Candid camera
The lens is mightier than the sword…
MEDIUM COOL 18
Film Extras 1969 OUT NOW DUAL FORMAT
taking the French New Wave and cinéma verité as his springboard, ace cinematographer Haskell Wexler ( Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?, In The Heat Of The Night) launched himself headlong into feature directing with a masterly, tantalising mix of fiction and grim reality.
A native-born Chicagoan, he’d sussed out well in advance that something was brewing in his home town – so by the time the Chicago riots broke out during the 1968 Democratic National Convention, Wexler and his crew were ready and waiting, equipment in hand. So much so, he was even accused in some quarters of inciting the disturbances.
The riots, most of the footage filmed for real, form the climax of Medium Cool – and compelling viewing they make, too. But leading up to that, we follow two fictional narrative strands that gradually converge. In one, a TV news cameraman (played by Robert Forster) pursues his career, always remaining detached from what he’s filming. In the other, a young Vietnam war widow from West Virginia (Verna Bloom) moves to the city with her young son. The boy has a passion for homing pigeons – which brings him, and then his mother, into contact with the cameraman.
Attracted to the widow, the man starts to feel emotional, and political, engagement. “The whole world is watching!” chant the Chicago demonstrators, as the police move in to quench the action with nightsticks and tear gas. Medium Cool captures that key confrontation – but also addresses what Wexler calls the crucial moment “when you have to put the camera down, when to stop observing and get involved”.
Philip Kemp
Extras › Booklet