White Elephant
The New York Times film review
by Janet Maslin
June 12, 1985
Riding in a Mercedes and carrying a small, tidy architectural model, a British industrialist arrives in Ghana, where he hopes to orchestrate the building of a fully-automated plastic furniture factory. The project will pollute a holy lake and destroy the only local industry, but the industrialist regards these obstacles as small. However, he is not in the region long before he falls, quite literally, under its spell. And all of his assumptions about the superiority of his own way of life begin to crumble.
Werner Grusch's ''White Elephant,'' which opens today at the Film Forum 1 in New York, does not approach this potentially facile material in easy or familiar ways.
Mr. Grusch's film, beautifully photographed and poised delicately between documentary and drama, finds humor, pathos and mystery in the visitor's predicament.
Mr. Grusch, using a number of nonprofessional African actors and eliciting a wonderful performance from Peter Firth as the industrialist, weaves various glimpses of Ghanaian culture into a compelling panorama. And as the industrialist finds himself more and more fully immersed in the spiritual life of the place, Mr. Grusch ably conveys his sensations. ''I feel like a child who has opened a door to an exotic garden,'' Mr. Firth's character says, and the audience may have much the same feeling.
Among those seen in the film are a Catholic bishop (who will not assure the European that his skepticism about witchcraft and magic are justified), and an herbalist, who says, ''In many things you have to understand nature before you can live safely and confidently.'' The latter is the point Mr. Grusch articulates with particular clarity.
The Cast WHITE ELEPHANT, directed and produced by Werner Grusch; original story by Mr. Grusch; script by Mr. Grusch and Ashley Pharoah; director of photography, Tom D. Hurwitz; edited by Tomas Schwalm. Showing at Film Forum, 57 Watts Street. Running time: 99 minutes.
Riding in a Mercedes and carrying a small, tidy architectural model, a British industrialist arrives in Ghana, where he hopes to orchestrate the building of a fully-automated plastic furniture factory. The project will pollute a holy lake and destroy the only local industry, but the industrialist regards these obstacles as small. However, he is not in the region long before he falls, quite literally, under its spell. And all of his assumptions about the superiority of his own way of life begin to crumble.
Werner Grusch's ''White Elephant,'' which opens today at the Film Forum 1 in New York, does not approach this potentially facile material in easy or familiar ways.
Mr. Grusch's film, beautifully photographed and poised delicately between documentary and drama, finds humor, pathos and mystery in the visitor's predicament.
Mr. Grusch, using a number of nonprofessional African actors and eliciting a wonderful performance from Peter Firth as the industrialist, weaves various glimpses of Ghanaian culture into a compelling panorama. And as the industrialist finds himself more and more fully immersed in the spiritual life of the place, Mr. Grusch ably conveys his sensations. ''I feel like a child who has opened a door to an exotic garden,'' Mr. Firth's character says, and the audience may have much the same feeling.
Among those seen in the film are a Catholic bishop (who will not assure the European that his skepticism about witchcraft and magic are justified), and an herbalist, who says, ''In many things you have to understand nature before you can live safely and confidently.'' The latter is the point Mr. Grusch articulates with particular clarity.
The Cast WHITE ELEPHANT, directed and produced by Werner Grusch; original story by Mr. Grusch; script by Mr. Grusch and Ashley Pharoah; director of photography, Tom D. Hurwitz; edited by Tomas Schwalm. Showing at Film Forum, 57 Watts Street. Running time: 99 minutes.
