Higher Ground

 

Dear Kate,

I have not watched "Nomadland" and usually wouldn't watch anything just because it is an "award winner."  I have problem with ranking arts by handing out trophies that can be lobbied for.  Glad that it is made by a Chinese, a woman, but wouldn't consider either a reason to watch a movie either.

The very talented actress Vera Farmiga, you probably know her from Scorsese's "The Departed," directed probably the only movie she will ever do, when she was five months pregnant, played the lead too and guided an ensemble with many non actors to a "Higher Ground," captured a slice of Americana that was given no share at all in the American cinema.

This is the beginning of the synopsis given by the studio: "Vera Farmiga's directorial debut, HIGHER GROUND, depicts the landscape of a tight-knit spiritual community thrown off-kilter when one of their own begins to question her faith (...) The film tells the story of a thoughtful woman's struggles with belief, love, and trust - in human relationships as well as in God."

But how are you going to sell it?  So the synopsis ends with this: "A woman who learns that no matter how many times she loses her footings, she has within herself all that's necessary to get to a higher place."

That last line, added most likely by the marketing team, is a lie.  The story is much more nuanced and generous than that.  I can forgive the studio for the lie, because even with it, the movie flopped, as expected, made back less than half of its miniscule budget.

It is a movie that no one wants.

"Fundamentalist" Christians have their own media machine to paint a picture of how they want to be seen (mostly by each other and who cares about the world), and the "Left" have only cynicism and contempt to offer when it comes to religion, none more cynical than keeping the Fundamentalists to their fundamentals and have them jerking off to the same stupid blockbuster franchises, "cinematic universes" that take you to any ground but the one you are standing on, so to help you to escape from the glories and heartaches of the land.

We've been made nomads to our land by the lies we told, and, of all things, through arts, creative acts that are supposed to open ourselves to the transcendence.  Vera Farmiga said she has no impulse to direct movies, but has done so for "Higher Ground."  Grace and necessity.

Yours, Alex