Film

Route One/USA (1989)

Director: Robert Kramer

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

On the road again, two uneasy riders: Doc (McIssac), back from ten years in Africa, and independent film maker Kramer, ageing liberals who decide to follow Route 1, from the Canadian border through New England to Miami. Much of what they find is depressing. Endemic paranoia, poverty and bigotry - be it religious or patriotic - induce a desperate, introspective mood. With Kramer behind the camera, Doc becomes the focal point of interest, conducting hesitant, respectful interviews, meeting old friends, missing others, and not finding much to reassure him en route. There are odd glimmers of light: the liberal tradition of Massachusetts, Thoreau and Whitman, and community care projects that battle on against the odds. Not for Doc or Kramer the cool irony of Errol Morris or the conscious wackiness of Michael Moore. Doc wants to 'do something useful in all this shit', and three-quarters into the movie he surprisingly drops out to do just that. The last 45 minutes or so become distinctly ramshackle, with shifting centres and over-lapping voices. The camerawork and cutting have a snapshot feel, and the overall effect is rather like a book of photographs, 'A day in the life of America', fascinating in its detail, overwhelming in its diversity.

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