Cavedigger

Today I made my annual pilgrimage to the local theater to see all the Oscar-nominated Documentary Shorts. My good friend came with me and force once we were in agreement as to which shorts were strongest and weakest--which is a little unusual. Of the five documentaries, we both liked "Cavedigger" the least. And, when I came home and looked at the IMDb sites for all these shorts, I was shocked to see such an incredibly high rating for "Cavedigger". After all, it was a very slight film and took neither the risks of the best of the shorts ("Karama Has No Walls" where one cameraman actually got shot documenting the Yemeni democracy movement) nor had a emotional impact of "Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Jack Hall". While not a terrible film, its subject matter just didn't seem to merit a film this long--as about 10 minutes would have probably sufficed.

The story is about a very strange man named 'Ra'. Ra is an odd-ball--and would probably admit that readily. He lives in the art Mecca of Taos, New Mexico and even there among these bohemians, he's a stand-out! He has an obsession that consumes his life--digging tunnels and rooms into the very, very soft sandstone. Now I must admit that his artistry in making these is pretty impressive, though he never really makes any money doing this and is quite happy despite this. That's really all there is to the story--mildly interesting but hardly in the same league as the other shorts that were nominated.