Protagonist (2007) User Reviews

Do yourself a favor!

[bruce_files_3 · 8/10 · 4 January 2008]

Oh I wish I had studied Greek Literature in the University or even tried a little harder on the "Ancient Greek" class during the last three years in high school. If not anything else I would be able to be more accurate and informative for the reader of this comment about "Protagonist".

Sure thing is, my limited knowledge from my school years helped me a lot in understanding the concept of this one-of-a-kind documentary and appreciate its multi-level structure. There are so many levels you can approach the movie, that it seems an impossible task for me to put them all in here.

The easiest approach for me, and I guess for any viewer, would/will be to put his/her self in the same examination the director did with the lives of the protagonists. Needless to say this not only will us understanding our "heroes" but moreover ourselves, our choices and hopefully what we really want and what we really should do to get to that place.

The past is most commonly accused along with some "bad influences" by those who find their life leading them somewhere they don't feel they are meant to be. Sadly its not common for people to accept that they can chance the way their past is working on their present or future. And here comes Protagonist, showing us the path, exactly as Ancient Greek Tragedy did, that will lead us to self awareness and finally to happiness....

No second thoughts since you came this far. This is a very useful, interesting and perfectly structured film, so do yourself a favor, thee who read this, and go watch it!

perceptive study of the human psyche

[Buddy-51 · 8/10 · 4 January 2010]

"The child is father to the man" is the underlying principle behind "Protagonist," an intriguing, psychologically profound documentary that explores what it means to be a "man" in the modern world. The movie focuses on four very different individuals who generously share the stories of their lives with us. As a diminutive child, Mark Salzman was so often the target of bullying and harassment that he trained himself to become a master in the martial arts. Mark Pierpont is a gay man who has spent much of his life trying to reconcile his strict religious beliefs with his homosexuality. Joe Loya was the victim of massive physical abuse at the hands of his father and turned to a life of crime as a result. And Hans-Joaquim Klein is an older German man, the son of an authoritarian police officer and a mother who spent time in a concentration camp, who, in response to the inhumanity and social injustice he saw in the world around him, became a well-known violent revolutionary during the radical heyday of the 1960s and '70s.

More than anything else, the movie shows how we are all ultimately the product of our environments and upbringings - even if all that means is that we spend our whole lives actively, and often futilely, fighting against that fact. Indeed, much as we may not like to admit it, our pasts define who we are as individuals and how we deal with the world around us. What unites these four men is their obsessive need to overcome what they like least about themselves - be it their physical or emotional weakness, their sexuality, their perceived wickedness - and to do so through a compulsive marshaling of the will and an intense application to a single activity (in their cases, martial arts, bank robbery, antigay proselytizing and violent extremism). Eventually, it is these activities that allow the men to feel that they have achieved at least some measure of "control" over their lives (however dubious that may be). In addition, this new-found acceptance from the people around them finally gives the men that sense of self-worth they were never able to achieve as children. Unfortunately, however, they soon learn that sublimation can take us only so far before our true natures begin to assert themselves or before we come to realize that the direction our life is headed in is clearly not the right one. And that, we come to realize, is what is meant by "maturity," a maturity reflected in the thoughtful and honest self-appraisal each of these men undergoes throughout the course of the film. And, by the end, all four have achieved a kind of peace-through-acceptance, a redemption and regeneration based on knowing who they are and finally coming to terms with the past that has clearly molded - but not defeated - them.

Director Jessica Yu has provided a generous helping of photos and film clips from the men's pasts to flesh out the interviews. And, in the film's most unusual artistic touch, she utilizes puppets to dramatize some of the events in the men's lives and to serve as a literal Greek-chorus providing running commentary on the subject.

Unique in form and universal in content, "Protagonist" is an amazingly insightful and thought-provoking look into the complex entity that is the human psyche.

Point of view

[bernie-146 · 8/10 · 23 January 2007]

I saw the movie at the sundance film fest.I must say I missed a small part of the beginning but was still able to get the idea and form an opinion.I felt the balance and nature of the feelings the 4 people lived through.I think we all have been faced with things we consider pivotal moments in our lives this film addresses the extreme moments of 4 men who were faced with life altering decisions in some peoples eyes the decisions were wrong but I think the point was wright or wrong we need to look at the whole situation to be a victim or deal with the issue it all depends on the persons will and how guilt can motivate you to sink or swim.

