"Nobody's Business" dir. Alan Berliner Oct 22

In the documentary film “Nobody’s Business,” I was really surprised that the father, Oscar, was uninterested in his ancestry. I think ancestry is one of the most profound and complicated thing in our lives. There is so much history that with every new generation is lost. I met three of my great grandparents. My mother’s grandparents were French and didn’t speak any English. As a child, I remember playing games with my great grandfather. I remember how old he looked, I remember his big smile and his big hands. I don’t remember if I understood him. I don’t remember much more about him or my great grandmothers. They died when I was old enough to have met them and make memories with them but there is still so much about their lives I will never know. (picture: my great grandparent's- mom's side, Laurette & Lionel)

I really appreciated that Alan tried to revisit his family’s past. Maybe this is a more recent phenomena, where people are seeking to have a connection with their past. In Oscar’s interview it didn’t sound like that was something the people of the times ever really talked about. Like Oscar said, “I’m just an ordinary guy, with an ordinary life.” For him, life was just life, and the memory of other ordinary people was redundant.

What I found most interesting in the film was Alan’s reference to the Vaults in the Salt Lake City mountains. I actually decided to do some research on them and find out what they were. Here are some links:

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/7.07/mormons.htmlons.html

http://www.lig/htplanet.com/mormons/daily/family_history/granite_mountain_eom.htm

Although there is religious connotations to the purpose of the collection, I think this is an amazing opportunity for people to find out specifics about their past. The collection as Alan says holds birth, death and marriage certificates. It has immigration and other government documents all on microfilm available for viewing by the general public. My great grandfather on my dad’s dad side (where I get my Lewis name) was actually adopted and thus the last name would be his adoptive parent’s name. I find it fascinating and unfortunate that all the records of his adoption are no longer available, because it would have a big impact on my identity. I don’t know if Canada has values similar to those in Salt Lake City but if I was researching my genealogy, these vaults would be an amazing resource I would take advantage of. I think this is why I was surprised that Oscar didn’t want to know his past.

picture: My grandpa (Arseneault/mom's side) and me, he's 83!

Alan used a lot of symbolism in his film in different ways. One way was through sound. There was the constant clicking sound that was both distracting and annoying. I would interpret this as being representative of how Oscar viewed life. He knew time was passing, he watched his eleven siblings complete their lives and he was distracted by their deaths and reminded how little time he had left. I’m guessing this made enjoying life more difficult and the thought of the past just started to annoy him because it reminded him how little time he could spend with his great granddaughter.

Alan also used visual symbolism to show his fathers frustration (the boxing match) with the questions being posed. I thought this was clever, but it also made light of how his father did feel.

To View Clips: http://www.alanberliner.com/flashdev3/viewing.html