Ian Smith
Dr. Kyburz
English 1010
March 8, 2012
Christo’s Valley
Curtain
The Documentary
film Christo’s Valley Curtain (1974), by Albert
and David Maysles, is a film about a
man named Christo and his artistic pursuit. The film begins with Christo and a
woman, hanging a wide unfinished portrait of a mountain valley with an orange,
almost sail like curtain hanging between it. After looking at the portrait and
what appears to be critiquing it, Christo begins to work on his unfinished
piece. The film then pans to other pictures of Christos work and he explains
his passion and love. He explains that his love is not necessarily of working
in his studio, like one might assume, but for the actual construction and engineering
of the art. The next scene then shows Christo at a construction site with
people working. There are materials on
the ground and big machinery in the background lifting a man up with a cable at
his feet.
The camera switches from the
loud construction site to a quiet golf course. The players can see the mountain
valley where Christos creation is slowly being erected. The on lookers make a
few comments, some with doubt and others with awe. Specifically an elderly
female seemed amazed with the project, but speculated that Christo having a
great deal of education could perhaps achieve such a feat.
Looking
down from the edge of the gargantuan wall you see workers moving and working
trying to connect the rolled fabric mass on to the cable. The men keep running
into issues being so high up with so much material. The film then goes to the
base of the valley where Christo is speaking with a man. There is concern in
Christos voice as he expresses is worry about the wind blowing while the
construction workers are placing the Curtain.
Back
at the construction site they begin to remove the protective cover around the
massive rolled up orange fabric. Christo is passionately yelling at the men,
making sure they are not damaging the piece. The film then takes us back to
Christos work shop, where he is meticulously ironing a small piece of fabric to
a canvas. Working through every detail he begins to put the workshop piece
together, showing the passion he has for every piece of his art.
Switching back
between the construction site and the studio, you begin to see how the project
has progressed and some of the trials they are having along the way. Back at
the site arguments begin to flare between the artist and the crew, both have a
common goal simply a different method of reaching it.
The men begin to pull the
covering down from the massive work of art. Heaving they strain to remove the
cover, but there are some snags that they can’t fix from their location on the
ground. So an older construction leader decides he needed to take a closer look
in spite of the risk. He shimmies down the massive cable and down to the entangled
cover. The men on the ground pull the snag loose and the cover finally comes
off.
There is tension in the air as
they begin to release the wall of orange. The curtain begins to drop from the
corner. Like a wave it sweeps down across the valley unrolling the part
adjacent to it, until it stops mid wave by a snag in one of the lines. The men
attach a line to try to get the remanding curtain free. Christo is clearly distraught
by the set back and tries to encourage the men to pull. The curtain finally
loosens and continues its tidal wave across the massive mountain valley.
This is a rough draft so go easy on me. If you want to watch this documentary CLICK ME
This is a rough draft so go easy on me. If you want to watch this documentary CLICK ME
