Vernon, Florida

I am grateful to Werner Herzog for convincing Errol Morris to become a filmmaker. "Vernon, Florida" is an intriguing look at the inhabitants of a small town with a beautiful setting in the southern United States. Like most of his films, if not all, Morris remains completely aloof, and instead allows his subjects to speak for themselves. One can easily mock the old, toothless men and the man who just loves "gobblers" (turkeys) but that would be too easy. There is something poignant about the way the people of this small town attempt to express their feelings, as if in many cases, they do not have the vocabulary to articulate their ideas. However, underlying their simple way of life is something that touches humanity. They love their lives and live them day to day without a care in the world. A friend of mine said that these guys are actually a lot smarter than we think because they know something better than probably anyone else around, even if it is cultivating worms. I think perhaps they know a lot more than we think about what it is to be human; they are earnest and humble. I watched this film three times and after each viewing I came to have a deeper appreciation for every one of them. Errol Morris is perhaps the best documentary filmmaker around today and this film was a little treat. A must see for all.

I was fortunate when it came to viewing Vernon, Florida. It's a very small world in Hollywood and outside of that circle it seems you're lucky to know anybody. In documentary film-making I'd imagine that world shrinks even further with the film maker's and assistants spread out few and far between. While studying film production in West Palm, Florida I was lucky enough to have a teach who was a former student of Errol Morris. My opinion must have been in favor of thumbs up for Vernon - simply because our class was given more insight. An average viewer might shrug and scoff "Vernon" for being just an hour or so worth of candid interviews with crazy local yocals who have such a distorted view of reality their opinions just seem ludicrous. With a small introduction by Morris himself and highlights of Vernon by our teacher Mike -- the experience was more nostalgic, like watching embarrassing home movies of people you know. There's more behind "Vernon" then I think people realize, And much more explicitness to the likings of Snake the turkey hunter and others. The real crime here is that almost no one will ever know about it. The subtext sort of hangs in limbo because there's no narration and only so much we can learn about these people that they're not willing to reveal on their own. Still, this is the early work of a master docu film maker. It's the earliest example of how Morris' favorite angle for the depiction of society is through the wormhole everyone seems to hide the dark side. Something he explained with almost shocking tenacity in Mr. Death - perhaps his best work. Vernon, Florida is a freakfest, a splash of cold water that reality doesn't look the way you think it does. It's flat and unblinkingly straightforward and best of all... like it's characters, it doesn't seem to care in making much of a point, which ironically is the point itself.

Wow, I viewed this film for the first time last night and I felt like I was sitting in my favorite local bar. Watching it, I could almost smell the mosquito spray that was shown in the opening scene and taste that invasive red dirt. I think I even saw ol' Uncle Pete somewhere in the background.

Vernon, Florida consists entirely of the stories and opinions of the residents of a sleepy little southern town, without narration or comments from the filmmakers. Many of the residents are eccentric, and some, perhaps, are a bit nervous to be in front of the camera. But the filmmakers wisely chose to allow the residents to say whatever they felt was important, so that the end result, though sometimes comical, is actually quite respectful and dignified. The editing is fabulous-- no abrupt starts or stops, nothing boring, and nothing that appears to be taken out of context.

Vernon, Florida is hard to find, so if you see a copy, by all means check it out.

This is the way documentaries should be made!

This documentary of a Smalltown, USA in rural Florida is a one-of-a-kind true comedy. Morris' choosing of the particular characters recorded and the events chronicled are genius. A quirky preacher who shares with us and his congregation his logic on semantics; a hunter who "specializes" in turkey gobblers; and an elderly man who likes to catch and keep wild critters all add to the deliciously funny charm of this documentary of rural life. His style of letting the characters speak for themselves is truly a work of art in this film. Watching "Vernon, Florida" is the equivalent of reading the "Foxfire" journals with a similar dose of the arcane knowledge that only rural, American, small-town residents possess. Definitely worth watching more than once.