Mana—Beyond Belief

More collage than narrative, Peter Friedman and Roger Manley's Mana is a combination documentary, mockumentary, and anthropological reverie that focuses on what might be called modern animism. Mana—we're told—refers to the power believed to exist in specific places and things, which varies from culture to culture: it may be a stone among the Maori of New Zealand, or cherry blossoms in Japan, or the Shroud of Turin among Catholics, or Graceland for Elvis fanatics, or the American flag flown above the Capitol—all of which are covered in this travelogue of curiosities. The weirder the examples, the more the filmmakers embrace them, expending substantial time, for instance, on the construction of a paper Mercedes (complete with driver) burned as part of a funeral ceremony in Malaysia. In many cases, the emphasis falls on the disparity between an underlying “devotion” and the almost absurd ritual arising from it (the cherry blossom sequence showcases a bunch of drunken businessmen celebrating the festival). While often ironic, the treatment isn't patronizing, and the film is often full of dazzling imagery. It should be noted that one scene—featuring a black-marketer talking about ghoulish “artifacts” like Woodrow Wilson's brain or Edgar Allen Poe's finger—is revealed as a dramatic sketch, and a fantastic machine called the Forevertron, supposedly designed to use electricity to launch a man into the heavens, is actually just a Wisconsin scrap metal sculpture with a purely invented backstory. Still, even if it's not always possible to tell where reality begins and ends, Mana is an enjoyable and thought-provoking film. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)