As the Democratic Party and its supporters lick their wounds from a decisive defeat in the recent elections, a film ('An American Pastoral') provides a snapshot into the chasm that exists between the left and right in U.S. society.
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| Aubari Edler |
The film captures the election of a local school board in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania in a non-partisan view by French journalist and filmmaker Auberi Edler. There is no narration or commentary on the ideological split between leftist Democrats and rightist Republicans.
The movie calmly 'watches' the on-going battle between the two opposing sides and lets the viewer decide which to place their support.
To non-American audiences, school board elections, with voting even by residents without children, seems contrary to normal thinking. But Edler easily makes the micro-issue in this small community a metaphor for the larger social battleground the U.S. finds itself in.
Edler, selected the title to reflect ruralism and the Christian undercurrent that runs throughout the right-leaning thought it is built upon.
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| Edler in Tikrit, Iraq war zone, 2003 |
'An American Pastoral' is an uncovering exercise. Acting as her own camerawoman, Edler avoids interviews and editorials and even omits identification of key figures and locations in the film. She lets the viewer decide and find their own path to the ambiguities it presents. She sits on the sidelines and doesn't participate and that's what makes 'An American Pastoral' a great film. If you get the chance to view it, do so.
Edler's other works include American Laundry (2022), Etoiles de la SCAM (2020), Clean Torture (2019), and Le Blues de la Nouvelle-Orle'ans (2010).
By: Jim Lavorato
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