of the arts. A noble thought, but not one in touch with the orphans he set out to re-enact Romeo & Juliet.
Many of the people felt that reconciliation had already taken place years ago and Garrod was out of touch. In fact, the words Hutu and Tutsi are banned from Rwanda. The conflict between the orphan players and Garrod does not really rear its ugly head until closer to opening night. And, it almost feels planned. Garrod felt what he was doing was charitable and was up front with the actors that there was no compensation to play their parts. Some in the cast strongly felt otherwise, especially the actress who plays Juliet, who proves to be a vibrant and very strong young woman.
Throughout the process of setting the play up, from the auditions to miscasting, to struggling with the language to finding those that embrace the opportunity they have been afforded, draws upon a myriad of emotions. Watching the quiet moments where some of the cast recollect the horror of the genocide is not just heartbreaking, but life-affirming as they show the spirit to persevere through the life left to them. We revel in their humor, find a profound understanding of their angst, and in the end, soar to imaginable heights as they witness something they never thought possible.
Garrod is both a wonderful and frustrating curmudgeon while his partner demonstrates more patience and understanding of the people they are working with. But it is these new actors themselves and their personal stories that take us on such an amazing journey of the human condition. Somehow, director Ben Proudfoot and crew have given us a deep look into the Rwandan genocide and made it more palatable to watch for the average viewer, and by the end has us demanding a longer film.
The story behind the filming is just as awe-inspiring. Proudfoot was not the original director. He was suggested after the first choice sustained an injury. It was then Proudfoot received a call asking if he would be open to a life-transcending experience. The idea fueled Proudfoot’s soul, and he set out to tell the tale of how the power of theater could heal old wounds.
But as filming progressed, and the director was drawn further and further into the story, he had an epiphany; the story he was filming was not the right one. What was unfolding before him and Garrod was the story that insisted on telling itself. This old college professor and his team having a conflict with the Rwandan students. Questioning his motives, and what he actually knew about reconciliation.
How could this old man know anything about their lives when he, himself, had never experienced a genocide? How does one who is struggling to barely make ends meet intend to survive when they miss work for the sake of the whimsical thought of a Shakespearean play bringing some kind of peace to one’s mind? And, what could opening old wounds lead to?
This is the story we witness, the people we grow to love, and the fight that we cannot help but cheer them on to, through the most angst-ridden discord. Director Ben Proudfoot brings a sensitivity to his subjects, but does not hamper them with it. Everything about this production is top-notch from the lush cinematography to the rousing score.
The film is set to air this summer on CBC’s Documentary Channel. The director does hope it will also be seen at several more film festivals and hopefully used in classrooms as an educational tool. In my humble opinion, this is a must-see film for nearly all ages. Join the life-transcending experience that Ben Proudfoot was promised, it is well worth the view.
