Said the great documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman, who, at the age of 88, has a new movie, "Monrovia, Indiana."
“I’ve made movies in 17 states, but I never made one in the Middle West before, with the exception of a public housing film in Chicago. I thought it would be interesting to make a movie about a small town in the Middle West,” he tells Deadline. “A friend of mine told me about Monrovia and I visited it, liked what I saw, and started to make a movie there.”You can see the carrot scene in the trailer for the movie:
He filmed on hog farms, in cornfields, at a Masonic lodge, Lions Club, high school, veterinary clinic, tattoo parlor, barbershop, restaurant, a baby shower, a wedding and more. The film contains moments of conversation between townspeople, including some old duffers at a diner who discuss a recent experience eating carrots....
Monrovia is overwhelmingly white, nestled within a county that Donald Trump carried in 2016 with more than 75% of the vote. Wiseman shows the intrinsic role of Christian traditions in daily life (“People are very religious,” he states) but he doesn’t overtly address the politics hovering in the background. Some critics would have preferred he confront red state mentalities.
“That’s the film they want to make. That’s not the film I want to make,” he declares. “I don’t like to make obvious films.”
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30 comments:
Yes, you can't have a town full of white Christian people and not attack them for their very being. What kind of filmmaking is that?
Gorillas in the Mist 2.0.
Someone should make a movie of people in LA and New York watching "Monrovia, Indiana". Now that would be humorous and revealing.
"overwhelmingly white"
Yes, well, fuck you too, "deadline.com".
Looks like many Nebraska towns but with tats.
How far is Monrovia from Meade’s home town.
Middle West? Midwest.
The people who talk about Taylor Swift’s tweets will look down on those taking about carrots.
What a gift Wiseman’s films have been. And this one looks great.
"In love, I've been overwhelmed, I've been underwhelmed, but I've never been whelmed."
Line likely found in one of rhardin's famous library of rom-com movies. (He checks out immediately)
"How far is Monrovia from Meade’s home town."
82 miles by car. 62 miles by crow.
Middle West
It's so cute, in an 1800's kinda way, that people still call the Eastern US the "middle west".
By comparison, my Indiana hometown (Evansville) seems to have been a throbbing metropolis!
It's so cute, in an 1800's kinda way, that people still call the Eastern US the "middle west.'"
It probably came to be called that when the western border of the U.S. was not far past the center of the continent.
And a million miles away from Madison.
It is actually just outside the beltway of Indianapolis on I-70 according to Google Maps. Almost an exurb.
intrinsic role of Christian traditions in daily life (“People are very religious,” he states)
"Breathing has an intrinsic role to the living" Said the terminally unaware.
Strange that people live their faith? This is what is called normal to wide swaths of the nation. Faith is not a hobby you decide to kill a few hours on. It is clay the rest of your being is wrapped around.
To people outside the mid-west, Iowa, Minn, Winsc., Ohio, Mich, Indiana Illinois *are* the Mid-west.
ND, SD, Kansas, Neb are Great Plains. WV, Kent and Mo are "Border States" where the South starts.
Remember the "Big 10" when it was really just 10?
If your state school was in the old "Big 10" you're mid-west.
Monrovia is overwhelmingly white,
That is surprising since Monrovia is the capital city of the Middle Western African country of Liberia, although that explains the "Middle West" nonsense.
I've been urging President Jackson to update the official maps of this great land of ours,
but to no avail,
he must not be checking his email.
"People are very religious”
So, what you're saying is, logic will only get you so far?
I'm going to watch it, but, that's been my life for the last 13 or so years - I was even working in French Lick, Indiana - so I don't exactly need a primer on my fellow white Americans, the way they need one on their fellow black Americans.
He ought to consider making that movie.
82 miles by car. 62 miles by crow.
Then you should travel by crow.
So in other words, this is a Studs Terkel movie.
so I don't exactly need a primer on my fellow white Americans,
Your time in French Lick, what did you learn about your fellow man you were previously unaware of?
Was puzzled by Cracks remark. Pulled a few examples where Wiseman highlights people of color.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cool_World_(film)
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/public_housing/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Jackson_Heights
His most famous work was very hard to watch
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titicut_Follies
Indiana is in the Middle West?
What?
The carrot guys remind me of the last time I had breakfast in Minong, WI. Obviously this is a breakfast group. Likely meets every morning except Sunday.
iowan2 said...
"Your time in French Lick, what did you learn about your fellow man you were previously unaware of?"
Larry Bird lives there, for one thing. How people live in isolated parts of America always fascinates me - a city kid - as I wonder what they do, and how they don't go mad. In French Lick I learned how fake snow is made, with cannons that blow all night, and that's also where Al Capone partied and relaxed. (I had no idea gangsters built themselves "secret" vacation spots in the U.S. other than Vegas, Atlantic City, etc.)
Most of what I got was work related, though Indiana was part of the Underground Railroad, so that whole area's real historical. (Imagining blacks trying to cover all that territory, on foot amongst hostiles, is breathtaking.) The First Black Baptist Church is there - a monument - but it's falling apart, which didn't make my white hosts or me very comfortable, though they did seem proud to show it off.
Howard said...
"Was puzzled by Cracks remark. Pulled a few examples where Wiseman highlights people of color."
Whoa, whoa, whoa - I know why you're confused: you see an attack, by me, where none existed.
I wish people here would stop that.
Grew up about the same distance from Indy except to the north. That “warsh” takes me back. Took a long time to get that out after going away. I wonder how Meade pronounces it?
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