I do not want to comment on other people's comments, but the thin line between documentary and fictional filmmaker has always been tenuous, and today everyone knows that even Flaherty staged and arranged many filmed events in his legendary "Nanook of the North" (1922). And why should a filmmaker with an artistic sensibility not transform any real events into "faction", as we saw lately with Ari Folmans excellent animated documentation "Waltz with Bashir" (2008)? This film is - against common belief - NOT a documentary. It is one of many early Greenaway films, where he played with the documentary form. There are other films like "Vertical Features Remake" (1978), "Dear Phone" (1977) and long "The Falls" (1980). In these films the content is so absurd (like the "Violent Unknown Event" in "The Falls"), that the recipient will get the joke pretty soon. This is different with this film, since there are no hints if the people interviewed really experienced lightning strokes or are just acting. So the question of dealing with people (cutting in mid-sentence etc.) is just part of the process Greenaway wants to get you in: This is simply not to inform, but to dis-inform to show the limitations and possibilities of manipulation that lie within the documentary form. And - as you can see with many user comments - he is quite successful with this film, since people always infer from the form to the content (even if they have seen "Man Bites Dog", 1992)! So this film is probably among the most successful mockumentaries since there is no context to dissolve the mystery (only now, if you read my comment, but probably you have seen this rarely shown film then already). The techniques of playing with form and further blurring the line between fiction and fact can be studied in a very detailed and playful way with "Act of God". Since I made a seminar on mockumentaries, I showed this film first and asked the students to write a comment on it. The outcome was - even with the title of the seminar in the back of their heads - quite astonishing. So get hang of the title and make your own opinion of one of mockumentaries best.
Review of Act of God
