Into the era of fake news comes “Propaganda: The Art Of Selling Lies,” the new documentary from director Larry Weinstein. A timely look at what activist Astra Taylor calls, “political brainwashing,” the film details the reasons why we are so often sucker punched by the use and abuse of the media.
Weinstein begins “Propaganda” with a fast cut montage of images—everything from Warhol’s Mao to scenes from “The Birth of a Nation” to images of Trump scrolling on a smart phone—intercut with expert voices like psychotherapist Adam Phillips who calls propaganda “a calculated attack on the complexity of other people’s minds.” The startling pictures display the power of images to create feelings and plant the seeds of idealogy. In short, as another commentator says, getting you to submit without realizing you are submitting.
From here Weinstein introduces a colourful cast of characters. New Yorker political cartoonist Barry Blitt chimes in on satirising Trump. “Every picture of him is a revelation. The sides of his face are interesting and the back of his head is fantastic. The colours, the textures. There is so much to draw there. It is too bad he is who he is.” 104-year-old Norman Lloyd discusses his friend Charlie Chaplin’s “The Great Dictator,” a stirring condemnation of Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, fascism, antisemitism and the Nazis. “He was creating propaganda because he felt intensely for the need for it.” Artists Shepard Fairey and Jim Fitzpatrick, who created the Obama Hope poster and the iconic Viva Che image respectively, speak to the power of visual art in creating a political movement and Monsignor Timothy Verdon, Canon of the Cathedral of Florence speaks to “seducing through all the senses.”
Most terrifying of all is Jean Seaton, an expert in all things Orwellian, who reveals how social media is exploited to influence the unsuspecting masses. “Although propaganda has always sought to hide itself,” she says, “its capacity to do so on social media is enhanced.”
It’s one thing to learn about Felix Dadaev, Stalin’s body double. It’s quite another to see how propaganda is part of everyday modern life. The inclusion of Seaton and others, including cultural historian Edward Jones-Imhotep, help bring the documentary into the present. “If we grow up only surrounded by propaganda. How do we know what is true?” Suddenly our twitter feeds feel more sinister.
“Propaganda” is a fascinating look at human nature that covers the past but feels current, not like a history lesson.
The sexy and seductive sound of the saxophone is as close to the cooing voice of a loved one is any instrument can be. Yet, for that very reason the instrument has had a long and storied past ripe with more intrigue than any James Patterson thriller. In the new documentary The Devil’s Horn director Larry Weinstein walks us through the sax’s wild, woolly and supposedly cursed history.
“It is one of these things where truth is stranger than fiction,” he says. “Certainly the life of [inventor] Adolphe Sax is terribly bizarre. From the near deaths he had as a child to the jealousy of instrument makers who actually tried to kill him, twice, and burn down his factory, it looks entirely fictionalized but everything we say about him is true. Then he got this cancerous growth that was so large he couldn’t eat or drink or breathe. By the time he was ready to come back to work his patents had run out. He died in total poverty.”
The idea of the cursed instrument seems to have originated with its inventor. “Adolphe Sax himself had this dream that devils with saxophones were pulling people to hell.”
The movie describes how sax icons Charlie ‘Bird’ Parker, John Coltrane and many other players of the “devil’s instrument” battled heroin addiction, creating sounds so carnal and voluptuous they were outlawed by everyone from the Nazis (who banned the sax from the Earth) to the Vatican. Movie studios barred it from soundtracks and it put the sex in sex, drugs and rock n’ roll.
“I always thought when they talked about it sounding like a human voice they meant the timbre of the saxophone. Like the human voice the sax has alto, tenor, soprano and bass, but I think it also has to do with the fact that it can bend and growl, that it can moan and weave around seductively. Also, you can play with so little air it can whisper but it can also scream and be much louder than most of the other brass instruments.”
Of course the horn and its players aren’t truly cursed but Weinstein says, “other instrumentalists have those problems and they exist in classical music too, but for some reason not to the extent that saxophonists have suffered.”
Using a mix of archival footage and new interviews with musicians like Colin Stetson and Giuseppi Logan, Weinstein gets past that catchy concept to make a compelling case for the sax as more than a symbol of depravity and immorality and Mr. Sax as “one of the greatest geniuses in the history of music.”
“The problem with the saxophone is you pick it up, blow into it and there is a beautiful rich sound right away. Adolphe Sax made it so people who can’t play well, sound good. That’s the genius of the guy. All other instruments evolved out of other instruments. This guy, in about 1840 said, ‘I want to make an instrument with this sound and I’m going to have to make it brass and give it the mouthpiece of a clarinet and the fingerboard of a flute.’ And he invented it. Most people if they looked at an 1846 saxophone they would think it looked like a modern saxophone and the sound is almost the same.”
Everybody loves the sound of the saxophone. Smooth and sexy, it is as close to the cooing voice of a loved one is any instrument can be. Yet, for that very reason the instrument has had a long and storied past complete with more intrigue than an Agatha Christie thriller. In “The Devil’s Horn” director Larry Weinstein walks us through the wild and woolly history of the saxophone.
The premise of the film is simple. The sax is a cursed instrument that dooms its players to lives of torment and despair.
Sounds outrageous doesn’t it? Consider the evidence.
The sax’s inventor Adolphe Sax dodged death at least seven times, barely escaped at least one known assassination attempt, went bankrupt three times fighting with his rivals, developed lip cancer and died penniless.
Sax icons Charlie ‘Bird’ Parker, John Coltrane and many other players of the devil’s instrument battled heroin addiction, creating sounds so carnal and voluptuous they were outlawed by everyone from the Nazis (who banned the sax from the Earth) to the Vatican. Movie studios barred it from soundtracks and it put the sex in sex, drugs and rock n’ roll.
Of course the instrument isn’t cursed. Once Weinstein gets past that catchy concept he makes a compelling case for the sax as more than a symbol of depravity and immorality. Using a mix of archival footage and new interviews with musicians like Colin Stetson, Jimmy Heath and Giuseppi Logan, he reveals not only the wild past of the instrument, but it’s importance in the future of music as well.
Richard will host two events at the Victoria Film Festival, February 6 and 7.
IN CONVERSATION WITH… LARRY WEINSTEIN
February 7 / 11 AM / The Vic Theatre
Welcome to the wonderfully inventive world of Larry Weinstein, a unique documentary filmmaker whose 25 films captured the lives of great composers, the former Ambassador to Iran Ken Taylor, and the mystery of Hana’s Suitcase.
Weinstein will look at the anatomy of a documentary from inception to completion while expanding on his thoughts by screening raw and completed footage of his recently completed project Devil’s Horn.
February 6 / 11 AM / The Vic Theatre
Semi Chellas discusses writing for film and television – and what credentials she has for that! Chellas was Co-Executive Producer and writer for Mad Men, running the room for the final two seasons.
Garnering six Emmy nominations she has shared the WGA award with Matthew Weiner for co-writing the episode The Other Woman. Chellas has written for indie features, kids movies, television movies and directed several award-winning short films. Chellas is currently working as an Executive Producer of Steve McQueen’s HBO miniseries Codes of Conduct.
