Brink of Reality: New Canadian Documentary Film and Video

David Kimmel is a Ph.D. candidate in history at York University.

The author attempts many things in this book. With a provocative thesis,
he offers his own definition of the past decade’s “new
documentary” style; he locates the Canadian species of documentarian
within the international context; he explains to nonexperts the minutiae
of the Canadian film and video enterprise; and in the dozen interviews
that form the core of this volume, he lets the film- and videomakers
speak for themselves. Steven’s multifaceted approach, however, results
in a book that merely scratches the surface of a stimulating hypothesis.

His premise is that since the early 1980s a new generation of Canadian
film- and videomakers has rejuvenated the documentary genre. Through
innovations in form and technique (e.g., the use of video technology),
this generation has changed the “look” of Canadian cinema. The
result is a body of work that the public should find more engaging and
easily accessible.

More significantly, the new documentaries reveal their creators’
strong commitment to various social causes. Frequently, film- and
videomakers are also political activists who use their media to raise
the public’s consciousness of such realities as AIDS, sexual abuse,
environmental destruction, and injustices against aboriginal peoples.
John Grierson, a titan in Canadian film history, defined documentary as
the “creative treatment of actuality.” In a sense, today’s
documentarians have simply employed new techniques to explore new
realities. Steven rightly questions Grierson’s generalization, but
Canadians do remain within this paradigm. Where the new generation
deviates, however, is in its generally anti–status quo agenda.

The interviews with such important creators as Alanis Obomsawin, John
Greyson, and Maurice Bulbulian are both a strength and weakness of this
book. Steven’s line of questioning is often superficial and
incongruous. He avoids leading questions, but the result is commentary
that does not adequately elucidate the essential creativity of these
film- and videomakers. Still, the interviews are an inviting entrée to
the creators’ work. If the main purpose of Brink of Reality is to
introduce Canadians to the “new” generation, it succeeds; but the
author might have made his intentions clearer.