Character, Catharsis, Reflection and... puppets?

[tmp00 · 10/10 · 23 February 2007]

Jessica Yu brilliantly juxtaposes the works of Euripedes with the saga of four men who relate to us their journeys through various degrees of obsession. Although the four could not be more different (an ex-terrorist, and ex-"Ex-Gay", an ex-bank robber and a former martial-arts fanatic) there is a common thread in their stories. Yu was fortunate to find four men that are not only articulate enough to tell their stories well, but men whose sagas are truly riveting. Her use of the puppets acting out not only the classic scenes from Euripides plays, but actual portions of the mens lives is inspired: scenes that could have been either maudlin of far too much for the viewer have both a dark beauty and an edge of horror that's fascinating. This is not only a brilliant film, but an important one: in these times where we are asked to think only in black and white, it's important to see that where human beings are concerned, there are only shades of grey.

Like Nothing You Have Seen Before

[TheRationalist · 9/10 · 10 July 2008]

I had a strange introduction to this movie. I added it to my queue on Netflix, and they marked it as available for instant play, meaning that I could just click on the button and view the movie on my monitor rather than receive the DVD by mail. The Netflix jacket blurb said something about the lives of four disparate characters finding common paths, and I assumed I was going to see a movie like Crash or 21 Grams, in which fate crosses the threads of the characters' lives. But what came up was a series of people talking, or family album-like photos, mixed in with some scenes of weird push-puppets. The audio failed so I had no idea what what was going on. I sent a message to Netflix that the link from instant play to the movie Protagonist was screwed up, and ordered the DVD to be shipped. I was amazed to find that what I had seen on instant play was in fact Protagonist. I've taken this space to explain all this so you will understand me when I say this is not like any other "movie" you have ever seen.

Protagonist is certainly one of the most creative productions ever. The producer manages to tie together themes from Euripides, push puppetry, and the drastic human experience, the story arcs, of four greatly disparate living men.

If you have seen TV pieces on great events like D-day or the Holocaust, in which the camera cuts back and forth between a group of narrators, this movie has a lot in common with those. The difference is that in those productions the forces that drive the characters to extremes are external to the characters, where in Protagonist the forces that drive the characters are all internal...their struggles are with their own minds.

The addition of the puppetry was a stroke of genius...the puppet scenes are masterfully creative and expressive, true art in a new form.

The synthesis of the humans telling their stories with the puppets acting out the Euripidean themes, made Protagonist seem more like fiction than documentary.

Not for everyone, but if you are bold in wanting to see something different and more creative than garden-variety fiction movies, try Protagonist. I loved it.

Very captivating....even if it is a bit flawed.

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 24 June 2012]

"Protagonist" is a difficult documentary to describe--it's just one you need to see for yourself. It's the life story of four very unusual men--men who grew up in neglectful and abusive households and the impact this had on them as they grew to adulthood. In each case, they gravitated to a philosophy that gave them much certainty in life--but also which denied them a sense of humanity. So, in other words, while they THOUGHT they had conquered their past, they were controlled by it even though they thought they had all the answers.

One man was German. His father was very abusive and loved the Nazis--even though his own wife had been sent to a concentration camp for being a Jew! He ran from his father's right-wing extremism towards the very, very far-left--to a terrorist cell operated by the infamous Carlos the Jackal! Only then did he realize that in many ways, he WAS his father.

One man was from a fundamentalist household. However, it was emotionally neglectful and cold. And, when he felt homosexual urges, he responded by going deeper into his religion--to deny who he was down deep.

One man was also from a Christian household. However, after the death of his mother, their 'good' father became a monster and abused them severely--until, fed up with the horrific violence, he struck back--first, against his father and later against society.

