THE TAKING

Directed by: Lisa Hurwitz | 79 min | 2021 | USA

The Taking started as a documentary about Monument Valley’s and its place in cinema. What Philippe delivers is so much more, delving into the roots of America today. Monument Valley may be a tourist attraction for many, but it is a place of pain and grief for others, something too often forgotten and intentionally omitted. John Ford is one of the foremost directors to prominently use Monument Valley in westerns, featuring the iconic landscape as a backdrop and a character with its own story.

Philippe manages an incredible tour de force by choosing to create the entire film from clips omitting the experts on screen, only presenting their voice recordings. The interviews are so powerful and meaningful, and the choice of clips so relevant that what we witness is an incredible lesson about cinema, appropriation, and the myth of places and American history. 

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