Last Friday, I went to the premier of the fabulous NFB film, Memoire des Anges, by Luc Bourdon (thanks, Matt). The movie is a love letter to Montreal of the 50s and 60s, and to the brilliant film-making that came out of the NFB at the time. It’s made up entirely of footage from NFB, an impressionistic collage of the city in the past, through the eyes & celluloid of the grand men (and some women) of innovative documentary, Gilles Groulx, Hubert Aquin, Richard Notkin, Suzanne Angel, Claude Jutra, Jacques Godbout, Arthur Lipsett, Denys Arcand, Tom Daly and scores of others.
Bourdon avoids all sentimentality, and instead gives us the faces, hands, feet of the people of the city, the roadways, bricks, snow, sun and chairs that define a place. There’s no narrative to speak of, though clever bits of story are peppered into the whole, often by splicing footage from numerous films, black and white to colour, a decade or two apart, to make something coherent, if fleeting.
For Montrealers, there is the added fun of picking out street corners and buildings treasured, hated, or gone. But the film works on its own as a document of a time gone, rooted in the look and sound of a city, the voices and faces of its inhabitants, and as a piece of art beyond all the bits that went into it. It’s really a marvel, not least for the rich sound of Paul Anka melting the hearts of the girls in the audience.
And with all the talk of cutting arts funding, I can’t help look to the NFB of the past, the creativity and innovation that forged in the smithy of our souls the uncreated conscience of our country. More of that please, less mediocre crap.
So to Federal Arts funding I say: less Pit Pony, and more (old school) NFB.
“…celluloid of the grand men (and some women) of innovative documentary…”
Argh, the way you parenthesize women is irksome. And I don’t even consider myself a feminist. What’s the point of the extra punctuation? Would it really be so bad to say, “…celluloid of the grand men and women of innovative documentary…”?
Hi JH, I parenthesized women because in the list of film credits below (the films clips from which the movie is constructed) there are, by my count, three women listed. So the parenthesization (?) is in the the presence of women film makers in this film … though true enough, I don’t know how many women worked on aspects of these films not credited below. Originally I was going to write “grand men” … then thought, well surely there are some women in there too, and was actually surprised at how few there were. Hence the (). See:
http://www.nfb.ca/webextension/la-memoire-des-anges/credits.php
5000 MILES – Rex Tasker
A CITY IS – James Carney
A IS FOR ARCHITECTURE – Robert Verrall, Gerald Budner
À SAINT-HENRI LE CINQ SEPTEMBRE – Hubert Aquin
ADULTES AVEC RÉSERVE – Jack Zolov, Marc Beaudet
ÂGE DE PIERRE – Jacques Languirand
ALBÉDO – Jacques Leduc, Renée Roy
ALFRED DESROCHERS, POÈTE – Claude Fournier
ARTIST IN MONTREAL – Jean Palardy
AU BOUT DE LA LIGNE – David Millar
AU BOUT DE MA RUE – Louis-Georges Carrier
AU HASARD DU TEMPS – Jacques Giraldeau
AU PARC LAFONTAINE – Pierre Petel
AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL BY A.M. KLEIN – Richard Notkin
BLADES AND BRASS – William Canning
ÇA N’EST PAS LE TEMPS DES ROMANS – Fernand Dansereau
CANADA CALLING – David A. Smith
CANADIAN PROFILE – Allan Wargon
CAROLINE – Clément Perron, Georges Dufaux
CHANTONS MAINTENANT – Claude Jutra
CIRCULATION À MONTRÉAL – Bernard Devlin
CITY SCENE – George Kaczender, Gordon Burwash
COLLÈGE CONTEMPORAIN – Pierre Patry
DE MONTRÉAL À MANICOUAGAN – Arthur Lamothe
DIMANCHE D’AMÉRIQUE – Gilles Carle
ÉLÉMENT 3 – Jacques Giraldeau