The final man was abused repeatedly growing up--but not by his family but by all the kids at school. He was repeatedly beaten and eventually got sick of it and gravitated towards martial arts. However, it was not a normal or sane martial arts, but an insane one that made the Klingons seem gentle and well-adjusted! He was on the edge and one step away from killing himself in order to prove something...but what?! All these stories have things in common. They all were men who thought they had found the answer--a way of overcoming and transcending themselves. This was much like the Neitzchian ideal of the 'super man'--someone who no longer ascribes to conventional morality--but all eventually found all this was actually in vain. All this was VERY interesting and really pulled me into their stories. However, despite being very, very intrigued by their stories, the filmmaker, Jessica Yu, lost my complete love of this film. This is because she was trying to make a statement about the ancient Greeks and the plays of Euripides and the like. Fine. But what bothered me was the continual interruption of these great stories with weird puppet shows with Greek characters. It seemed nonsensical in light of the seriousness of what I was otherwise seeing and deflated the overall impact of the film. An interesting idea that seemed, to me, to miss the mark. Still, despite this, it's a fascinating set of stories and I'd like to see more...without the puppets.

Of all the things the men said in the film, the one that sticks out for me the most is the ex-robber who said "I am very wary of people who are certain...". True, very true.

A wonderful documentary

[diederik-stolk · 9/10 · 4 January 2008]

Simply a wonderful documentary.

This film is a simple, humble, intelligent and beautifully crafted work of art. A must see for everyone who is interested in people stories about human transformation and growth of the individual.

The careful selection of the 4 interviewees (the protagonists), the use of Greek mythology and puppetry leaves the viewer astonished and amazed right up to the end. I can not stress that the film's brilliance is in its constructiveness and the narrative's simplicity.

A small sensible documentary that one could class along such other great documentaries as Être et Avoir, Capturing the Friedmans, Titicut Follies. Definitely,One of the great documentaries of the year!

It is unnecessary to say more, watch be amazed, moved and touched.

We Don't Care About Protagonists Because They're Heroes But Because We Follow Their Mental State.

[jzappa · 9/10 · 21 November 2009]

It is about various completely separate men battling hero worship to become their own heroes in their own lives, since no one else seemed to them to want the position. Some of them worship God and Jesus. Some of them worship Cane on Kung Fu. Some of them worship their father. And they all have to somehow fight betrayal and cruelty and find the strength to be completely and purely honest with themselves. Apparently, this parallels Euripidean dramatic structure, as many actions narrated by the film's subjects are recounted by expressive wooden puppets on a puppet-sized Greek stage, and these men's stories do not necessarily display clear-cut origins to motivate things, episodes of the plot are spaced out and the activity displaced, though working as crucial aspects. The nature of what these men experience and become lies beyond the clarification of science and leans toward the chance turns of the cosmos and civilization alike, the inexplicable compulsions which continue to function regardless of common insight and the impartial alignment of rationality.

The notion of a protagonist here is not one of a hero who takes it upon himself to, as he always has and will, save the day. It is of a more personally inspirational nature than that. All these subjects were victims at some point. Whether they become any sort of savior or hero in society or not is no matter because they become that for themselves. Actually, society is in every case the antagonist by some degree of separation.

I do not know how Jessica Yu, the writer-director of this purely original and very creative documentary, found her subjects, whether or not she had already known something of their lives enough to see that they applied to her theme, if she knew some of them beforehand, if she conducted interviews with various prospects before finding those who applied the best and thus narrowed it down to them or what. It is the approach behind the subjects of any documentary, but the central theme here is purely cerebral, nothing you can put out an add for or scout a certain region for. It requires an extra amount of shrewdness and insight. Yu's emotionally cued interspersions of puppets on a stage, as well as all other visual parallels, depend on the circumstances of each of them. Errol Morris would be proud of her achievement.

What it becomes for us---as we become enthralled with each episode, are then taken out of it all for a second when the film shifts to another of the "protagonists," and then get enthralled all over again---is a meditation on the idea of a story's central character. It takes us awhile to put together all the pieces of a given one of them, and once that happens, we don't have to like what we see. So why do we continue to look? Because we hope for a change, whether for them or their situation. It is not their responsibility to make sure we like them, but to be honest with themselves about who they are and what they want, so that we can fully understand why we like them, or why we don't. Personally, I found something endearing about each of the four men. It's not a matter of how well a protagonist meets our standards; it's a matter of exercising our ability to accept.

