23rd Psalm Branch: Part I (1967) User Reviews

Stan Brakhage's war movie: it's worth seeing

[cervovolante · 7/10 · 6 October 2011]

During the first few minutes I was somewhat skeptical. Images of atrocities, of the slaughtered, flashed by and I involuntarily thought of a parallel sequence in Derek Jarman's WAR REQUIEM, where the soundtrack-- Benjamin Britten's eponymous work-- provided a wider dimension through its acoustic counterpoint. About 15 minutes in I was totally into Brakhage-- perforated film and fantastically edited images of Hitler and Mussolini set up a powerful purely visual rhythm that needed no sound!

IMDb separates the two parts and "coda" of this film, but I saw it projected as an entirety-- ca. 65 minutes. Early in the second part there was a visually flabby and unconvincing stretch labeled (by hand) as "Peter Kubelka's Vienna"-- a Vienna of the 1960's far drearier than that in which I live today. But Brakhage's images and rhythms picked up again, with motives from the first part recurring. The last of the several painting-and-scratching-on-film sequences was the most lyrical and impressive. A brief "coda"-- festival and fireworks-- was somewhat disorienting and thought-provoking in the sense that it made me want to see the whole film again, from the beginning.

It wasn't as coherent and intense an experience as DOG STAR MAN, but still very much worth seeing.

brakhage takes on war

[framptonhollis · 8/10 · 30 December 2016]

Many viewers seem to find Stan Brakhage to be a very boring filmmaker, and I respectfully disagree. I find Brakhage's style to be filled with elements of excitement, magic, and intensity-and these three elements are quite prominent in the first part of Brakhage's breathtaking and shocking take on the Vietnam War, "23rd Psalm Branch".

This film is an exploration of the worst of mankind. It is a startling, intense, and, at times, disturbing work of art that is filled with the same thrills as any "normal" war film. This is a colorful, powerful, and fascinating little movie that I would recommend highly for those that can handle Brakhage's style without dosing off.

Message lost in the medium

[Horst_In_Translation · 2/10 · 11 May 2016]

I read that "23rd Psalm Branch: Part I" is Stan Brakhage's statement on the Vietnam War and I personally think it is always nice to have filmmakers make films on current events just like he did at the late 1960s here. However, at this point basically everybody was already against the US involvement, so I cannot see his approach revolutionary in any way. And same goes for his work in terms of the cinematic approach. This one runs for over half an hour and was really boring in my opinion. With a topic like this, sound could have added so much, but Brakhage once again does entirely without it. The result is another extremely forgettable effort by the filmmaker. I give it a thumbs down and can't really understand why an equally long sequel was made. The message gets lost in the constant flickering.