Something that has always amused me is the way that, despite the near infinite development of technology and industry, the simplest sunset is the source of awe and wonder. A sunset's nature is to be daily and dependable, never wavering from its post. Regardless of that, sunsets are plastered all over social media every day all over the world. So what is it that attracts us as a species to gaze in wonder at the natural mechanisms of Earth? Maybe it is the innate efficiency of these mechanisms, one that is self-sustainable. Maybe it is for cultural and religious reasons, praising the sun as an ancient harbinger of life and strength. Maybe it is the sheer volume of such cosmic entities, a heady concept that inspires dizzying existentialism. Whatever it may be, the human race will always revere the beauty of the natural world even if we may be actively destroying it.
River is a 2021 documentary directed by Jennifer Peedom and Joseph Nizetic, with commentary provided by the ever mellifluous Willem Dafoe. The film follows a long stream of experimental documentary tradition which finds its source with Vertov's 1929 masterpiece Man With a Movie Camera and contains other notable tributaries such as Reggio's sublime Koyaanisqatsi (1982). Now, it would be crass to say that River equals these titans in quality, but it gives the aesthetic a fair go. Beautiful, sweeping, mesmerising cinematography of our natural world fills the bulk of this doc. Many of such shots are taken in ways that distort the viewer's perspective with cameras being lifted hundreds of metres into the air to reveal the surrounding landscape. That would be one of the film's main strengths: perspective. The most excellent shot of the film is early on. The camera glides over glaciers, a skateboarder gone wild, drifting and gliding down this perilous landscape before pulling out to reveal the whole majesty of the mountaintop.
Accompanying the visual splendour is a symphonic concoction which unfortunately ebbs into the realm of the mundane more often than not. Forgettable and bland tracks become nothing more than background noise and at times act to dilute the ambitious visuals. More specifically, the inclusion of foley for background crows, paddles hitting water, the swish of leaves in the wind made the artifice of the film becomes apparent, the last thing you want your audience thinking when watching a nature documentary. This remains true for the narration of the film by the wonderful Willem Dafoe. His calming tones were a perfect pick, but I feel that the film could have done away with the use of narration all together. Leaving it up to the visuals could have made for a much more profound and emotionally engaging picture.
Furthermore, with narration comes narrative. A film about rivers released in 2021 can only really be about one thing: climate change. River tries to tackle some issues surrounding the ultimate crisis, but inevitably fails to convey proper geopolitical nuance. It safely takes the stance of: 'Dams are bad; destroy the dams', which might have worked for a more sensationalist film however, with the cerebral and experimental theme River strives, for it ends up appearing painfully obvious and confuses the film's tone.
That being said, coming in at a nippy 74 minutes, it is a perfectly fine film if not groundbreaking. Even if you were to go in and just gaze at the pretty visuals, you will leave satisfied and eager to go out into the wild and take a picture of the way the evening sun shines on the stream.
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