Review: General Orders No. 9 falls into that small niche genre where environmentalist footage meets experimental music. When done well this combination creates such masterpieces as Baraka and Koyaanisqatsi. When done poorly, the result is the physical manifestation of tedious and boring. Robert Person’s film, though not quite slipping to its extent, more closely resembles the latter result. It’s not that his documentary is bad, it just seems like a collection of good pieces that doesn’t manage to deliver the audience a satisfying end result. It helps of course, to know that General Orders No. 9 was actually the name for General Robert E. Lee’s written order for his army to surrender. Ignoring whatever beliefs you have towards the Confederate armies, a specific phrase of Lee’s letter will stick out in you mind while watching Person’s film: “After four years of arduous service marked by unsurpassed courage and fortitude, the Army of Northern Virginia has been compelled to yield to overwhelming numbers and resources.” This documentary is a lament. Not for pre-civil war times, but for simpler, more natural times. Pictures of nature and old living quarters receive lush and full colors, their images eloquently framed as viewers stroll through the rolling hills, meadows and forests. Even narrator William Davidson has on old, raspy voice that reminds you of an old man sitting on the porch, recounting past stories to no one in particular. This ‘good’ is contrasted with ‘the city’- a cancer that’s etched its way around the world. There is no stopping this force, it is there and it’ll consume everything, one can only look back and reflect on better times. Not exactly a heartwarming tale. This lament would be more beautiful if it were easier for viewers to follow. Being able to reflect on this comparison between Lee’s letter and Person’s film definitely adds extra layers to this piece, but such background shouldn’t be assumed. Person’s never lets us connect to what is in his head and although ‘personal viewer experience’ is something worth striving for, sometimes merely understanding a director’s methodology only enhances the experience. Instead, the best case scenario for an audience is believing they’ve seen something beautiful without truly understanding the ‘what’ or ‘why.’ And the ‘not knowing’ will drive you crazy while you watch. Images amble across the screen in no particular order or sequence, and while this would work well for scenes within the city, the more natural ones deserve more care and love. Worse, some images are repeated later in the movie, not for any particular connection, but seemingly because there weren’t any better one left to use. It’s an oversight that jars audiences out of the state Person’s should want them in and it prevents his film from truly being realized. If you’ve seen Baraka, Koyaanisqatsi or any of the films in that series, it’s hard not to truly want General Orders No. 9 to be the next successful film in this genre, but it’s not. Person’s has not marked himself as the next Godfrey Reggio or Ron Fricke, not yet anyway. He’s shown he’s capable of making excellent short segments, but his inability to draw them all together leaves his documentary crippled. Review by Matthew Abshire Informative: 2- without the background of Robert E. Lee’s surrender, there is no foundation of which to build upon Entertainment: 2- this will most likely come off as tedious to the average viewer Technical: 3- a few well developed segments, but some flaws limit the film Overall: 2.5- lacks the vision or mastery of a Fricke or Reggio production
General Orders No. 9
Format: Theater Year: 2009 Running Time: 72 Min Distributor: New Rose Window Producer: Phil Walker Director: Robert Persons Date Reviewed: 5-25-2009 Story: Deer trail becomes Indian trail becomes county road. General Orders No. 9 provides a history of the state of Georgia, but not in any normal textbook fashion. Instead it takes an impressionistic and poetic approach to span the time when Europeans first discovered the land that was then inhabited by Indians to the present day. It's an almost spiritual history shaped by landscape and geography, but as man began to impart his will onto the land, a conflict develops from the scars of war to the development of interstates, which gave rise to the city, which is presented as an abberation, an oppressive machine that works to isolate instead of unifying with a sense of belonging and place (from AFF website).