Rating: NNNNN
LIFE WITHOUT DEATH (Frank Cole, 2000) chronicles the filmmaker’s record-setting — and quasi-suicidal — solo trek across the Sahara Desert by camel in 1989. Cole says he was spurred on by grief over his grandfather’s death, but his reason for choosing to confront mortality in this way remains a mystery. And that’s what makes the film both provocative and frustrating. The first segment shows Cole in black-and-white, mourning his grandfather and spending the next four years preparing for his trek. Then he’s in the desert. For 11 months he painstakingly films himself, the Sahara and every dead thing he can find in it. His humourless narration reveals nothing about the life he left behind. We only know that he believes he can conquer death by tempting it at every turn. I found myself wishing he’d go home and hug someone instead of finishing his lonesome journey. But the film’s strength is that it’s open to many interpretations. Sadly, Cole returned to the desert last fall and was murdered by bandits. View his legacy as part of Cinematheque’s free Independents series, or on TVO March 28 at 10 pm. NNN (March 21, Cinematheque)
