Synthesis
Paper Four
Emile de Antonio: filmmaker, activist, modernist
Emile de
Antonios collected works provide a road map which explores and
critiques the major figures, events, and issues of America during the
Cold War. A filmmaker and political activist, de Antonio may be best
described as a modernist as he (like composer John Cage and the subjects
of his film Painters Painting) was constantly seeking out new formal
approaches to filmmaking. His oeuvre reveals innovation at every step,
affecting the form of documentary films in ways which can still be seen
today.
De Antonio
avoids cinema verité , going so far as to say that "objectivity
is impossible unless you do abstract work." Furthermore, he insists
that he is not interested in objectivity. Before making In the Year
of the Pig de Antonio had a preconceived idea that the U.S. was wrong
(in their involvement in Vietnam) and wanted to edify his belief with
the film. In the Year of the Pig combines stock footage with original
interviews with U.S. officials, intellectuals, and soldiers. Through
the juxtaposition of these different sources, de Antonios arguments
move forward while avoiding traditional voice-over narration, offsetting
what he referred to as banal journalistic coverage of the war.
Point of
Order also avoids conventional narration, but unlike In the Year of
the Pig, there are no interviews. A compilation of the 1954 Army-McCarthy
hearings, Point of Order relies completely on stock television footage
edited down from hundreds of hours to just under two. This, De Antonios
first film, successfully revived collage documentary and helped to assure
that Joseph McCarthy would forever be seen as an immoral agitator.
Emile de
Antonio was a brilliant filmmaker if for no other reason than his passion
for doing things his own way. In the Year of the Pig may be dismissed
as a propaganda film because it lacks objectivity, but what it is successful
at regardless of its position is that it put the war in Vietnam in historical
perspective. While de Antonio took a side with all of his work, he chose
his filmmaking strategies very carefully, presenting the materials at
his disposal and letting the audience decide for themselves, avoiding
the façade of objectivity.
NOTES
1. see Douglas Kellner and Dan Streibles introduction to Emile
de Antonio: A Reader
2. quote taken from Inter/view with Emile de Antonio (1969) by Lil Picard,
also found in Emile de Antonio: A Reader, p 214.
Point of Order, dir. Emile de Antonio, 1963, 97 min.
In the Year of the Pig, dir. Emile de Antonio, 1968, 101 min.
Painters Painting, dir. Emile de Antonio, 1972, 116 min.