Derek

R4 DVD

Madman Entertainment

In voiceover, Derek Jarman’s close friend and collaborator Tilda Swinton begins reading “Letter to an Angel”, a haunting and enthralling text she wrote in 2002. By then Jarman, one of Britain’s most controversial, and at the same time celebrated, artists had been dead for eight years. Derek is a very personal film; it is beautifully produced using a rare and unseen interview with Jarman from 1991 coupled with excerpts from his movies, promos and home movies, specially made pieces and footage of Tilda Swinton to take us on a journey into the unique visionary life of Derek Jarman.

In many ways this is a very sad film as it discusses the difficulties of his childhood, the pain of sexual suppression and living as an opening Gay male who is HIV+ in Thatcher’s Britain. At the same time, however, it is kept buoyant by Jarman’s unique sense of humour and acceptance of life as it is. It is also saturated with his unique artist’s vision and some superb excerpts from his many films.

We come to understand how Jarman became a filmmaker and artist through his work with Hockney and Patrick Procter and his studio life in Bankside Studio where being Avante-Garde was a way of life. It was here he met Ken Russell and got his first film job as the set designer for the outrageous “Devils”.

From here Jarman decided to explore film in a new way, taking the approach of a painter and artist rather than as a traditional filmmaker. In 1976 his first film Sebastiane became an instant if not controversial success due to its strident homo-erotic theme. It was also one of the only films whose dialogue was in Latin ! He continued to create unusual cinema from Jubilee, a punk attack on British hypocrisy to the eccentric life of Edward II.

Jarman, however, was never just “locked” into one medium, he continued to explore painting, multimedia and music, creating videos for The Smiths and Pet Shop Boys. His video for “It’s a Sin” is still considered a classic.

He realized his time was limited when diagnosed with AIDS in 1986 and with failing eyesight he continued to work producing a number of intriguing films and to produce artwork when he was confined to his home.

Derek is a superb documentary, which looks like an art-film, which is so fitting considering the life it is documenting. Tilda Swinton’s voiceover, at times, is cutting and bitter as it attacks the commercialization of cinema and art and as she yearns not just for a departed friend but for the visionary world he inhabited. Derek is an apt tribute to a great artist as well as a truly unique and heroic soul.

This review will appear in Volume 2 No.2 (2009) of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.

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