Project Overview
Working on this film changed me. It brought me out of a state of semi-conscious awareness called everyday life and forced me to wake up to the depth of my own apathy. The change was cumulative and sometimes harsh. I often resisted but in the end there was no way for me to participate in the film’s creation without being profoundly affected. I can truthfully say that this is one of my favorite films. Even after being so close to it for so long, I am drawn in every time I view it.
It began as the director’s spontaneous idea to capture the country at a historic and tragic time, and grew into a hypnotic journey woven from fact and fiction. Time and time again the footage was cut, assembled, finished. Time and time again I’d feel my heart sink after a viewing session when I’d look at the director’s face and know he would insist on starting over. He handcrafted the film from time, events and fate. Images were captured and shaped by technology and patience. Super 8 film merges with digital visions guiding the viewer in and out of cycles of time. It is built in circles, showing over and over the way we keep coming back to the same point of suffering and retaliation.
The film confronts us with what we already know but choose to deny. That is what makes it difficult but essential. It might infuriate or inspire or do both at once. You could easily find yourself feeling uncomfortably defensive one minute and deeply moved the next. This film compels you to participate and think, not merely watch and be entertained. It is ultimately a mirror asking you to reflect on why you are feeling angry or uplifted, bored or touched, confused or fired up. In the end you will have to ask yourself some deep and disturbing questions—and that is the point.
Academic Analysis
"Between Nomadology, the War Machine and the State: A Deleuzian Analysis of the Film, USA the Movie."
"Filmed between 9/11 and the beginning of the Iraqi invasion, it’s a unique film, rhizomic its structure, nomadic in its movement. As a document that is part contemporary history, part biography, part morality play, and part allegory, USA the Movie is arguably a significant exploration of “the American” as Deleuzian nomad, and the relationship between American nomadism, capitalism and the global war machine..." -- Dion Dennis Ph.D.
Visit Rhizomes Fall 2004
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*Rhizomes has three short clips from USA The Movie.
DVD Back
USA THE MOVIE is an independent landmark, a fictional drive through reality, a prophetic journey into the future of humanity.
One of the main elements is Kirk, a comfortable “All American” traveler who awakens from blissful ignorance into painful awareness of the world. He grows increasingly confused and destructive, fulfilling his destiny as the instrument of ultimate extinction. Real scenes of his physical and emotional breakdown, which were captured during filming, act as a thread between fiction and reality.
USA THE MOVIE is a journey inside the essence of a Superpower; a country that shocks the world with its might, bringing out envy, anger and hatred in the hearts of other nations. The film deliberately utilizes the feel of sweeping epic, independent drama, historic newsreel and gritty verite’ to tell the story.
Evocative visuals, masterful sound, and poetry create a sublime sense of simplicity. Unique and diverse speeches that catalyzed the destruction of nations, provoked the assassination of their speakers, expressed the deep sorrow of leaders, and manipulated the emotions of the people, are woven within the story.
This is not only a handcrafted work, but a voice to be heard that could only rise through the spirit
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