23rd Psalm Branch: Part I

Anti-war anguish of this type has been eloquently expressed in literature, fine art, the occasional narrative film, even comic books. But from what I've seen the medium of found-footage collage has given us nothing but dross on the subject and this is no exception.

There are some interesting images with stories to tell, but I'd rather see films about those images than this frantic collage. The editing is just too rapid fire for me to take in even the base repulsion and despair that I imagine Brakhage was going for.

A violent (but meticulously timed) collision of war footage, death, hand-painted sections, flashing lights, and other odds n' ends. It's a dizzying and often fascinating sight, but the problem is there's too damn much of it. With this kind of visual overload, eventually the brain starts to treat it as background noise. The second part is the weaker of the two; it's got a lot of stuff in it that doesn't seem to fit. I'm sure Brakhage had his reasons for this, the first part feels more focused.