"Ella" (marketed in the USA as "Ballerina") is a well made documentary about the rise of Australian dancer Ella Havelka. The camera gives us generous, graceful shots of dancing (both classical ballet & contemporary aboriginal Bengarra performances) as well as shots of home life interspersed with interviews with the key characters in her life. Ella herself mostly "narrates" the film in her own words as the camera shows us different scenes that compliment what's being said. My only criticism, as my title implies, is that it seems to leave the story unfinished. But we'll get to that at the end of this review.
What distinguishes this documentary from other performance artist biopics is the interesting bipolar cultural heritage of our star. She is of aboriginal descent, and yet from a young age she is drawn toward the rigid classical European style. We learn that her motivation to learn dance came from watching Swan Lake as a child and desperately wanting to be a swan. This is contrasted against her aboriginal blood which she begins to explore after her classical training. She leaves the ballet and joins the dance troupe Bengarra which embraces a much more grounded and tribal flair. As Ella discovers her family roots in the bush, will she be able to reconcile this side with her stringent classical training?
The documentary sets up this question/conflict wonderfully, and it even delves into her psychological side; at first she almost rejects her heritage, wanting to be recognized as a true ballet talent rather than the media hype of being the first aboriginal dancer in the ballet. But then she leaves ballet and slowly discovers her roots, and that's where the fun begins. But this leads to my only slight criticism. We never get to see the full payoff, the meeting of these 2 opposite halves. Yes, there is indeed a performance at the end which she apparently choreographed herself, blending all her training; however I feel like this performance was edited, cut short, and it didn't give us the chance to really see where all of this has led. I suppose there may have been time constraints, but I sure would love to see an "extended cut" showing the entire performance, or at least more than the 2-3 minutes we are given. Ultimately we're left with something of a question mark. Did Ella successfully bring these 2 opposites together? I honestly feel like there's a Part 2 coming where we find out. Note to filmmakers: get moving on this!
