Activist Artist: Haskell Wexler

by Emma Wunsch, Free Press contributor

ore than just a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame, Haskell Wexler is an activist artist who has admirably balanced his yin and yang energies. While working successfully for four decades within the commercial film industry, he has also made radical documentaries that are vehicles for his political activism as well as invitations for audience comment and education.

Wexler has earned five Academy Award nominations and two Oscars for Best Cinematography. He was only the fourth cinematographer to receive a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame. Wexler also writes, directs, and produces films of his own.

Wexler's cinematography sensitively captures the often ignored but real qualities of everyday people. Often in other cinematographers' films there will be a quick shot of a child or an elderly person's smile that catches my interest; but by the time my brain has caught up to the shot, it's completely over. Wexler's camera, however, stays focused on the shots that I want to see more of. In an often uncanny way, Wexler knows what people want to see in other people.

Politics and Movies

In a world where pop culture, politics, and art are usually at opposite poles, Wexler has achieved an exceptional, uncommon balance. When I talked to Wexler he said "all movies are inevitably political, but what I consider a political movie is one that challenges the status quo." From intense-realistic films like The Savage Eye and America, America to controversial documentaries like Brazil: A report on Torture and Interviews with My Lai Veterans, Wexler's camera commands attention, emotion and often horror from audiences.

Even in narrative films such as Medium Cool and Latino, through documentary style interviews and actual riot footage, Wexler is defiantly political. In a 1986 Cineaste interview about Latino, Wexler said, " ...the film is not addressed to Cubans or Nicaraguans; it is addressed to Americans. We are not asking people to evaluate the policies of the Sandinistas; we are asking people to evaluate the policies of the United States government....Are we so unsure of our ideas that we have to literally stamp out with military force any country with ideas that differ from ours?" Wexler went on to say, "I look upon Latino as a pamphlet film. If I can dignify it this way, I think of Latino as something Tom Paine would have liked to have worked on. The film does not correspond with all the esthetic nuances associated with good cinema, but it does say with some urgency that humans are being killed and we are responsible. I think that sometimes urgency has to be put into balance as a positive factor when evaluating Latino as a work of art."

Medium Cool

Wexler's dedication toward political art comes through in the story behind his highly acclaimed 1969 film Medium Cool. "In the Sixties, Medium Cool almost didn't happen. I was contracted with Paramount to make The Concrete Wilderness, a film about a boy who finds animals in NYC. But the work was intermittent and I had to make a film about daily life that was not shown on T.V. That led to Medium Cool. It was a negative pick-up so Paramount pretty much left me alone. But when it came time to pay me the $600,000 I spent, it was totally rejected by the powers that be. I ended up having to sue Paramount. When they finally released Medium Cool, they gave it an X-rating so teenagers wouldn't be able to see it. And they did virtually nothing to advertise it's release. So in essence, Medium Cool is dually politically; it's considered a classic political 1969 film, but there were many internal politics surrounding it's release as well."

Media and Culture

"As a cameraman," Wexler said, "I am interested in images and truth. Today people are conditioned to accept lies if they are commercial lies. What we don't see anymore is ethics. Media and [many commercial] films are devoid of content and ethics. We are conditioned for faster cuts to counteract any boredom. The daily politics are stock reports, score cards of business, etc. When the Dow goes up, we cheer even though those numbers only benefit 1-2% of the population. The American people learn our history from the media; so, in essence, the media has robbed us of our history."

Wexler agrees with Noam Chomsky that the media manufactures consent. "Television isolates people," he said. "Television doesn't want people to interact. And the media is getting worse. It works on us to find enemies, which misdirects the public."

Coming Attractions

Wexler lamented that "in coming attractions, there are five elements of appeal: explosion, weapons, cars, fire and sex." As always, Wexler does things differently; his current coming attractions are a personal drama called Limbo, directed by John Sayles and a video documentary about a bus riders' union in Los Angeles.

"I just finished shooting my third film with John Sayles. Sayles makes wonderful films. His films express the human condition in a more sensitive way. The film is called Limbo and it's a personal drama about people who move to Alaska. Limbo will be screened in June."

I had the privilege of seeing Wexler's work-in-progress on the bus riders' union. The bus riders are fighting for cheaper fares and more regular schedules. Wexler's documentary is just what the unions need in the time of low membership and general pervasive anti-union attitude. Wexler's work, like Wexler himself, is uplifting, empowering and gave me the often forgotten feeling that sometimes even in 1999, justice, through art, can prevail.

Haskell Wexler: Cinematography

The Living City (short film, also directed) 1955

Picnic 1955

Five Bold Women1959

The Savage Eye1960

Studs Lonigan1960

The Hoodlum Priest1961

Angel Baby1961

Jangadero1961

T is for Tumbleweed1962

A Face in the Rain1963

America, America1963

The Best Man1964

The Loved One1965

The Bus (also produced and directed) 1965

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?1966

In the Heat of the Night1967

The Thomas Crown Affair1968

Medium Cool (also co-produced and directed) 1969

Interviews with My Lai Veterans1970

Gimme Shelter1970

Brazil: A Report on Torture (also co-produced and co-directed) 1971

Interview with President Allende (also co-produced and co-directed) 1971

Trial of the Catonsville Nine1972

American Graffiti1973

Introduction to the Enemy (also co-produced and co-directed) 1974

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest 1975

Underground (co-producer and co-director) 1976

Bound for Glory1976

Coming Home1978

Days of Heaven1978

No Nukes1980

Second Hand Hearts1981

Lookin' to Get Out1982

The Kid from Nowhere1982

Richard Pryor Live on the Sunset Strip1982

The Man Who Loved Women1983

Bus II (co-directed only) 1983

Latino (also directed) 1985

Matewan1987

Colors1988

Three Fugitives1989

Blaze1989

Other People's Money1990

The Babe1990

Through the Wire (for TV) 1990

To the Moon , Alice (short film) 1990

-- Emma Wunsch