Marwencol

Marwencol is an excellent documentary which tells the story of Mark Hogancamp, who was assaulted by five men outside of a bar and left severely brain damaged after nine days in a coma. He had no memory of his former life.

As a form of therapy, Mark slowly builds a 1/6 scale Belgian World War II era town he names after real people; Mark, Wendy and Colleen. He uses dolls to represent himself and his friends and gives them story lines. He eventually photographs his work and after publication in a magazine, his work is discovered by a New York art gallery; this is a simply amazing story.

Mark has somehow survived against all odds and Marwencol will almost restore your faith in humanity.

As I've mentioned, when the Cleveland International Film Festival catalog comes out. I read all the summaries and mark the movies I want to see. Marwencol jumped out at me for a few reasons. I had a boyfriend in college who lived near Kingston, NY, where this takes place. It's about a man who recovers from a head injury by building a world of miniatures in his backyard, it becomes therapy. My husband and son are into gaming and miniatures. I thought it sounded very interesting.

Turns out the miniatures are more like dolls. And, the therapy was much more like fantasy and art. Mark Hogancamp was attacked in the parking lot of a bar by five guys he'd been drinking with. Head injuries forced him to learn to speak, write, walk and completely function, all over again. Before the accident, he was married, an alcoholic and a gifted artist. After the accident, he was a completely different person, because he had no memory of his previous life. Working with his figures, he's able to practice small motor function, develop his rich imagination and role play some of his anger and aggression. Because he couldn't draw anymore, he captured scenes on film, with his camera. Now, friends and admirers of his work are urging him to share his town, Marwencol, with the world, with a gallery showing, a book and this film. Mark Hogancamp is a sympathetic and interesting guy. Marwencol is definitely an interesting place. Just when you think, "Okay, I get it, but this is weird," it gets weirder! But then, the pieces start to fit together. Fascinating story, well told, amazing imagery. It's an unforgettable place. Marwencol gets a 10 out of 10.

Deeply moving documentary about a man, Mark Hogancamp, who suffered a vicious beating at the hands of some thugs who followed him home from a bar. He suffered some pretty horrible brain damage, losing most of his memories. To deal with the pain, Mark created a fantasy world, a small Belgian town in the midst of WWII, Marwencol, populated with dolls which represent people from his own life. The filmmaking is pretty standard doc stuff, but it's well done and the director handles the big reveals fantastically. Hogancamp is such a wonderfully interesting person - and the stories he tells about Marwencol are actually gripping themselves - that I was completely caught up in the movie. It's easily one of last year's best films.

Like IN THE REALMS OF THE UNREAL, this documentary explores an "outsider artist" who shares his life between reality and a fantasy world of his own construction. Mark Hogancamp's miniature WWII town of "Marwencol" is far less bizarre than Darger's creation, but serves as a reflection of his frustrations, desires, and imagination. It truly is "art as therapy". Director Jeff Malmberg takes a decidedly unflashy approach to the material, mostly just allowing Hogancamp and his associates to speak for themselves. This is really for the best, as Mark is an instantly likable person, not charming so much as open and relatable. The film's revelations are not presented as earth-shattering shockers, but simply facets of a complete person with his own quiet quirks and nagging demons. An understated but fascinating and often inspirational movie about the artist (who didn't know he was one) and the value of art.

thefilmsmith.com

Fictions play a foundational role in our society. We encounter many of these fictions as images that feel bigger than we are, juggernauts projected onto the world we inhabit: social constructions of monetary value or race, or images on television considered synonymous with reality. In Marwencol we see the process from the other end as we follow a man who chooses and controls his fictions, projecting his real-life traumas onto a 1/6 scale world as alternative therapy.

On April 8, 2000 Mark Hogancamp had his memories literally beaten out of his head by five guys outside a New York bar; the film follows his life in the aftermath of the attack. After being kicked out of the hospital (he can't afford to stay), Mark seeks out an artistic outlet to continue his therapy. The nerve damage from the attack makes his hands too shaky to continue drawing, so the local hobby shop turns him to miniatures. Mark quickly becomes absorbed in his new hobby and creates a whole town called Marwencol, populated by World War II figurines. Painting minute details helps steady his hands, and the scenarios he creates between the dolls exorcise vengeful thoughts and allay loneliness. When Mark's photographs of Marwencol catches the eye of an art publication, an upcoming gallery exhibition of these photos becomes his newest challenge.

Mark's confessions about himself and his uses of Marwencol make the film uncomfortably intimate, but with touches of disarming charm. You'll wince as he hugs a doll based on a girl he has a crush on, and be horrified at the violence his characters enact upon the SS soldiers who torture his personal wax avatar (a stand-in for the attack he experienced). Mark blithely confesses to enjoying the power of manipulation in Marwencol, but he's so childlike in his earnestness that it's hard to feel truly threatened. Contextualized by the physical and mental trauma of his attack (PTSD is quite evident), the film allows you to sympathize with Mark, not treat him like a sideshow freak.

Which is a strong credit to director Jeff Malmberg. For someone so shy, Mark opens up without reserve to the audience; this seems evidence of his trust in the filmmaker, who spent four years shooting the documentary. It's obvious that Malmberg didn't shoot the film on 35mm, as Marwencol doesn't display the visual slickness of major studio films, but the DVCam look fits with the film's personal narrative and allows Mark's quality photographs to truly pop.

And let us not forget about Mark's world. Marwencol is amazingly detailed, to the point that at times I didn't know if I was seeing a shot of a bar in real life or the one in Marwencol – "Hogancamp's Ruined Stocking Catfight Club " (don't worry, all the catfights are staged). Given Mark's attention to detail and his skills as a photographer, it's no wonder art galleries come calling. Though Mark verbally details dealing with the beating, it's through his images of Marwencol that we get a visual understanding of his loneliness and anger.

The film does seem to throw a curve ball in the last half hour to drag out its runtime, but the film is enthralling, if for nothing else the continuous discovery of Marwencol and its story lines. Despite Mark's position as a strange, but nice guy almost beaten to death in 2000, he's not a victim – and that might the film's greatest triumph.

Fascinating, captivating, funny, you've got to see this.

-Remington Smith PS This American Life (the TV show) did a segment a while back that featured Mark and Marwencol. Since Marwencol is in limited release, you can check out that episode of This American Life on Netflix instant streaming (Season 2, Episode 3, "Going Down in History").