Nails Into Myself

By Cliff Bellamy, *FULL FRAME 2010* - The Herald Sun - Durham, NC, USA
Friday, April 2, 2010

Durham, NC: When he was 6 years old, Rodrigo Dorfman was forced into exile from his native Chile.

His father, the writer (and now Duke University professor) Ariel Dorfman left the country after Gen. Augusto Pinochet took power in a 1973 coup that overthrew President Salvador Allende.

That history forms part of the backdrop for filmmaker Rodrigo Dorfman's first documentary feature, "Generation Exile," which will premiere at the 2010 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, which begins Thursday.

Dorfman calls his film "a poetic meditation on our search for identity in a world of pain and wonder."

The film documents the stories of several people who share some experience of exile, in addition to Dorfman's story. Dorfman documents the experiences of a Taiwanese piano teacher haunted by her father's mistreatment at the hands of the Red Army, a young woman on a spiritual pilgrimage to Turkey, a Latina artist mourning the loss of a spiritual community in the United States, and a young American woman coping with abuse.

For Dorfman, the journey this film documents began in 1999, when he heard a song in a dream. He later learned that this melody belonged to the Gnawa, a group of musicians and mystics in Morocco.

Dorfman took his camera and went in search of the Gnawa, and began a personal exploration of Sufi, the mystical form of Islam.

Footage taken in Morocco, along with footage about an attempt to form a Sufi community in America, were incorporated in "Generation Exile.

"The decision to tell several stories, and not name the participants, were both artistic ones, Dorfman said in a phone interview. Telling his personal story exclusively "would not have conveyed the full breadth of my experience," he said.

"You can't tell one story without telling other people's stories. ... Your story is bound by the story of other people.

"Thematically, "Generation Exile" "is about trying to break away from the socialized identity that is given to you" and "[finding] your true self in the present ...." By not naming the participants, viewers focus more on their words and deeds, and those themes become more universal, Dorfman said.

Dorfman referred to the film as "a kaleidoscope, a dreamscape." To create that effect, in addition to interviews, Dorfman uses mood music, and impressionistic shots. While the film is not strictly political, Dorfman does document his own exile experience in relation to Pinochet and the Chilean coup's effect on his family.

Throughout the film, Dorfman includes an image of nails being driven through the dictator's picture.

On the day Pinochet died, Dorfman was in Chile, and filmed a demonstration in which opponents of the regime danced in the streets. On that day, Dorfman said he "could not rejoice" and felt that the crowd's rejoicing was inappropriate (although he understood their reasons). He felt that his being able to film that moment in history was a great gift. In the film, he addresses his young daughter Isabella, and tells her he does not want to transfer that anger to her.

"I was driving those nails into myself, I was poisoning my own well," Dorfman said. He wanted to "break the wheels of violence" and try to channel that pain "toward understanding."

He has not forgiven Pinochet, he said. "I don't think it's my place to forgive Pinochet," he said. "It's enough that I don't hate him."

"Generation Exile" will be screened at 4:40 p.m. Thursday in Cinema 4 at the Carolina Theatre during the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival.

See a segment of "Generation Exile" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdEP4HC8S48