O'er the Land

United States

2009

52 Min

Color

English

Currently 4.3/5 Stars.
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MUSIC Maryanne Amacher, Kevin Drumm, Steve Rowell, Rich Hammond

Synopsis

With the excuse of freedom, we lose so many things. — Silvio BarileO’er the Land is Deborah Stratman’s meditation on freedom and technological approaches to manifest destiny. She captures the marching-band battle cries of the country with a strong, controlled tone that proves its point but is extremely playful, too. Stratman documents the wild, wild worlds of gun shows—ones where you can fire machine guns in the forest and literally blow stuff up, reenactments of famous battles with historically accurate weapons and clothes (golf carts and Pepsi trucks in the wings), border disputes, and the organized frenzy of cheerleaders and motor homes. All are framed by the incredible experiences of Colonel William Rankin, who, in 1959, was forced to eject from his F8-U fighter jet at 48,000 feet without a pressure suit, only to get trapped for 45 minutes in the up-and-down drafts of a massive thunderstorm. Miraculously he survived.The scale of practicing war as a game is colossal and hard to grasp at times. Stratman captures the events she depicts with wonder rather than disdain. Her thoughtful framing of images and meticulous editing help us understand the absurdity in this dark path. —http://festival.sundance.org/2009/film_events/films/oer_the_land

Director

Deborah Stratman

Deborah Stratman is a Chicago-based artist and filmmaker interested in landscapes and systems. Her films, rather than telling stories, pose a series of problems – and through their at times ambiguous nature, allow for a complicated reading of the questions being asked. Many of her films point to the relationships between physical environments and the very human struggles for power, ownership, mastery and control that are played out on the land. Most recently, they have questioned elemental historical narratives about freedom, expansion, security, and the regulation of space. Stratman works in multiple mediums, including photography, sound, drawing and sculpture. She has exhibited internationally at venues including the Whitney Biennial, MoMA, the Pompidou, Hammer Museum and many international film festivals including Sundance, the Viennale, Ann Arbor and Rotterdam. She is the recipient of Fulbright and Guggenheim fellowships and she currently teaches at the University of Illinois at… read more