Wamego: Making Movies Anywhere (2004)
What was Lost in La Mancha is Found in Wamego!
This is a great documentary for anyone who has ever wanted to make a movie. It shows the good and the bad (though i would have preferred a more “warts and all” approach. It seems a little biased.) “Wamego” is about making a movie without compromising your artistic integrity. And, it’s about doing (instead of talking). The Baldersons are doers, not talkers. And you can see them come together as a family and build props (amazing carnival wagons!) and strategies how to make a low-budget movie work. And now that I’ve seen “Firecracker” watching this documentary again was wonderful and explained a lot I missed the first time!
This is what film-making is all about!
In dozens of ways the making of “Firecracker” has re-invented the process of making films. If you haven’t seen this documentary yet, you must. The making of Firecracker is profoundly and fundamentally revolutionary, revisionist and eminently worthy of study on every level.
A family in the middle of the USA came together to make a feature movie. They didn’t argue or cheat or steal. They are honest and good people. The people who don’t like this movie, or the Baldersons, I don’t want to know.
The documentary is told in sequence to making the film “Firecracker”. We follow as it gets closer and closer to production. And then we see the production. I was so involved with the story of this family that by the time Mike Patton and Karen Black appeared in the production section, I lost all care about fame and movie stars, and rather cared for the family behind the movie.
This is what film-making is all about.
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