Certificate: 18 (strong sexual images). Running Time: 113 mins. UK Distributor: Altitude Films
WHO’S IN IT?
Nan Goldin, David Armstrong, Marina Berio, Noemi Bonazzi, Harry Cullen, Alfonse D’amato, Jesse Helms, Megan Kapler, Patrick Radden Keefe, Ed Koch, John Mearsheimer, Annatina Miescher, Cookie Mueller, Sharon Niesp, Darryl Pinckney, Alexis Pleus, Mike Quinn, Anwar Sadat, Vittorio Scarpati, Maggie Smith, Robert Suarez, David Velasco, David Wojnarowicz
WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?
Laura Poitras (director, producer), Howard Gertler, Nan Goldin, Yoni Golijov and John S. Lyons (producers), Soundwalk Collective (composer), Nan Goldin (cinematographer), Joe Bini, Amy Foote and Brian A. Kates (editors)
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
The story of artist Nan Goldin’s public fight against the controversial Sackler family…
WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED?
Art is a powerful weapon, especially in today’s troubling times. It has the ability to move people to tears, inspire countless debates on its true meaning, and offer a brand-new outlook on things that people don’t normally consider in their everyday lives, which in the wake of social unrest around the world feels more vital than ever. However, for renowned New York photographer Nan Goldin, whose legendary work spans decades, art is both a weapon and also something much more personal.
As we see in filmmaker Laura Poitras’s striking documentary All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, Goldin utilises art and her relationship with it to not just raise awareness of some deeply troubling truths in society, but to also find some sort of closure as to how even the people closest to her were susceptible to being chewed up and spat out by that very same society. The film offers viewers an extremely personal account of her life and activism, but more importantly it brings to light a concerning message about ourselves and how, through art’s immense power, we can overcome a similarly miserable fate, and help others do the same.
Shown through a mixture of real-life footage, on-camera interviews, and slideshows created by Goldin herself, Poitras’s film captures a number of significant aspects from Goldin’s life, beginning with a tragic childhood recollection of her older sister’s suicide after she was essentially excommunicated from her own family, for daring to be sexually rebellious. Afterwards, we see fragments of Goldin’s life within the art world, forging strong friendships with fellow artists like David Armstrong, David Wojnarowicz, and even members of filmmaker John Waters’ eclectic “Dreamlanders” ensemble like Cookie Mueller. Central to the film, however, is Goldin’s fierce crusade against the philanthropic Sackler family, who were instrumental in the manufacturing and distribution of OxyContin, an opioid pharmaceutical drug that ignited a significant health crisis in the United States, and which Goldin herself became addicted to. Throughout, we see Goldin and fellow members of her activist group P.A.I.N (Prescription Addiction Intervention Now) organising a series of protests at several art museums worldwide where the Sackler name is adorned above museum wings, with the hopes that the family’s money will no longer be accepted as donations, and their name being removed from the museums.
It’s a classic David vs. Goliath story, only if David brought down the giant with persuasive art installations and tactical protests instead of a small rock. Poitras frames her film as such, but refuses to let herself get too carried away with sentiment, instead picking her inspirational moments wisely and sparingly while keeping Goldin’s grassroots activism firmly in her focus. It’s a tactic that’s worked for the filmmaker before, especially in her previous Oscar-winning documentary Citizenfour, and in All the Beauty and the Bloodshed she centralises another fascinating subject that gives both her and the viewer a compelling and entirely engrossing real-life narrative. Here, Goldin embeds you deep into her own world, one that’s occupied by artistic outsiders who are just as eccentric, if not more so, than she is, and where you manage to develop a meaningful connection with them, even if it’s just through simply viewing photographs of them making art together. Poitras’s careful structure, as well as her compassionate focus on the most interesting components of these people, allows these larger-than-life figures to pop out of Goldin’s many photographs and into the imagination, which makes later revelations where we find out what became of most of them feel all the more poignant and even heart-breaking. By the end, you’ll be just as enthralled by them as Goldin clearly was, and entirely wrapped up in her ongoing quest for modern-day justice against the Sackler clan.
The few remaining supporters of the Sacklers – whose harmful actions were recently dramatized in the award-winning miniseries Dopesick – might find themselves coming up short with further defences in All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, which of course does not paint them in a remotely favourable light. One could argue that the lack of interviewed representatives from their corner might make this film seem one-sided (the only time you ever see any of them is during a pivotal court session near the end, and even then they almost never say anything), but since the primary focus of this film is on Goldin and her crusade against the dynasty, it honestly wouldn’t help anyone to have any Sackler family member be featured in any significant way. After all, Poitras’s film is firmly about exploring the life and times of an artist who, at times, has been unafraid to show the world her steep vulnerability (we see photographs taken of her in very sexually explicit positions, and later the physical damage done to her by an abusive partner), so to bring in someone representing the people she’s been spending years trying to take down would sully the overall message.
It’s ultimately a good thing that there is way more about David than Goliath in this similar tale of a triumphant underdog, and by the time it ends on a rather bittersweet note, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed leaves you with a resounding confirmation about how art, and its many artists either present or long since gone, really can be a resounding tool to bring some good justice into this heavily unbalanced world. It’s a powerful, engaging, and above all respectful fil about the continuing legacy of a famously outspoken artist.
SO, TO SUM UP…
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed is a fascinating documentary from filmmaker Laura Poitras that puts the life of renowned photographer Nan Goldin, and her activism against the Sackler family for their part in the OxyContin crisis, firmly in the centre of a bittersweet but ultimately uplifting David vs. Goliath story, which draws you in via Goldin’s archived photo slideshows to create an artistic portrait of a long-gone era, and leaves you emotionally invested as she continues her brave public crusade for overdue justice.
