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 (Madman)
Doco with dramatic elements succeeds in unnerving
Steve Kurtz is a Buffalo-based conceptual artist who works with the Critical Arts Ensemble, a group of artists and activists on the east coast of the US. Along with his wife Hope, Kurtz and their friends used their art to inform the wider community of various issues they felt were being kept quiet by corporate and government interference.
One such issue was that of genetically modified foodstuffs, and Hope coordinated the efforts of the CAE to spread the truth behind the hype. Steve had formulated a conceptual project involving sophisticated medical technology and the culturing of bacteria samples he had obtained over the internet.
But things became really frightening when Steve woke one morning to find Hope – an otherwise healthy 45-year-old woman – had died in her sleep. He rang emergency services, who, on their arrival in a house filled with medical equipment and Agar dishes, rang the police, who rang the FBI – can you see where this is heading?
At a time when he should have been shocked at the sudden death or his wife and mourning the loss of a companion of 27-years, Kurtz was suddenly addressing allegations of bioterrorism.
Using re-enactments featuring Tilda Swinton and Thomas Jay Ryan, extensive interviews, and stark images from a graphic novel about the story, Hershman-Leeson has made a frightening film about the remorseless, faceless juggernaut that the U.S. government has set in motion with Homeland Security and the PATRIOT Act. Strange Culture is real-life Kafka for the new millennium.
****
TIM MILFULL
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