Captured
Ghosts – Patrick Meany (dir.)Respect Films, Sequart 2011, $15.00
Captured
Ghosts is a magnificent film. It’s beautifully shot, and brimming with
ideas. It’s more of an excuse to listen to Warren Ellis talk for ninety minutes
than anything else, but that’s not a bad thing. Ellis is known for his blunt honesty,
and here he doesn’t disappoint.
It’s easy to see the pessimism in Ellis’ work,
especially knowing he came out of Thatcher’s Britain. His work is often a
reaction to growing up poor and oppressed. He was told that this was the world
he got, but refused to accept that. He refused to accept a pessimistic view of
the world. His best work contains a
vision of what the world should be, and what it can be. It’s not so much a vision of a better future
as it is of a better today. Be it the orgasm of ideas and weirdness that is Planetary, or the drug fueled
ultraviolet nihilism that is Transmetropolitan.
Hope is everywhere in his books, and you don’t even have to look very
hard.
Even through all the nastiness, and violence,
the filth, and shit, and the bad noise; there is a sense that we will get
through the horrible mess we’re in. Even if we don’t, fuck it, at least we’ll
have a good laugh. That is what Ellis’ work is about at its core. Looking at
something evil, laughing at it, and presenting it with a better idea.
Even if you’re not a fan of Ellis’ work, you
should see this film, and it’ll probably convert you. At its core is the
realization that the man is a revolutionary thinker, one we should grateful to
have. Every single idea he has put forth in his creator-owned work is one
that’s plausible. Of course, there’s plenty of shit we hope doesn’t come true,
but if Ellis has thought of something there’s probably some crazy bastard out
there trying to build it. He’s already spawned one cult and at
least one movement.
Captured
Ghosts uses interview footage of Ellis and his contemporaries, including
Matt Fraction and Grant Morrison, to present the man as a sort of a prophet.
We’ll call him Internet Jesus. It would
be nice to have a comprehensive analysis of his work, but it’s even better
watching him smoke and drink and curse. Ellis as a person seems to be every bit
as interesting as we would hope from readings his books and internet rantings.
See this film. Buy this film. When you’re done, make a friend watch it, by
gunpoint if you have to. Ellis would probably approve.
-- Jeffrey Whitelaw
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