Customer Reviews

Protagonist

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The four protagonists are:

* a martial arts student (Mark Salzman)
* a German terrorist (Hans Klein)
* an ex-gay evangelist (Mark Pierpont)
* a bank robber (Joe Loya)

The premise for this documentary is to attempt to make connections between Euripidean tragedy & modern life. Whether the documentarian achieves this goal is debatable; nevertheless, the four subjects chosen for study have fascinating stories to tell.

Why Euripides? Euripides was known for his strong female characters (Medea), his intelligent slaves, and his willingness to mock the conventional heroes & hero worship of ancient & classical Greece. Euripides also strikes many modern scholars as being the most modern of all of the Greek tragedians as he was the one most concerned with the inner life & what truly motivates each man or woman's actions.

I think the film is extremely strong, but would have been stronger had there been at least one female protagonist in the mix. In one of the bonus features on this DVD director Jessica Yu (whose In the Realms of the Unreal, 2004, is also a terrific documentary) discusses how she chose her four subjects. The intention was not to choose four men, however, four men were indeed chosen out of 200 candidates because they each had strong narrative arcs & strong narrative voices. Also according to Yu, these four men were chosen because each had a moment in their lives when they "crashed" while the women candidates that pursued equally obsessive life courses did not crash but "crumbled". This difference strikes me as possibly the most fascinating observation in this documentary and had Yu chosen at least one female protagonist this difference could have been explored. Since Euripides was so sensitive to female psychology this would have been appropriate.

Still, the four narratives that Yu so artfully weaves together are each each extremely compelling. I found German terrorist Hans Klein (who fought next to Carlos the Jackal on a number of occasions, including the 1975 kidnapping of twelve OPEC ministers) to be the most fascinating, and Salzman to be the least interesting (though most humorous), but each narrative complements the others so well that one doesn't want any individual piece of this elaborate psychological puzzle to be removed. The high drama of Klein's terrorist lifestyle would not strike one in the same way were it not juxtaposed with Salzman's manic retelling of his Kung Fu master's psychotic hijinks. There is also just the right balance of personal and political issues as well as an aknowledgement of the link between the two.

That these four men's lives could be linked narratively amazes and sheds much light on the seemingly singular courses our lives take. The Euripides connection is not forced, just suggested really, it lingers in the background virtually forgotten until its time for a new classical Greece-inspired animated graphic (like the one on the DVD cover) to provide us with a new chapter heading. The other thing that provides the "glue" between the four protagonists and Euripidean drama are the puppets. In the bonus feature, Yu explains her rationale for using puppets and the fact that the idea first came to her when researching how the Greek tragedians used large masks onstage. Her explanation is interesting, but more than anything the little Euripidean puppet vignettes show better than anyone can rationally explain the constancy of human nature throughout time. This, as well as an invitation to be more understanding & compassionate about our fellows' narratives, is the main point of this memorable film.

In "Protagonist", director 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.

The Protagonist is a documentary film written and directed by Jessica Yu (In the Realms of the Unreal, Ping Pong Playa). Yu is a director who I would strongly recommend overall for her documentaries. It is unfortunate that she has focused much of her creativity on mainstream television these days.

The word protagonist is a term derived from a Greek word meaning the chief or lead character of a tragedy. So it would seem appropriate that Yu parallel her subjects with a tragedy by Euripides. Her subjects are four very different men; one is an "ex-gay" evangelist, one is a bank robber, another is a German terrorist, and finally we have an intense martial artist. All are connected by having a history of great personal struggle and then find themselves turning to a new kind of personal meaning within extremism. The film covers each individual's personal journey and mirrors their common stages with puppets acting out scenes from The Bacchae.

This film unexpectedly put me in a trance and I was utterly consumed. I haven't experienced many of the feelings that drove the four subjects to transform themselves so dramatically, so I can't say I empathize, but I saw people that I would normal judge far too quickly as more than the simple labels I gave them in my brief film summary above. This does not make them any less accountable for their actions (more specifically, the bank robber and the terrorist), it is just always an eye-opening thing to see such figures as human beings. If I were to say that is the only profound observation within The Protagonist, then I would be selling the film short. There are many layers of commentary here, and I'm sure what one person will get out of the protagonist will be a very individual experience and different entirely from another person's perspective. It can be quite a challenge to effectively review a great film like that, but it can also be very easy to recommend.

I'll admit I was a little skeptical about watching a documentary about
Euripides featuring puppets, but after some initial skepticism, I was won
over by the stories of the four men. To some, the puppets may be jarring
(this might be the only movie I've ever seen featuring puppet violence),
but they do play an integral role in tying together four very different,
but similar stories.

