A Tale of the Wind
This film travels through fantasy and reality as Ivens goes to China to capture the Wind. The film reflects the film maker's journey - from his first film on the wind (Pour Le Mistral)to this - Iven's last film. The documentary flows between fantasy and reality moving between the images the film maker has made, seen or dreamt about. Combining documentary with Chinese mythology and opera and even Georges Méliès' 'A trip to the Moon', Ivens melds culture, landscape and mindscape with breathtaking effect. The 90 year old director travels as a boy from his windmill home in erstwhile Holland in a glider made from clothes from a clothesline. We see his journey through life and into the mysticism of the orient in his old age. His memories take us into a humorous, sometimes pensive, magical journey while the film's crew struggles to capture the wind and his breath.
