theme: greek mythology. set: snowy mountains of Idaho. time: eternity
Introduction
Recently, I had the chance to visit the TOP - Tokyo Photographic Art Museum where they prepared various screening, and one of them was a movie from Matthew Barney with the title "REDOUBT” Plus. The original debut of this film was back in 2018. The whole movie is approximately 2,5 hours long, without any spoken lines or dialogues. The language of the movie is based on the cinematography and the dance, which is the main element throughout the movie. Through the choreography of the hunting processes the viewers can experience the story unfold in front of their eyes, while experiencing the vast beauty of the icy landscape, where the silence screams into our faces. The location of the filming was not a coincidence. Idaho is the place where the director, Matthew Barney spent his childhood, this personal connection to the place and its identity gives many new layers to the movie, among many other the political and ecological reading of the movie are also part of this personal, lived experience between the director the location of the set.
What happened on the screen? - cinematographic masterpiece
The movie is structured with an opening, prologue scene, which works as an introduction to the characters and the natural scenery of the movie. We get to know the harsh reality of the snowy mountain landscape, we see the animals in their natural habitat, and we get to see our characters: Diana, played by Anette Wachter who is in real life a sharp-shooter, in the movie she plays the mythical role of Diana/Artemis, who is surrounded by her mythological counterparts, by the nymphs. One of them is the Calling Virgin, played by Eleanor Bauer who was responsible for the major part of the choreography in the movie and other one nymph is Tracking Virgin, played by Laura Strokes. The three of them can represent the wilderness, the nature itself. On the other hand, we get to know the Engraver, who is played by Matthey Barney himself and the Electroplater, who is played by K.J. Holmes, who is a renowned dancer. These two could be a representation of the "civilization". The location on where the characters are being is also symbolical and shows their divine attributes as well. While Diana is located in the middle of the forest, with a tent and hammock, we can see that the only equipment she is has, is her different weapons. As we get a glance at the interior of her tent, we can see several different style bows and arrows, from different ages and types. This is a clear sign, that Diana in the movie is actually Diana the mythical goddess of the hunt. When we get a look in the Electroplater's home we can see books relating to alchemy and electroplating and we follow the process of the alchemist in work. The common element in both of their houses is the process of metamorphosis. Let's talk about the mythological background later. After the opening screen, where we are introduced to the characters, the movie progresses as a sequence of six hunts, in which Diana's goal is to hunt down a wolf she encountered on the first day.
At the same time the Engraver ventures forth with his domesticated dogs in order to survey and capture the natural landscape. The Engraver's graving process can be understood as a way of hunting, while capturing the environment and animals with his engraving process. The Engraver set up a camera at a carcass of a dead animal, and during night, when the Engraver returns to his home, in the live broadcast the first meeting happens, with one of the nymph of Diana. This encounter serves as source of the conflict, starting this sequence the Engraver will be obsessed with Diana and the nymphs. During the six different hunt episodes, the story of Diana and presumably the story of Actaeon who is represented by the Engraver enfolding in the snowy landscape. In the Hunt 5, the setting and the pace of the story changes, and we get to see the world outside the mythical mountains. In Hunt 5 the Engraver leaves the mountain area and visits the nearby town where he encounters the sixth character of the movie, the Hoop Dancer who is played by the indigenous dancer and choreographer Sandra Lamouche. The presence of the indigenous character with her mesmerizing dance, with resonates with the dancing nymphs, this gives a new layer on the movie. This new layer could express the situation and future possibilities of indigenous communities in America, and also during her dance she embodies the same forms and structures as the Electroplater makes in her home and later the trance-like dance movements at the closing sequence. The central piece of the theme is the being on the hunt, and try to hunt their pray with their own tools. Nymphs chooses dance to accompany the hunter Diana; Diana uses her extensive weaponry to hunt; Engraver uses his art and graving to capture the essence of the prey; the Electroplater is using alchemy to transform the engravement pieces. These different acts, are serving the same purpose on screen, in order to hunt each other and the wolves.
Transcended hunting - the mythology of the hunters
As the premise of the movie itself explains to us, there is more to this movie than just the amazing scenery of the icy and snowy landscape, or the wildlife.