The four protagonists- Mark Salzman, a martial arts enthusiast yearning
for dignity, Mark Pierpont, a Christian evangelist struggling with his
homosexuality, Hans-Joachim Klein, a left-wing German terrorist, and Joe
Loya, a serial bank robber- each have a fascinating story to tell, and Yu
interweaves their narratives with quotes from Euripides' The Bacchae in a
way that provides a cohesive structure to the movie.

What struck me about the stories is how much these men grow up in the
shadow of their families, in particular their fathers. The expectations
and demands of masculinity haunt and shape their lives in a way that
inevitably leads to agony for them and those around them, and this is
where I think their tales most closely mirror Greek tragedy. Inevitably,
each man experiences a painful 'catharsis' that dramatically reshapes
their lives.

What I find truly unique about this documentary is its focus on the
masculine experience, how our parents and our backgrounds can set our
lives in seemingly irreversible directions, and how the sometimes crushing demands of manhood can overwhelm any other motivation. Intending to do a documentary on Euripides, Jessica Yu reminds us that Greek tragedy, too often relegated to required reading for disinterested high schoolers, is still incredibly relevant to contemporary life.

I've been waiting for this film to come out on DVD. I saw it at Sundance and it blew me away. You might read a description and see that it involves puppets and Greek tragedy. Depending on your taste that might strike you as terribly cool or horribly pretentious, but to me it's the former. This film is about storytelling, and it tells 4 gripping, entertaining stories by gradually rolling them into one, archetypal drama. In the beginning you might wonder what these characters have to do with one another, but you get so caught up in the individual stories that it doesn't really matter... but then when you start to see the parallels between the characters and situations it adds another layer of meaning to everything. Without giving anything away, I'll say that the puppets play an essential role in bringing everything together, and there are some great "plot twists" in these men's lives that you could never get away with in a scripted drama. It's provocative, satisfying, and even hilarious in places. Anyway, you should probably just see it for yourself. It makes me wonder why documentaries aren't more daring and adventurous. This one is unforgettable.

I have the highest praise for this documentary. The selection of the four men who are interviewed and undergo, as Jessica Yu says a "dark epiphany" is perfect, as is the conflation of Greek drama (Euripedes) and puppetry. I cannot praise this film enough! I am happy itis is finally available for all to see.

I just finished watching this film, and it was absolutely fascinating. The men speak so eloquently about their lives, and the editing is superb. Most of all, I was intrigued by my reaction to the "protagonists'" stories. I felt both extremely different from them (the intense need to fulfill a preconceived notion of masculinity or religiosity and push that identity to its absolute boundary is something I have never experienced) but also very similar to them. The men in the film all seemed to be motivated by a need for control over their lives that we are all told we should be able to achieve but that, ultimately, does not exist. I, too, have gone through the sorts of struggles that the men in the film describe-although on a less dramatic scale-and am still coming to terms with my lack of power over both certain aspects of my personality and certain aspects of society. This film is one that every viewer will probably identify with on some level, and yet is still "exotic" enough that it will captivate from beginning to end. Five stars.

Protagonist is by far one of the most interesting and well made documentaries that I have seen in a long time. Director Jessica Yu truly shows audiences her exquisite skills as a director and filmmaker alike. This documentary takes the viewer on an exciting journey into the psyches of four men who search to rectify themselves from their pasts by following extreme ambitions and paying little regard to themselves and others around them until it is almost too late. Protagonist's subjects are both darkly seducing as well as spiritually enlightening. I highly recommend this movie to anyone. Its characters are not only intellectually stimulating, and sincere but also very funny and humored. This is truly a great documentary.

I am amazed that it took so long for a filmmaker to combine the classic works of Euripedes with puppetry. For years, everyone who mattered clamored for just such a film. Well, someone finally accepted the challenge and the result is the documentary The Protagonist.

Sarcasm aside, The Protagonist is actually a very good film. The film focuses on four men - a bank robber, a German terrorist, a martial arts expert, and a fundamentalist Christian. Each man explains the euphoria of giving his soul to what he thought was his calling. Later, however, each suffered the pain of awareness as he began to realize that everything that he believed just might be wrong.

The Protagonist is thought provoking. How sure can we be of our opinions? Are we willing to question our deepest beliefs? It's safe to say that there aren't many films that call for as much soul searching as The Protagonist.

The downside of The Protagonist is that the director uses puppets as "bumpers" between the men's accounts of their lives. I can't fathom why some reviewers praise the puppets. My wife and I watched together and we cringed with each appearance of the puppets. They ruin the film's momentum and contribute nothing.

If you can get around the puppets, however, The Protagonist is an interesting, unique film. I recommend it.

"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.