"If You Think You're Enlightened, Spend a Week With Your Parents"

That's a quote from someone that was quoted by the filmmaker who visited my class last night.

We viewed an elegant documentary called "Tell Them Who You Are." It was about cinematographer Haskell Wexler. I had no idea who he was, but that made no difference. The documentary was made by his son, Mark, who painted an accurate (sometimes negative) portrait of his father as a cinematographer, as a political activist, as a man, and most importantly, as a father.

There was a moment in the film that will stay with me forever. I've never seen an entire audience weep during a documentary. It was a powerful, real moment, and you should all see this movie just to see this scene.

After seeing this movie, you are left contemplating the relationship between fathers and sons, especially sons from a generation in which fathers were discouraged from being emotionally intimate with their children. It was difficult to watch at times, especially when Mark, and accomplished filmmaker, was being criticized by his father, a more experienced and somewhat tyrannical cinematographer. During these moments, Mark would basically become a 5-year old.

It's interesting to see this on film. I think many of us experience this when around our parents. I know I do, and I have touched upon this in the blog. If you don't experience this with your parents and have no idea what I'm talking about, you should see this movie.

When asked about this during class, Mark explained that even the most stable and put-together of people basically "become a wreck" after spending a week with their parents. He said that he either had to make this documentary or go to therapy, and he thought that making the movie would be the cheaper alternative.

He also said that many people, immediately after seeing this movie, say things like "I haven't spoken to my father in 10 years and I am going to call him right now."

In addition to delving into the nature of father and son and discussing Wexler's career as a cinematographer and director (there's a fabulous interview with Michael Douglas, also the son of a celebrity, during which he says that working with Wexler on "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" was the worst experience of his career), the film also investigates the nature of documentary - if you can really capture reality. Are people really being themselves when a camera is on them? How much is setup? How much is acting? Haskell Wexler claims that, after a day or so, unless someone is a professional actor, they will forget about the camera, which actually becomes evident during the unfolding of this documentary.

Overall, it is a sweet but difficult look at the relationship between a father and a son, albeit one under unique pressures of celebrity and politics.

I strongly recommend it. At the very least, rent it in 6 months.