Cinema Canada (May 1980)

AAORT FILM REVIEWS A refreshing portrait of Margaret Laurence helps demystify the writing process which denict Manawaka — the fictional community of the novels. In other places, the film attempts, far too literally, to dramatize passages from the novels; for example, it opens with the passage from The Diviners, in which Piper Gunn plays the pipes over Christie Logan’s grave — an unforgettable and key moment in the novel : “He swings the pipes up, and there is the low mutter of the drones. Then he begins, pacing the hillside as he plays. And Morag sees, with the strength of conviction, that this is Christie’s true burial. And Piper Gunn, he was a great tall man, with the voice of drums and the heart of a child, and the gall of a thousand, and the strength of conviction. The piper plays ‘The Flowers of 36/May 1980 the Forest,’ the long-ago pibroch, the lament for the dead, over Christie Logan’s grave. And only now is Morag released into her mourning.” On screen, this reading is accompanied by longshots of the Neepawa graveyard where a piper is pacing among the tombstones. It is an affective, moody moment until the film cuts to close-ups of the piper’s face — rendering too concretely a figure which would have been better left to out imaginations, and the power of the prose passage itself. But in other places, the filmmakers’ urge to visualize the prose so literally works better. The Manawakans of The Diviners call the dump “the nuisance grounds,” and a passage depicting the novel’s setting is effectively underscored by long-shots of burning mounds of garbage, a smoldering wasteland which heightens our attention and understanding of the nuances in the prose. Several of the interview sequences with Laurence deal with the craft of writing in such a way that they would certainly seem to encourage any young‘scribblers’ in the audience. There is a sense of demystification of the writing process running through this film, a sense — or more likely, a stance — which nicely goes against the popular grain of the ‘alienated artist’ working in isolation. Surprisingly, though, the filmmakers do not show us Laurence’s workspace in her home, nor do we get a sense of her writing as being a daily, integral part of her life. The formal, respectful qualities of the interviews perhaps heighten our awareness of what Laurence calls her need for “an essential privacy.” The film may have been intended, and will probably be used, as a kind of introduction to Margaret Laurence and her works. Ironically, however, it seems that the film works better for an audience which is already thoroughly familiar with her work, especially considering the recurrent imagery and symbolism which prevades it. None of the various people interviewed ever discuss her work as a body of literature replete with its own inner structure. correspondences, imagery, recurring figures, etc. The voice of the literary critic is not heard in the film. And yet, parts of the film rely on just this level of understanding : the recurring trackingshots along lush greenery, the use of an old CBC black-and-white interview with Laurence which, because of its placement in the film, is so like her own technique of “memory-bank movies.” The film’s final shot especially relies on this level of literary familiarity, and without it, seems awkward and unmotivated. Laurence walks to the pier below her house and turns to face the camera, looking up at us, with the water shimmering behind her. Her expression is hard to read — a mixture of vulnerability and strength. The film ends with a freeze-frame of her face, with the water behind it. It seems an unusual ending, unless one realizes the significance of water symbolism in her work, used as both a restoring, cleansing element and a destructive force which drowns and overwhelms. Margaret Laurence: First Lady of Manawaka has already had several public screenings across the country and was shown on CBC in late-February. The film won the Gold Plaque for documentaries at the Chicago Film Festival of 1979. Joyce Nelson