The Show of Shows

"The Show of Shows" features stirring scenes of circuses past paired with melancholy music of musicians present.

What made this documentary jump out for me is my own cultural connection to the subject matter. While I can't say I was ever the biggest circus fan, and I haven't been to one in decades, they do make up a social fabric in my area. The Ringling Brothers were based near here, and there is still a circus museum. For better or worse, many people in the region have the big top in their blood.

The film is directed Benedikt Erlingsson, who is primarily an Icelandic actor. In this case, "directed" is used loosely, and edited might be more appropriate. There are no actors, no narration or anything that you might find in most films. What we have is really more of a long music video than a documentary, with various clips of circus performers set to music. (I do not mean to diminish Erlingsson's work. The sheer amount of time it took to collect and arrange this footage must have been staggering.)

This music video approach works best in an early segment that features a variety of people dancing. While not typically something you might associate with side shows, there seems to be no shortage of dance routines that blend in seamlessly with the music. In other areas the music does not match up as directly, but adds a dramatic backdrop for such scenes as a woman (perhaps the mother?) throwing knives at a little girl. Unlike magic acts, these knives look very, very real.

There are many reasons that circuses have fallen out of favor, but the biggest is no doubt an increased concern about animal cruelty. And certain clips here could be construed as such, with trainers using whips for tigers and polar bears, for example. Cruelty lies in the eye of the beholder, as you could probably just as easily argue that the circus performers love their animals as much as anyone. And it is interesting how quick people cringe at a tiger act but have no qualms about the child endangerment. (By no means do I wish to condone animal cruelty, but a documentary should not be blamed for the actions of its subjects.)

"Show of Shows", which premiered at the 2016 Fantasia Film Festival, is an interesting film. Because it is really more of an art piece and less of a narrative, it would be hard to critique it as a film. This is more the sort of thing that could be playing in the background at a party or something, as (again) it really is more of a music video or moving painting.

"The Show of Shows" is a documentary about circuses; it is short (77 minutes), non-linear (jumping around in time from the earliest films of circus acts to about the mid-1960s) and not narrated - instead, a score was created by members of Sigur Ros to create the mood for each section of the film. It's divided into categories - dancers, tightrope walkers, clowns, acrobats and so on - and probably gives more or less equal time to each, but it felt that half the film contained images of animal acts, and that was, for me, its downfall. Until relatively recently, nobody regulated the treatment of the animals, and you could see, very easily, how very stressed and unhappy and in some cases tortured these animals were; it was truly painful to look at. I can't recommend it for that reason, even though some of the old footage is fascinating. Definitely not for most.

I grew up in the 1950´s, about 150 meters from the place where all circuses to our little town in Sweden, had their venues. I was there to watch their shows many times. I have always loved circuses and find this film fantastic! I love to see all these artists and their astonishing performances. Just to see the spectators joy and surprise make me nostalgic. With the great and unique music from Sigur Rós, this film is a great experience!

To see this as just a music video, as someone referred to it, would be shortsighted.

A lot of scenes from this movie show how popular culture consumes the absurdity and stupidity in a form of show. Refer to the name of this movie: "The Show of Shows". The calm and refreshing records of nowadays musicians mixed along these ridiculous videos of the past create a contrast. It makes this movie an outstanding experience.

My guess is that the Icelandic director intended to touch topics like social problems, child abuse of various forms and animal cruelty. Sure thing he managed to do it effectively.