Commune is an extremely odd documentary to post immediately after The Century of the Self; or is it? This film's about people that chose to break away from the system, and with the horrid last few weeks that I've had, a naked hippie chick in need of a bath cavorting about in the Siskyou forest with goats doesn't seem like that bad of an idea right about now. Fuck the system. But first I need to run to Starbucks for coffee.
Commune is an extremely well made doc. Don't miss it.
From suite101.com:
Berman time travels in his documentary about the life of the Black Bear Ranch, a commune in Northern California. With many interviews of the former residents today (2005), Berman then goes back to the commune using archival footage to give the viewer an idea of what the younger residents were doing on the ranch. While there was nudity in the summer sun, there was also brutally cold winters in the mountains where the ranch was located. The ranch was purchased for $22,000 in 1968; it was 80 acres surrounded by a million acres of National Forest. For one of the residents wanted by the FBI, this was really getting out of town.
Black Bear Ranch Touted "Free Land for Free People"Originally envisioned as home for a dozen people, the ranch soon had over 40 residents. As the first winter approached, it became obvious that the young people would need to develop a way to survive the cold or they would all perish. With six feet of snow on the ground, it was no time to contemplate anyone's navel. Somehow they did survive, and many stayed involved with the commune their entire lives. There was a spirit of communality and developing individual romances or alliances was strictly frowned upon. In 1987, a ceremony transpired to keep the land held as communal property in perpetuity -- it would never become condominiums, or a miniature golf course but would be maintained for other free-spirited individuals who were willing to brave the frigid winters and to challenge normative behaviors in lifestyle.
The result of the experiment in living is still being revealed. Many of the children of former residents still visit the land and some still live on the ranch. The former communalists are now actors, authors, advocates, artists, lawyers, acupuncturist, a biochemist, an editor, and a couple are farmers. They grew up and developed individual lives. For some it meant becoming a nuclear family; for others it meant ongoing social justice work. There is a pathos about the film, as if something rather sad was discovered while searching for utopia.
Perhaps it is the sadness, only partially veiled, of a young woman who was given to a cult and sent to India for awhile; perhaps it is the overt disturbance of another young resident who has rebelled by being mainstream. Maybe it is the reality that even these flower children became old people. Or, perhaps it is just that the dreams of our youth must be tossed aside in order to support our families and try to survive in life; in the end, we grow up and find that the social order, for all its many deficiencies, was developed for a reason. It is important that Berman was able to make this movie, to record a unique part of the history of the twentieth century. And the film does capture the spirit of the era as well as the honest shortcomings it had and the legacy it left behind in human lives.
Technical Information:
Title: Commune
Year: 2005
Country: USA
Director: Jonathan Berman
Source: Retail DVD5
DVD Format: NTSC
Container: .iso + mds
Size: 3.93 Gb
Length: 1:17:57
Programs used: ImgBurn
Resolution: 720x480
Aspect Ratio: 16:9 letter-boxed
Video: MPEG2 @ ~5800 kb/s
Frame Rate: 29.97 fps
Audio: English- Dolby AC3 @ 224 kb/s
Subtitles: None
Menu: Yes
Video: Untouched
DVD Extras:
- Extended Interview w/ Peter Coyote
- Uncensored: The Bare Trith of Communal Living
- Biographies
- Original Theatrical trailer
- Trailer Gallery
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