The Arbor

Just a few articles ago I was mentioning the saying of 'the only way to critique a movie is to make another movie'. The utter piece of garbage, AND EVERYTHING IS GOING FINE, is all about taking the emphasis and awarding it to one person. This, in my opinion, ruined that film, because the whole movie relied on how much you liked Spalding Gray or not, and, in my opinion, he was a put-on. THE ARBOR, however, is essentially focused upon a single person, but doesn't allow that person to dominate the film. The film takes its title from the play of the same name that Andrea Dunbar, a 15 year-old at the time, wrote. Andrea Dunbar becomes an enigmatic figure over the course of the film, and we see her effect on the rest of her family, and how her play, "The Arbor", was one that was centered on herself, and that conceit ruined her descendants. Dunbar died at an early age, but had three children, each belonging to a separate father. One child, Lorraine, was born to Andrea and a Pakistani man. Early in the film, we see reenactments of the play, and Andrea's dismay that she got together with a "Paki". This self-important trifle though, causes Andrea to hate her daughter, Lorraine. The rest of the kids were well loved, and in one scene where Lorraine explains to them the horrors her mother inflicted upon her (basically by not even loving her), they shrug them off and say things like "I won't never hear a word against my mum." But the way that Andrea Dunbar's successes and failures were not just concentrated on herself make the film profound. Another major aspect of the film is the way that it was constructed. Nobody seen in the film is a representation of their real self. It is an actress playing Lorraine Dunbar, but the words leaving her mouth are the actual recorded words of Lorraine, collected over the course of years by the director, Clio Bernhard. This is a radical new way to approach a documentary, but it was in danger of jeopardizing the film by shifting focus. The fact that it doesn't do this is a tribute to the film, and it's one of the most engrossing tales told in a documentary in 2011.

★★★1/2 out of Five