Nathan-ism- An Important Exploration Of A Man With A Very Specific Historical Relevance
Back in film school, one of the classes I had to take was tied into the Florida Film Festival, where the films at the festival were given out as products for us to essentially “street team”. I was given a documentary that Nathan-ism reminds me so much of, which was someone being captured in documentary form, and my partner and I ran a “Who Is” campaign, trying to drum up interest in our documentary. We had shirts, and we got high marks for always being present, but even with that, sometimes it is hard to drive people to documentaries that aren’t immediately about something a festival goer would recognize. That film was a solid documentary, and so is Nathan-ism. The only thing that has really changed about me, is now I need audio description to enjoy a movie in all its forms.
Nathan-ism is an exceptional find for no other reason than as time progresses we lose the people who were there to tell us what an event was like. Great moments in history may have been captured on film, or in photos, but it is the verbal retelling of someone who was present, who witnessed, or who lived through something that has the resonance to be able to stick out in a crowd of documentaries. While Nathan-ism would like to paint itself as the story of an artist, the compelling central artist, Nathan Hilu, has a much stronger and more direct draw for the audience. he was, or as the film often suggests “claims” to be a guard for the prisoners who awaited their judgment at Nuremberg. A young Jewish soldier himself, he was assigned to suicide watch, having to constantly make sure that the Nazi’s awaiting trial made it to court alive. It is such a unique moment in time that cannot be reproduced. We have wars, and we have people to talk about being a soldier fighting in those wars, but the very specific experience of being a guard on suicide watch for these Nazi ranking officers is what I found to be so intriguing. the idea that Nathan’s story hadn’t been captured until now, does make you wonder, and the film does push into the “can this all be true?” There’s something almost so grand about being able to claim you were there when certain things happened. At this point, remaining holocaust survivors offer reflection on what was, and what still is. but, this is more than just being some soldier, or a survivor, he witnessed this one very limited view of such a momentous point in history.
From that, even though he isn’t a classically trained artist, he has spent a lifetime drawing, as if this period of his life gave him so much to think about he can’t quite figure out how to put all his thoughts into the world. He is seen by art critics as perhaps a crude interloper, but at the same time, when you realize the experience that he draws from (quite literally), how can you say there isn’t something there? Maybe it doesn’t resemble a Picasso, but most artists don’t get the recognition in their lifetimes. To further flesh out this already complicated tale, Nathan-ism pushes the envelope on truth, and what is verifiable, and that is something I will not ruin for you.
I really think this is a tremendous effort in terms of finding the right subject to feature in your documentary, and acknowledging that we didn’t have much time left for Nathan to tell this story. As with most documentaries, this one doesn’t ahve the benefit of a major distributor, so I tend to be not as angry when audio description doesn’t come my way. I don’t consider myself as slighted, because having been sighted before, I’m aware that most don’t have to think about the accessibility needs they themselves do not need, or have someone in their immediate vicinity requiring said accessibility. And part of why I do this is to challenge the conception that blind and low vision users don’t watch film and television, to push for a far more expansive and regular use and passing of audio description. After all, in terms of awards consideration, you actually cannot be sure your voting body is fully sighted. Most groups admit people, and don’t then pull membership due to disability. So, there could be members in the Academy who have lost their vision, still vote, or even just have decreased vision with age and simply appreciate the accessibility. There are so many reasons to do it, and basically no reason not to.
With that, I thought about what the audio description for this could be, since there is this focus on Nathan’s art, and how he himself recognizes it as being his own style. Blind audiences will wonder what that style is, but I wonder how an audio description writer would have captured the essence of Nathan-ism, also in a way that works around all the times that someone is speaking. I’m not saying it can’t be done, but it is exactly the kind of thing that could be buried by cheap bargain audio description, or an amateur or beginner writer. And to some extent, being able to compare Nathan’s art, as it is being viewed through the lens of art critics who are used to looking at very different forms, makes me wonder how the writer would choose to actually define “Nathan-ism”.
All that being said, if Nathan had never drawn, his story is in and of itself compelling. Nathan Hilu is the guy you meet, and start casually talking to, and realize five hours have passed and you can’t stop asking questions and listening. There often is wisdom in age, but often we take for granted the concept that maybe that random old guy down the street might just be the last person who saw a moment in history, and what he has to say is worth several lifetimes. I don’t always grade films without audio description, but I wouldn’t stop anyone from hearing what Nathan has to say.
Final Grade: A-
