Book of Shadows - Blair Witch 2

Book of Shadows - Blair Witch 2
by Joe Berlinger

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DVD Reviews of Book of Shadows - Blair Witch 2

DVD Review: AFTER ALL THE HYPE HAS WORN AWAY...
Summary: 5 Stars

Actually, I think the answer lies in the very hype surrounding the first "Blair Witch" which this film so succesfully spoofs. I mean, think about it. You start out with an unexpected cultural phenomenon on the level of "Star Wars." You wait barely a year before issuing a sequel (not nearly enough time for memories of the first film to become hazy, but plenty of time for the inevitable backlash against it to firmly take root in the popular psyche). Then you have the audacity to release a film that not only pokes fun at the very people who are most likely to rush right out and buy a ticket for the opening night showing, but you make the film in a style completely different from the first film. Whereas the original "Blair Witch Project" was groundbreaking and unique, "Book of Shadows" is groundbreaking and unique... But in a very different way.

Joe Berlinger is more than well aware of his roots and pulls no punches when it comes to honoring and lampooning them all in the same breath. This is not to suggest that ol' Joe has gone the route of McG and is pandering with one hand while he smirks and winks the whole time. "Book of Shadows" is far too subtle and made in too much good faith for that kind of nonsense. Berlinger's point has more to do with questioning reality and fantasy and the complicated dance between the two which most of us take so much for granted. What is the truth of the Blair Witch? If it is only a story then how can it so deeply effect people and at what point is a story not merely a story any more?

This is a question most people (at least in this country) tend to shrug off, but which, ironically, is a question that most people (especially in this country) need to start examining. This is, after all, the native land of one Mark David Chapman who murdered a peace-loving cultural icon because he thought it was prescribed by a J.D. Salinger novel. This is the place where hordes of people came out in protest over "The Last Temptation of Christ" because it was a story that did not live up to the other stories they had been told all of their lives. This is still the same America where Charles Manson founded a faithful cult following willing to kill or die for him based upon a science fiction novel. And this is the same country where three boys were jailed and await execution on the strength of a popular myth that says they look like (and therefore must be) witches.

When is a story not a story? What is the boundary between sanity and insanity? Is it when fantasy begins to take precedence in the mind? Here Berlinger confronts us with a whole town full of characters who have been washed away by a fiction. You have tour groups roughing it out in the middle of nowhere hoping to find... Something... Anything. You have townspeople who find their quiet way of life destroyed. You have a sheriff driven to the point of vigilantism. All in the name of a fiction.

What Berlinger is trying to show us is how none of these responses are appropriate to the situation. You cannot kill a myth simply by deconstructing it. The amount of time and attention means that the myth has already won. It has become just as much an obsession for the naysayer as it has for the fanatic and the results can be just as damaging either way.

Want proof? Well, not so very long ago, in a town quite close to where I reside, there was a little incident known as the Columbine Massacre. In the days, weeks, months and years that followed, everyone began extending their index fingers in the direction of everyone else. The vast majority of these fingers were leveled directly at popular culture. The music of one Marilyn Manson was usually singled out for the greatest abuse. Pundits and so-called experts appeared on television nightly to discuss the relative merits and demerits of Mr. Manson's wailings and shoot off (no pun intended) an opinion as to just how much, if any, blame should be laid at his feet. Only months later did we learn, to our collective shock, that neither of the perpetrators of the Columbine killings was all that big a fan of Marilyn Manson. Oops. By then, however, it was too late. The myth had taken root. The pundits and so-called experts laughed all the way to the bank. Mr. Manson rescheduled his canceled concert dates. The so-called news networks stuffed yet more money in their collective coffers and none of us learned one damn thing. We simply supplanted one fiction with another. And the beat goes on.

For this, if for no other reason, "Book of Shadows" deserves a second look. Despite Mr. Roger "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls" Ebert's gripes about how horribly this movie reflects on Berlinger's previous documentary efforts, I think a closer inspection will reveal just how wrong the portly one really is. If you haven't seen it, then do yourself a favor. Now that all the hype has died away, put on a fresh set of eyes and keep your mind open. You're in for a fast-paced, stylish, genuinely scary ride with something more on its mind than simple shock value.

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