Marwencol: FILM REVIEW

I loved this film. I'm not ashamed to say it before I say why. It was thoroughly enjoyable.


The film was visually interesting, psychologically compelling, and socially significant. I was effortlessly drawn into caring for Mark Hogancamp as his created world was presented on screen.


The world which he created in 1/6 models which had characters within it that represented himself and his friends was set in a WWII town he named Marwencol after the three names of significant women in his life. Mark created settings like a church, bar, and other establishments in which he created images that were startlingly real.


There were times that i suspended my knowledge that I was looking at dolls. It looked so very real. And the stories Mark crafted to cope with his personal story of recovery from a hate crime were entertaining, and often paralleled his interactions on the full-sized level. 


Mark seemed to thrive in the 1/6 world, but struggle in the real one. But I liked the images of him walking along the road into town delicately pulling the jeep with his character and varying numbers of friends and weaponry. The images of him in WWII garb while doing so set up a really interesting finale which I won't ruin here.


But let me say that I loved the moment when he finally put on his high heels at the gallery. It was a sign of how far he'd come since the brutal attack which stole his former life.


Admittedly, his former life wasn't anything to write home about, with a failed marriage and alcoholism as the main storylines. He did have what appears to be a fascination with women's shoes, and possibly did some cross-dressing -- a hidden world for himself which was quite different from the alpha-masculine 1/6 one he created for his own therapeutic needs since the attack. That contrast was interesting to me.


Still, there was something similar about his obsessive collecting of shoes and miniature things, and the fantasy which each represented. He had a passion for the details of both. At one moment he is very thorough in how he describes one little miniature handgun in particular, dismantling it and pointing out its features as if to bring the town of Marwencol that much closer to reality. The little gun had most all of the parts it needed to actually work. There's a metaphor there...


Mark was a Geppetto without the magic fairy to bring his creations to life. Even so, his miniature world came alive onscreen and in the stories he told in a tangible way for me.

I wish the best for him in his continued journey alongside that road to town. May he finally put to death the horror of the violence he faced, and meet that woman he loves in the 1/6 world in real life.


http://www.marwencol.com/

http://vimeo.com/user2786053