Love and Diane Essay

Synopsis shaft & Diane tells the larger-than-life story of a family over three generations. At its heart lies the super charged relationship between a m another(prenominal) and fille, desperate for issue and forgiveness but caught in a devastating cycle. For roll in the hay, the world changed unceasingly when she and her siblings were torn from their mother, Diane. Separated from her family and thrust into a terrifying world of institutions and entertain homes, the memory of that moment is more(prenominal) vivid to her than her present life. Ten days have passed since that day and erotic love and her five siblings have been reunited with their mother.But each(prenominal) have been changed by the historic period of separation. They are almost strangers to each other and Love is tormented by the thought that it was her fault. At 8 historic period old she was the one who revealed to a teacher that her mother was an drug addict. today she is 18 and HIV+. And she has scan tily given birth to a son, Donyaeh. For Love & Diane this baby represents everything good and hopeful for the future. But that hope is mixed with fear. Donyaeh has been natural with the HIV virus and months must pass before his final view is kn possess.As Diane struggles to make her family whole again and to realize some of her own dreams, Love seems to be drifting further and further away from her child. Diane, torn by her own guilt over her childrens fate when she was an addict, tries to aid and to care for her grandson. But when Diane confides her fears for her daughter to a therapist, the police suddenly come out at the door. Donyaeh is taken from Loves arms and it seems to the family as if taradiddle has repeated itself. Now Love must face the same or appropriate her mother had faced years before.She is charged with neglect and must fold up to a world of tender workers, therapists and prosecutors that she is a fit mother. And Diane must get news program the courage to turn away from her guilt and grasp a view to pursue her long-deferred dreams. While the painting takes us deep into the life of a single family, it also offers a provocative look at the tough system that aims to help but as often frustrates the familys attempts to improve their situation. The film differs from many documentaries that deal with the problems facing poor communities in that it eschews talk eads and interviews with experts and aims instead to immerse the viewer in the experiences and thoughts of a family trying to defy and retain autonomy in the face of terrible challenges. Love Diane Inner-City vapors An Interview with Jennifer Dworkin For over eight years Jennifer Dworkin documented the personal struggles of a recovering crack addict and her troubled daughter in Love Diane. Fellow long-term filmmaker Steve mob talks with Dworkin approximately her grand work of American vrit filmmaking.I first heard close Jennifer Dworkins Love & Diane when it played at t he 2002 New York Film fiesta. though I missed seeing it because I live in Chicago, the word was that this was a special film, one in which the filmmaker spent years intimately following the lives of a family. Since thats been my own filmmaking M. O. , I knew this was a documentary I had to see. So in November, when I finally did dip into my seat at Amsterdams International Documentary Festival to watch the film, I had pretty high expectations. Love & Diane lived up to them and more.Its a powerful, uncompromising, yet compassionate portrait of a mother and daughter coping with a hard life in Brooklyn and an even more difficult personal history between them. In the best common sense of the word, the film is a throwback to the heyday of cinema vrit filmmaking in the 60s and early 70s, When the Maysles were in their prime and young filmmakers like Barbara Kopple were making their mark. Love Diane is one of those films where the filmmaker earned such intimate access and the bank of her subjects that it gives viewers a rare and complex glimpse into the lives of people we rarely really see in films.And like most great film subjects, Diane Hazzard and her daughter, Love, continually con open our expectations of what it means to be a ghetto mom or an ex-crack addict or a black teenage mother. Meeting and get to know the director, Jennifer Dworkin, was one of the pleasures of the Amsterdam festival. My film, Stevie, also played there, and Jennifer and I found unexpected common ground in the stories each of our films tells. Both films deal with troubled family history, struggles between a parent and child, foster care, poverty and the social service and legal systems.Yet, in other ways, Stevie and Love Diane, couldnt be more different. Filmmaker gave me a chance to talk further with Jennifer about her impressive first film and compare notes about how we each went about making such demanding and challenging films. Steve James How long did you spend on this film? Jennifer Dworkin You know, I never answer that question. James Really? Dworkin No, just kidding laughs. If you count directions I started but didnt end up use in the film, about eight years, including editing. But not full time. James Of course not. How could one survive? Dworkin Exactly.