EN OCTOBRE – Jacques Bobet
ENTRE TU ET VOUS – Gilles Groulx
FABIENNE SANS SON JULES – Jacques Godbout
FREE FALL – Arthur Lipsett
FREEZE-IN – F. Whitman Trecartin
GOLDEN GLOVES – Gilles Groulx
HELICOPTER CANADA – Eugene Boyko
HUIT TÉMOINS – Jacques Godbout
IL ÉTAIT UNE GUERRE – Louis Portugais
IL Y EUT UN SOIR…IL Y EUT UN MATIN – Pierre Patry
IMAGE, QUE ME VEUX-TU? – André Martin
IMPRESSIONS OF EXPO 67 – William Brind
INDUSTRIAL CANADA – Guy L. Côté
INLAND SEAPORT – Ronald Weyman
INTRODUCING CANADA – Tom Daly
JE CHANTE À CHEVAL AVEC WILLIE LAMOTHE – collectif
JEUNESSES MUSICALES – Claude Jutra
JOUR DE JUIN – Marcel Martin
L’HOMME MULTIPLIÉ – Claude Godbout, Georges Dufaux
L’HOMME NOUVEAU – Yves André, Claude Péloquin
LA BEAUTÉ MÊME – Monique Fortier
LA BOURSE ET LA VIE – Jean Dansereau
LA COMMUNAUTÉ JUIVE DE MONTRÉAL – Fernand Dansereau
LA CRÈCHE D’YOUVILLE – Bernard Devlin
LA FIN DES ÉTÉS – Anne Claire Poirier
LA FORME DES CHOSES – Jacques Giraldeau
LA LOI DE LA VILLE – Michel Bouchard
LA P’TITE BOURGOGNE – Maurice Bulbulian
LA TÉLÉVISION EST LÀ – André Martin, Éric de Bayser
LA VIE HEUREUSE DE LÉOPOLD Z – Gilles Carle
LE CANADA INDUSTRIEL – Guy L. Côté
LE CHAT DANS LE SAC – Gilles Groulx
LE PLAN SENTIMENTAL – Jacques Leduc
LE RETOUR – Bernard Devlin
LE TEMPS DES AMOURS – Hubert Aquin
LE VIEIL ÂGE – Jacques Giraldeau
LEGAULT’S PLACE – Suzanne Angel
LES ADMINISTRATEURS – Fernand Dansereau, Jacques Godbout
LES AMOUREUX DE MONTRÉAL – Jacques Giraldeau
LES DIEUX – Jacques Godbout, Georges Dufaux
LES ENFANTS DU SILENCE – Michel Brault
LES HABITATIONS JEANNE-MANCE – Eugene Boyko
LES MAINS NETTES – Claude Jutra
LES MONTRÉALISTES – Denys Arcand
LES PETITES SŒURS – Pierre Patry
LEWIS MUMFORD ON THE CITY – Collectif
LONELY BOY – Wolf Koenig, Roman Kroitor
MADEMOISELLE BARBARA – Jack Zolov
MANGER – Louis Portugais, Gilles Carle
MIDINETTE – Roger Blais
MONTREAL – Vincent Paquette
MON ENFANCE À MONTRÉAL – Jean Chabot
MUSIC PROFESSOR – Gil LaRoche
NOTES SUR LA CONTESTATION – Louis Portugais
NOTES SUR UNE MINORITÉ – Gianfranco Mingozzi
ON EST LOIN DU SOLEIL – Jacques Leduc
OÙ ÊTES-VOUS DONC? – Gilles Groulx
OUR STREET WAS PAVED WITH GOLD – Albert Kish
PASSAGE – Normand Grégoire
PETIT DISCOURS DE LA MÉTHODE – Pierre Patry, Claude Jutra
PILGRIMAGE – Terence Macartney-Filgate
POSTCARDS FROM CANADA – Kenneth Hirsch, Hannele Halm, Tony Ianzelo, David Wilson
POUR QUELQUES ARPENTS DE NEIGE – Georges Dufaux, Jacques Godbout
QUÉBEC – USA OU L’INVASION PACIFIQUE – Michel Brault, Claude Jutra
QUÉBEC…? (Archives nationales du Québec)
ROYAL RIVER – Gordon Sparling, Roger Blais
SAINT-DENYS GARNEAU – Louis Portugais
SCRIPT TO SCREEN – Claude Delorme
SHIPS IN THE ICE
SNOW – Barrie McLean
SOLANGE DANS NOS CAMPAGNES – Gilles Carle
STOP – Jean Beaudin
STRAVINSKY – Roman Kroitor, Wolf Koenig
TALENT SHOWCASE – Roger Blais, Sydney Newman, Douglas Tunstell
THE CANADIANS – Tom Daly
THE CHANGING CITY – Kirk Jones
THE CLIMATES OF NORTH AMERICA – Joseph Koenig
THE DAYS BEFORE CHRISTMAS – Terence Macartney-Filgate, Stanley Jackson, Wolf Koenig, Georges Dufaux
THE EVER CHANGING LOWLANDS – Tony Ianzelo
THE MAN ON THE ASSEMBLY LINE – Morten Parker
THE INVENTION OF THE ADOLESCENT – Patricia Watson
THE PRICE OF FIRE – Bruce Parsons
TRAIN 406 – Fergus McDonell
TRANS-CANADA JOURNEY – Graham Parker
TRANS CANADA SUMMER – Ronald Dick
TU ENFANTERAS DANS LA JOIE – Bernard Devlin
UN JEU SI SIMPLE – Gilles Groulx
UNE JOB STEADY…UN BON BOSS – IAN MCLAREN
URBANISME – LE PLAN D’AMÉNAGEMENT – Louis Portugais
VIVRE SA VILLE – Jacques Godbout
VOIR MIAMI – Gilles Groulx
WHEN YOUR TIME IS YOUR OWN – Ernest Reid
WINTER IN CANADA – Guy L. Côté
YUL 871 – Jacques Godbout