REMEMBERING STAN BRAKHAGE

 “Stan Brakhage, he’s probably [the] greatest visual artist on the face of the earth, and how many people haven’t seen his movies?”

-Lloyd Kaufman

The first and only film I have seen by Stan Brakhage is Window, Water, Baby, Moving and if that had been the only film he made, I would still consider him one of the greatest visual artists in the history of cinema.  Overstatement?  Not when you consider that Brakhage has made over 400 films…all of them artistic, emotional, and cinematic experiments.  Brakhage did not make blockbusters.  In fact, he didn’t make movies that many people in the world have seen.  Yet, his films have influenced Martin Scorsese, David Fincher, and Oliver Stone and he is still considered one of the most innovative filmmakers (and artists) to have ever lived.

I remember the afternoon I watched Window, Water, Baby, Moving.  I was in film school at the time and I recall my syllabus detailing that Brakhage was to be covered in class.  For some reason or another, I missed class and arrived after everyone else had left.  My professor told me that he had gotten a copy of one of Brakhage’s films on 16-mm from the Library of Congress and that I was free to thread it through the projector and watch it on a small screen.

There I was, sitting in the darkness, when the film began with a shot of a somber room, charcoal-colored shadows, and warm afternoon sunlight glowing from a window.  Then, a woman in a tub…then I realized she was pregnant…and then I’m watching the entire birthing process, and I quickly realize that this movie is unlike any other film I had seen before.  Without any music or words, Brakhage shows, from beginning to end, the powerful, honest, visceral reality of reproduction with such intensity and candor that childbirth becomes a metaphor, an idea, a dream, and a nightmare.  Through his unrelenting lens, everything is exposed: pain, blood, the placenta, what’s inside the placenta, and of course a newborn baby.  Then, I realized how personal this film was: Brakhage’s wife delivered their child into the world.

What’s the point?  This kind of thing is seen all the time on The Learning Channel.  Well, for one thing, this film was shot in 1959.  It’s only 13 minutes long.  It shields the viewer from absolutely nothing.  It shows that when two humans create another human, there is very little “magic” about it.  It’s all very biological.  In fact, the only thing “magical” about childbirth is just how biological it is; how much humans are animals, how we create through such physical means, and how there is nothing pretty about it.  To this day, I still can’t believe how much shit a child excretes while in the womb and that sort of imagery isn’t detailed in your average textbook. 

Window, Water, Baby, Moving gives the world a view head on, right were the drama is and all without fancy effects, music, words, or any of the other bullshit most filmmakers feel they need in order to make a moment in time dramatic for the viewer – there were no gimmicks.

Stan Brakhage died of cancer last Sunday, March 9, 2003 at the age of 70.  He had been making films for over 50 years.  His work is considered highly personal, influential, thought provoking, and uncompromising.  He was also a revered poet, theorist, writer, essayist, and educator.

With his passing, he leaves behind a legacy of art that will be studied and admired as long as filmmakers wish to see just how the “rules” of motion pictures can be bent, broken, manipulated, or forgotten all together.

Fortunately, Criterion (the only DVD company truly getting it right) has recently released by Brakhage, 26 masterworks by Stan Brakhage in high-definition digital transfers made from newly minted film elements.  The collection contains 243 minutes of Brakhage’s work and retails for $39.95.  Experimental film enthusiasts will finally have a small collection of Brakhage's endeavors to contemplate for many years to come.