Review: Because I Was a Painter (2015)

[Mark R. Leeper]

BECAUSE I WAS A PAINTER
(a film review by Mark R. Leeper)

CAPSULE: During the Holocaust prisoners who were
artists secretly made and hid drawings that recorded
the experience of being held in the camps and
murdered. Christophe Cognet writes and directs (the
first time for either) this documentary talking to
the artists and showing the art that was created under
these horrendous circumstances. The purpose of the
documentary is important, but the film fails in
execution due to technical problems that were not
sufficiently considered in the making. Rating:
high 0 (-4 to +4) or 5/10

During the Holocaust, when millions of people were being murdered,
a few artists wanted to bear witness and preserve the experience
for those who came after. It was impossible for those in the camps
to get a camera and photograph the unthinkable going on all around.
But it was just barely possible for some artists to scrounge paper
and writing implements and draw what people who were not there
could not imagine.

Writer and director Christophe Cognet interviews several of the
artists who recorded their lives at a time when art was a capital
crime. Artists participating include Yehuda Bacon, Jose Fosty,
Walter Spitzer, Samuel Willenberg, and Krystyna Zaorska. The
artists occasionally disagree on what their experience was. One
finds that there can be no beauty in all of this bloodshed, but
another says that in the way that the bodies so thoroughly show the
suffering of the dying person that that is a beauty in the same way
that Picasso's "Guernica" is beautiful. We do see a variety of
different styles and subjects in the samples of their artwork.
Different expressions of life in the camps and the artists tell us
why they chose the different approaches.

We never get a good idea how these artists managed to maintain
large portfolios of their art work and not have them fall into the
hands of their captors. We would like little more understanding of
the mechanics of successfully documenting life in the camps and
preserving that art so that others would see it.

The film suffers (badly) from technical problems; most of which are
reparable, but at this point have not been fixed. This is
definitely a film that needs to be narrated and dubbed rather than
subtitled. Why? Much of the film is looking at drawings in black
on a white background. The current subtitles are white letters
with black edge trimming. The lack of contrast makes the subtitles
a real struggle to read. On top of which the subtitles are printed
for just a moment and then quickly whisked away. Even given full
concentration, reading the subtitles is fully consuming. But the
subtitles are not where the viewer should be looking when there is
art on the screen. One can read the subtitles or see the art, but
not both.

The drawings frequently have great detail and need to be studied to
realize what is being portrayed. But there just would not be time
for the viewer to appreciate what is being expressed in the art
even if the subtitles were ignored. We see some art at a distance
and then moved up to the camera lens, but it would be better to see
the art visible from the very first we see it. Of understanding
the drawings and reading the subtitles, there is not enough time to
do either well, much less do both. Narrating the film in the
intended viewer's language, pointing out important details of the
drawing, would go a long way toward making the artwork more
comprehensible and appreciated.

This could have been an important documentary and it very nearly is
already, but much of the viewing experience needs to be rethought
and alterations need to be made. As it stands the film has serious
flaws. Because of the subject of the documentary we need to have
more time looking at the art and less panning the camera over the
countryside. As it stands I rate BECAUSE I WAS A PAINTER a high 0
on the -4 to +4 scale or 5/10.

Film Credits: <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3342998/combined>

What others are saying:
<http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/because_i_was_a_painter/>

As a side note: I have a particular interest in the artist Yahuda
Bacon who credits my uncle, Stanley Leeper, with saving his life
after Bacon was liberated from Auschwitz. Details are available at
<http://tinyurl.com/mrl-bacon>.


Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 2015 Mark R. Leeper