‘Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power’ Review – A Deeply Flawed Exploration Of A Vital Topic

Directed By: Nina Menkes

Starring: Nina Menkes, Julie Dash, Penelope Spheeris, Charlyne Yi, Joey Soloway, Catherine Hardwicke, Eliza Hittman, and Rosanna Arquette

Plot Summary: “If the camera is predatory, then the culture is predatory.” In this eye-opening documentary, celebrated independent filmmaker Nina Menkes explores the sexual politics of cinematic shot design. Using clips from hundreds of movies we all know and love – from Metropolis to Vertigo to Phantom Thread – Menkes convincingly makes the argument that shot design is gendered. BRAINWASHED: Sex-Camera-Power illuminates the patriarchal narrative codes that hide within supposedly “classic” set-ups and camera angles and demonstrates how women are frequently displayed as objects for the use, support, and pleasure of male subjects. Building on the essential work of Laura Mulvey and other feminist writers, Menkes shows how these not-so-subtle embedded messages affect and intersect with the twin epidemics of sexual abuse and assault, as well as employment discrimination against women, especially in the film industry. The film features interviews with an all-star cast of women and non-binary industry professionals including Julie Dash, Penelope Spheeris, Charlyne Yi, Joey Soloway, Catherine Hardwicke, Eliza Hittman, and Rosanna Arquette. The result is an electrifying call-to-action that will fundamentally change the way you see and watch movies.

Want to hear a stuffy lecture about how awful some of your favorite movies and filmmakers are? Want to feel lots of shame for watching a voyeuristic classic like Vertigo because actually, it’s movies like these that lead to real life crimes against women?? Huh? Do you? How about cherry picked clips shown completely out of their intended context to cement this narrative? For the love of all that’s holy, this was such a miserable documentary. Keep in mind, Nina Menkes does have good intentions with this documentary. The male gaze is something that is worth discussing yes, absolutely. Presenting the concept of normalizing women as objects as having a real-world impact is completely valid. There are statistics that show the fact that women in the film industry are by and large under paid and underutilized.

The problematic nature of this documentary does not lie within its subject matter or even some of its talking points but within the flawed, narrowminded scope and careless assumptions that are made that any film scholar would have to be brainwashed themselves to take seriously. These bad faith reasonings include never attempting to put film clips into their proper context. For example, Menkes loves trotting out Vertigo and its male gaze but never the intention of its creator, nor the greater context behind what the specific scene shown is trying to convey. Another wild leap is a scene from Raging Bull. During a moment with Cathy Moriarty’s character, Vickie La Motta, hanging out with men from her neighborhood, including Jake La Motta (Robert De Niro), it’s stated as fact that Scorsese purposely kept solely her dialogue distant and unheard by her male counterparts. Does Menkes have anyone from the production to validate this? Of course not, but surely, it talks about Scorsese mentoring young female directors such as Joanna Hogg, right? Think again. Not to mention this example from Raging Bull and its audio space is illustrated in this very grand visual style as if we are mapping out the bullet from the Kennedy assassination.

What is most disturbing is Menkes is completely fine with putting other female directors onto the metaphorical chopping block in order to serve her overall narrative. Julia Ducournau is taken to task for her amazing film, Titane, and its alleged indulging in the male gaze without ever understanding the subversion that she was employing. It’s pointed out with smug satisfaction that Kathryn Bigelow’s movie, The Hurt Locker, was only made and won several Oscars because it glorified men and savage acts of war.

This fact has not gone unnoticed by other top-critics. Marya E. Gates says in her review for RobertEbert.com:

“In a baffling sequence discussing Kathryn Bigelow’s historic Best Picture and Best Director wins at the Oscars for The Hurt Locker, Menkes asserts that the film only won because it is about men blowing up men and that its achievement was less because Bigelow was at the helm but because all of the main crewmembers were men. A blow to auteurism, sure, but then why not discuss any of the women who worked as editors and screenwriters throughout the history of American cinema?”

Patty Jenkins’s Wonder Woman, which was a huge hit both at the box-office and with critics, is also an easy target for Menkes’s scorn. Are any of these female directors interviewed to explain the deeper meanings of their work? Nope. These creators are used as punching bags and are silenced and never given a chance to defend their films. Menkes has her objective and narrative, and anything else that may contradict that is ignored. Period. Even other female directors are cut down to size.

So, Brainwashed doesn’t really seem interested in celebrating women who do actually manage to find success. Menkes does, however, want you to know that her own cinematic explorations are, in fact, the true way to make films. The audience is sure to have a bitter taste left in their mouths due to this blatant and shameless statement. She is fine with undercutting Jenkins, Bigelow, and other female filmmakers in favor of her own self-righteous films. In fact, her own work is continuously lifted up throughout the runtime of the documentary.

This seems to be a polarizing documentary with the two top reviews being rotten and fresh, both written by female critics. Yes, women have been sadly held down from holding positions of power in Hollywood. That is a fact that should not be ignored. It is important that this aspect is highlighted. Again, this movie does raise many points that are well-reasoned and thoughtful, but the way its thesis is delivered should be a face palm to any film scholar or lover, regardless of where on the gender spectrum they may fall.

Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power is currently playing in select theaters courtesy of Kino Lorber. 

Source: RogerEbert.com

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iuxFubOWBs]