Latitude 40° (2017)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2017
	Director: Olaf Holzapfel
	Actors: -
	Country: D
	Genre: Documentary
	Conditions of visioning: 17.09.2017, Palais Bellevue, documenta14, Digital video
Synopsis: Patagonia is dominated by the Andes. This range of mountains splits the whole American continent, it is a massive natural border in many ways. In Patagonia the Andes are not only a climatic giant separating the Pacific from the Atlantic Ocean and producing very different vegetations and other forms of life on each side, they also play a crucial role in forming the cultural identities along the distinction between East and West. Borders always become symbolic, even though they are natural.
Review: After 40 minutes of images of clouds over the magnificent mountains of the Andes, the movie feels like hypnotic or better said meditative. Peaceful contemplation is meditation. This movie has been shot in Northern Patagonia, where the landscapes are not touristic but already show the force, the peace and the beauty of nature. The cut is done so that you watch another mountain every now and then. This avoids to fall asleep (at least for me). The movement of the clouds over the rocks of the mountain is fascinating. This experimental movie is on one hand interesting for this meditative aspect and on the other hand soporific. Unfortunately, I did not manage to see the end of the movie as I had to take my train back home from Kassel. But this is the kind of movie, that every yoga fan and meditation freak would need at home to enhance the force of the meditation. If you cannot go in the middle of Nature, Olaf Holzapfel brings the Nature to you! Other short documentaries on the meditation that I have seen recently are available here on arte.tv.  The movie was part of a work called Zaun (Fence) presented at the modern art exhibition in Kassel, documenta14. There was another movie, Zaun (Fence) based on interviews with people from Aysén about the borders of their land, two-channel digital video installation.
Rating: 5 /10