Act Of God (Greenaway, 1980)

Act Of God (Greenaway, 1980)

This is a brilliant short documentary made by the infamous Peter
Greenaway for Thames Television program "Take 6" in 1980. For this
project, Greenaway tackles the task of interviewing British subjects
that have been struck by lightning...and survived to talk about it.
The documentary displays Greenaways signature touches, such as the
element of Dark Comedy (Greenaways editing, the Monty Pythonesque
narrator, the witty writing, that transitory music, and the nature
of their stories in general) and, of course, his trademark attention
to detail regarding mise-en-scene and framing. First Greenaway gets his
subjects to reflect upon their experiences. He also interviews friends,
family, doctors and other witnesses whom fill in the blanks where the
strikee may have been unable to remember or recollect. He then continues
to slowly peel away at his interviewees like an onion, revealing more of
their story as he asks them questions, juxtaposing their responses-
indulging us in the experience by forcing us to compare and contrast their
experiences. Questions such as: how tall are you, what was the first thing
you remember after it happened, were you holding anything and what were you
wearing on your feet that day? An element of humour is derived from the
transitions between questions, in which Greenaway interviews Herzog-like
"Experts", while showing how cinematic lightning effects are made, and
providing literary and cinematic references to films and great books that
use lightning for various effects on what we now know as a "ticker". He
subsequently reads old newspaper reports of various lighting strike victims-
survivors, deaths, and even bizarre lighting related events- like the guy
who would climb a hill every time there was a storm with suicidal tendencies,
hoping an "Act of God" would end his life, only to be struck by a vehicle and
killed while walking up the hill to get hit by lightning. This is really an
interesting, intriguing, revealing, beautiful and hilarious film that cannot
be missed.