FLAK
A film by Ron Mann
Year of production: 1976/
2009
Running Time: 30 Minutes
Language: English
Country: Canada
B&W, Mono, 3:4 Original Aspect Ratio
"It cannot be doubted that we live in
a complacent time..."
So says the introduction to this recently re-released
work of angry, political drama, which Ron Mann made
when he was just 16 years old.
In 1970s Toronto, a group of
young men living in the shadows of a gypsum plant
discuss the political options availble to average
citizens in a post-1960s world. To combat the
befouling of their air, some advocate for "proper
channels," others for bombs. Through raw, 16mm
black-and-white footage of heated arguments,
distractions and daily routines, and with a mournful
soundtrack, Mann gives us a portrait of political
frustration from 30 years ago which looks eerily like
a cross-section of the same attitudes and issues that
fuel today's headlines.
BOUNUS SHORT: "Ron Mann's Lost Film"
