Last semester, I took a course that had me write a paper using my family as the evidence to explore sociological themes. A requirement of this essay was to conduct ethnographic research myself – that is, interview four members of my family. From just those brief sessions, I learned plenty about my own family history.
But perhaps the biggest lesson I took away from that project was that every person had their own way of describing the same person, thing, or event. Moreover, what was included and excluded from someone’s narrative was a story in and of itself. While it was not related to the focus of my paper at all, the research got me fascinated about the way that we filter history through the lens of our own experiences.
A few months later, I was sitting in a dark room watching Sarah Polley’s “Stories We Tell,” and a silent prayer was answered. This documentary is an ethnography project, handbook, and critique all tied up in one immensely satisfying bundle. It addressed all the lingering questions from my project – and then went a step further by brining to light many more intelligent issues that continue to bounce around in my head.
Have no worry, you don’t need to have completed an academic exercise in ethnography (the study of people) to get something out of “Stories We Tell.” It’s a film for anyone who has ever told their own story or been told their history by someone else. Polley’s documentary may be about her own family, but its sharp insights penetrate so deeply into the human condition that her findings apply to just about anyone.
Michelle Williams, fresh off a Best Actress nomination for “
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