Protagonist: Now Available on DVD
December 23rd, 2008 | by Alive Mind | Published in Culture and Arts, Editor Picks, Films, Protagonist | 3 Comments
PROTAGONIST explores extremism through contrasting stories of personal revelation. The film features four individuals who have been devoted to personal odysseys - a cause, a quest, an ideal - to the point of total consumption. At first glance the characters appear disconnected: a former German terrorist, an “ex-gay” evangelist, a bank robber and a martial arts student. But as their stories unfold, one starts to see the parallels between the uncommon, common experience of these four men.
“…an enthralling documentary”
Stephen Holden, The New York Times
“Each man’s story as he tells it is riveting, truly stranger than fiction, and awesome, too, in the way of unfathomable humans.“
- Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly
“…wonderfully accomplished, unexpected and challenging.”
- Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
“….”Protagonist” is an irresistible and novel trip into innovative storytelling and satisfying resolutions.“
- John Anderson, Variety
Sundance Film Festival - Grand Jury Prize Nominee
To buy the educational version, please visit the Alive Mind Education page.
| Protagonist DVD | |
| Price: | $26.98 |
| Rated: | R |
| Availability: | USA & Canada |
| Running Time: | 90 minutes + 25 bonus minutes |
| Technical Aspects: | Dolby Digital, 16:9 anamorphic, NTSC Region 0 |
| Language: | English |
| Copyright: | © 2006 Carr Foundation and Jessica Yu. All rights reserved. |
August 5th, 2008 at 12:21 pm (#)
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 men’s 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.
August 6th, 2008 at 1:50 pm (#)
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.
April 7th, 2009 at 10:31 pm (#)
hey. we purchased a copy of what we thought was Protagonist (i mean, it has the Protagonist label on dvd), but it turns out that the actual movie on the dvd was Workingman’s Death, another Alive Mind title (which we also have). and it’s not even a good copy of Workingman’s Death, with no menu & oversized picture. any feedback from Alive Mind?? dB