Like Errol Morris merged with Davey and Goliath puppets

[mrtnn · 4/10 · 7 September 2008]

I was a big fan of Jessica Yu's previous film, "In The Realms Of The Unreal" about outsider artist Henry Darger. There she used animations of Darger's creepy outsider art drawings to great narrative effect.

Challenging herself to do the same with this film, she's incorporated four moderately interesting (and i do mean moderately) stories of four disparate men and tried to merge them into a 90 minute Greek tragedy with cheesy puppetry and Greek inspired title sequences: "CATHARSIS", "CERTAINTY", "CHARACTER", "COST", "DOUBT"....etc. I would've settled for just one "PRETENTIOUS". The puppets at times had me laughing out loud (Watch for the bank robbery sequence with the quivering shaking teller puppet. It belongs in Team America, World Police.

I much prefer the work of Errol Morris, whom I think Ms. Yu lifts heavily from.

Do yourself a favor, and rent a great film like "The Thin Blue Line" or "Gates Of Heaven" or "Standard Operating Procedure". This will seem pretty thin after those.

Boring as Paint Drying on Your Ceiling

[Mustang92 · 1/10 · 2 March 2012]

I'm sorry, looks like I'll be the lone wolf here, who didn't like this film. Here are the problems with it:

1) It's boring. Plain boring. Most of the entire film is talking heads. 4 talking heads. Yes, there is home footage of the martial arts guy doing some stuff when he was younger, there's footage of the former preacher before his life change, there's still photos of banks the bank robber ripped off, there's footage of the terrorist's "previous life." This latter footage was about the only semi-interesting footage in the entire film. But mostly, it's the 4 people, sitting in a chair, talking.

2) Most of the 4 people profiled come off boring. Seriously. I listened to the interview with the director afterward, as she talked about how they chose their 4 subjects. They collected profiles, spoke to people to get referrals/ideas, and then she said -- I kid you not -- of all the profiles, they only actually interviewed 4 people -- and these were the 4 that ended up being in the film.

I mean, really? There were no better subjects out there, anywhere, that would fit what you were looking for?

The former martial arts guy's story was a yawn. The former gay guy-turned straight preacher-turned back to gay guy's story was a yawn. The terrorist's story was a yawn. (Oh dear God, how can anyone fail and make that a bore-fest?) The bank robber's story was only semi-boring. But here's the thing: I have NO doubt that in real life, these are all interesting people. This filmmaker just happened to turn everyone's story into boredomville.

3) The filmmaker makes use of puppets throughout the film, using them to re-create some of the dramatic points in the lives of the subjects. So we hear one of the 4 people talking (in voice-over) as we watch the puppets act out some scene. No, really. Newsflash: It doesn't work. It's lame. Has this ever been done before? Probably not, but it's lame and boring.

There is nothing redeeming about this documentary. Nothing at all.

Fince Concept, Flawed Selections

[FrkPaul · 5/10 · 26 July 2013]

I thought about making the title of this review "One of the ain't' like the other one". The subjects of the interviews in this film are a terrorist who turned some of his co-conspirators in, a bank robber that tried to kill his father, a repressed homosexual who made a living convincing other people that they too can be straight, and....a guy that took some Kung Fu Lessons. And his first teacher was a jerk. I'm serious. That's his story. He was a bit of a nerd, so he got into martial arts and he wound up studying with a really intense guy that was...less than dependable? Prone to errant behavior? That's about as dramatic as it gets with him.

I gave this movie a 5 out of 10 because 2 out of the 4 subjects were interesting. The other two were not. The Kung Fu student probably didn't give them much to work with. But the gay televangelist might have been compelling if his story were not so predictable. But it is.

She should have found two more subjects to make a better movie. The production values were good and the narrative conceit of Greek tragedy told through puppets had great potential. But the impact of the movie is blunted by the inevitable reaction of "Why was the kung fu guy included in this?"