Every moment and scenery is a representation retelling of the Ovid's magnum opus, the Metamorphoses. The meaning of metamorphosis is the following: change of physical form, structure, or substance especially by supernatural means
In Ovid's epic tale, the metamorphosis plays a central role, just as in Barney's Redoubt. In the film, the story of Diana and Actaeon is being depicted in the American natural scenery, with the nymphs as the companions of the goddess Diana. The story of Diana and Actaeon tells a story of a human hunter who accidentally stumbles upon on the bathing Diana and her nymphs. Diana as the goddess of purity and hunt, gets furious of this indecent act of the man, and she transforms the man to an deer. The story of the Redoubt gives a new approach for the old tale of Diana and Acteon. In Redoubt, Diana, the huntress is obviously a representation of the mythical Diana, in her tent the many different arrows and the presence of the mythical nymphs/virgins gives us clues about her being. On the other hand, the Engraver plays the role of Actaeon, the man who stumbled upon the goddess. Barney's story has a different structure, since it becomes a "hunt" for the Engraver to find and capture the essence of Diana through his engraving. While in the opening screen Diana is making the bullets for her weapon, in the meanwhile the Engraver checks and collects his plates, which serves as his weapon for the hunt. These sequences, where the two characters preparing for the hunt is an excellent example for the foreshadowing of the inevitable fate of their hunt.
During the six hunts of the film, we encounter different scenarios where different hunting methods are being executed. While the Engraver captures everything in his plater, in a sense how the photography or cave-paintings capturing the soul of the prey and gaining their strength before the hunt. After the "hunting" of the Engraver, he brings back home the finished plates, so the Electroplater can use her alchemy and transformation skills to make it visible and create an evidence of the hunt. The Engraver's hunting process is completely different from Diana's traditional style. After the first encounter between the Engraver=Actaeon and Diana and her nymphs, the Engraver will be obsessed with Diana, and his only goal is to capture her in his engravement, to hunt her down. For this reason, the Engraver tries to capture Diana, but Diana scares him off, by shooting on his equipment, but even these event cannot stop the Engraver in engaging more and more dangerous situations. Once the Engraver visits the tent of Diana, where he tries to capture her, but Diana realizing it and directly shooting at him, with the intention of killing him. In their relationship the question of being the hunter and being hunted is always shifting, always changing, in a way their relationship is going through a metamorphosis, just like during the alchemy processes with the Electroplater.
The culmination and the climax of their choreographed hunting dance-like movements is when Diana finally hunts down her prey, the wolf she got interested in the first day. The most bizarre sequence in the whole film was the scenes after the successful hunt. The prey is killed by the hand of Diana, but the Engraver who finds and skins the animal. Diana and the nymph begins a ritual, in which with the help of the nymph Diana symbolically destroys her weapon. The interpretation of this sequence is the most challenging part in the film. Why does she vomit in the rifle? Why does the nymph using the rifle as a dancing partner? Why does the rifle looks/feels like a phallic symbol for the virgin Diana? The fetishism of the hunting equipment is an overall concept in the movie (particular focus on Diana's weaponry, the detailed explanation on the engraving and electroplating techniques…), and in this sequence the rifle becomes the centre piece in the action. Why Diana vomit the strange liquid into the rifle? Is it for the reason to recall the Electroplater's alchemist practices? Does it have a different meaning? The connection with the Electroplater's action will become more clear, because after this strange liquid is inside the rifle, the rifle starts to change, the engraving on the rifle also changes in the same way as the plates are being prepared. This may mean, that the hunting is done, so the huntress will move on to a different weaponry, just as the Electroplater prepares a new and empty plate for the Engraver to use for his hunt? Does it mean that each weapon in her tent captured an animal and put it on display, and a new equipment was used in order to hunt a new prey?
Closing remarks
Matthey Barney's Redoubt depicts a mythological tale in the snowy mountains of Idaho, where the local political and ecological and indigenous history is intertwined with the director personal experience of the area. This personal experience mixed with a stunning cinematography gives the viewer a feeling of awe and excitement, along the feeling uncertainty. These feelings, with the amazingly executed choreographic movements and dance really is part of a metamorphosis, where the film and the characters reach a cosmological/mythological stance.
Photos by author and used the PRESS KIT material on the TOP website