Capturing Reality: The Art of Documentary

Garnering not only critical praise but substantial audiences, documentaries are enjoying a golden age, so it makes sense to talk to some of the notable present-day practitioners of the form. Pepita Ferrari does just that in this film that juxtaposes interviews of more than 30 documentarians with photos and footage of them at work and illustrative clips from their productions. While the treatment isn't terribly imaginative, it's certainly informative. The directors range from well-known figures such as Errol Morris (who talks about the mirrored device he fashioned so that interviewees could be filmed looking straight into the lens) and Werner Herzog (whose recollections about the risks he's taken to secure various shots sound a lot like the daredevil behavior of some of his subjects) to less familiar figures who have made remarkable films. Topics covered include how the filmmakers choose their subjects (often by serendipity, it turns out), the difficulty of getting some people to cooperate, the work involved in editing many hours of raw footage, and the importance of appropriate background music. Methodological disagreements also turn up, about whether documentaries have more veracity than fictional films, and the value—and danger—of using recreated scenes. A bonus second disc adds more than four hours of comments from all the filmmakers, as well as biographies and filmographies. Capturing Reality will be of special value to cinema history collections but should also appeal to anybody interested in the art and practice of the documentary. Recommended. [Note: Capturing Reality is also available with public performance rights for $295 from National Film Board of Canada, www.nfb.ca.] Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)