Search - In the Realms of the Unreal - The Mystery of Henry Darger on DVD

A moving, powerful exploration of one man's remarkable inner

Robert Moore | Chicago, IL USA | 05/04/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I realized while watching this film that I first heard of Henry Darger only a few blocks from where he lived and worshipped. I had taken my daughter to guitar lessons at the former location of the Old Town School of Folk Music, about three blocks south from the address listed as Darger's address on the letter in the film he wrote expressing sorrow over his friend's death. The church at which he worshipped is only a few blocks west of that address. I write this only a few blocks from St. Joseph's Hospital, where Darger worked as a janitor for many years. All of this brings his story home to me in a particularly poignant way. My neighborhood was also his.



Darger is, of course, one of the best known and most celebrated outsider artists, the author of a staggeringly large illustrated novel IN THE REALMS OF THE UNREAL, about a war between Christian and anti-Christian forces in a make believe land. The most compelling part of Darger's story is that he was completely untrained as an artist and writer and that except for a single friend was a lifelong recluse. His neighbors and the few who knew him elsewhere had no idea that he was the author of a 15,000 page illustrated novel.



The filmmaker made several interesting decisions in making the documentary, all of which I think were done successfully. No critics or experts or outside commentators were employed. All interviews were with people who knew Darger, including the landlady who helped preserve Darger's room after realizing what he had achieved there. There are actors who portray Darger and who read passages from Darger's work, but no art critics. The narration is by the then very young Dakota Fanning, appropriate given Darger's fascination with young girls. More controversially, the director decided to animate many of his images, of which more below.



Anyone viewing this film will get a good sense of what Darger's work is about. There are sadly no books in print summarizing his work or giving good examples of it. The books that have been produced are all out of print. By any measure Darger's story is an amazing one and it deserves to be even more widely known than it is. The film also brings out both Darger's virtues as an artist and his quirks. One of the best examples of the latter is that he may not have had a very good understanding of female anatomy, always drawing nude female figures (as an expression of innocence) with decidedly male genitalia.



Finally, to the reviewers who are outraged that the filmmaker manipulated Darger's paintings to create animated images I can only ask: precisely what is the problem? One reviewer says that this manipulation violates a sacred rule. Where, precisely is that rule articulated? And what could possibly make it sacrosanct? I actually think that the animation of his paintings made them more visually interesting for the medium in which they were being presented. Would I want this in a book of his work? Of course not. But whatever imaginary sins were committed were obscure to me. The manipulation of Darger's images were always deeply respectful and loving. The critics here are acting as if the filmmaker was sinning against Darger instead of affectionately trying to tell his story. They may not like the decision that was made, but there is absolutely nothing inherently wrong in it."