Lamentations: A Monument for the Dead World
1985·Documentary·7h 17m
7.1
★
Lamentations: A Monument to the Dead World belongs to a 35-hour film cycle, The Book of All the Dead, which comprises the bulk of Toronto-based Bruce Elder’s filmmaking from 1975 to 1994. In ancient Egyptian culture, the Book of the Dead consisted of religious texts intended to help preserve the spirit of the departed in the afterlife — but in Elder’s reading, that comforting idea of continuity takes on a rather darker cast. Lamentations is comprised of a complex audio and visual patchwork: a philosophical meditation superimposed as text throughout the film; vignettes featuring a comical but disturbing Franz Liszt, a debate between Isaac Newton and George Berkeley, an angry, deranged man in an alley, and an arrogant psychiatrist; and a final search for salvation in the forests of British Columbia, the American Southwest, and Mexico’s Yucatan.
Directed by R. Bruce Elder
IMDB
N/A
Crew
R. Bruce Elder
Director
R. Bruce Elder
Writer
R. Bruce Elder
Editor
R. Bruce Elder
Director of Photography
R. Bruce Elder
Producer
Michael Snow
Thanks
Popular Reviews
7 reviews
Jack
10.0★ · 04/10/26
Long Movie Marathon 2.0 Part IV
“this film is about you, not about its maker.”
its not very often you watch one of the most ambitious and philosophical films ever made… i just have. my view of cinema has been fully flipped on its head. its like ‘As I Was Moving Ahead, Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty’ in the way it makes me feel, but its so different in every other regard. this Brakhage-esque collage documentary is a sensational reflection of mankind and existence, Elder swan dives into the mind as if it were a bottomless abyss of insight and answers, exploring countless philosophies through multiple cinematic mediums. throughout the films runtime, overstimulation and intensity is constantly being contrasted by calming yet eerie subtitled imagery, contemplating faith versus logic, celebrating birth, death, and rebirth as the film guides us through our dead world.
i would be lying if i said or acted like im anywhere near intelligent or educated enough to fully grasp this monstrous enigma, but what i managed to piece together was fascinating and marvelous, and im eager to learn more about what’s explored in the film in an attempt to possibly understand it further. overall this is one of the greatest, most unique movies ive ever seen, its a fucking wild experience.
“this film is about you, not about its maker.”
its not very often you watch one of the most ambitious and philosophical films ever made… i just have. my view of cinema has been fully flipped on its head. its like ‘As I Was Moving Ahead, Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty’ in the way it makes me feel, but its so different in every other regard. this Brakhage-esque collage documentary is a sensational reflection of mankind and existence, Elder swan dives into the mind as if it were a bottomless abyss of insight and answers, exploring countless philosophies through multiple cinematic mediums. throughout the films runtime, overstimulation and intensity is constantly being contrasted by calming yet eerie subtitled imagery, contemplating faith versus logic, celebrating birth, death, and rebirth as the film guides us through our dead world.
i would be lying if i said or acted like im anywhere near intelligent or educated enough to fully grasp this monstrous enigma, but what i managed to piece together was fascinating and marvelous, and im eager to learn more about what’s explored in the film in an attempt to possibly understand it further. overall this is one of the greatest, most unique movies ive ever seen, its a fucking wild experience.
Long Movie Marathon 2.0 Part IV
“this film is about you, not about its maker.”
its not very often you watch one of the most ambitious and philosophical films ever made… i just have. my view of cinema has been fully flipped on its head. its like ‘As I Was Moving Ahead, Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty’ in the way it makes me feel, but its so different in every other regard. this Brakhage-esque collage documentary is a sensational reflection of mankind and existence, Elder swan dives into the mind as if it were a bottomless abyss of insight and answers, exploring countless philosophies through multiple cinematic mediums. throughout the films runtime, overstimulation and intensity is constantly being contrasted by calming yet eerie subtitled imagery, contemplating faith versus logic, celebrating birth, death, and rebirth as the film guides us through our dead world.
i would be lying if i said or acted like im anywhere near intelligent or educated enough to fully grasp this monstrous enigma, but what i managed to piece together was fascinating and marvelous, and im eager to learn more about what’s explored in the film in an attempt to possibly understand it further. overall this is one of the greatest, most unique movies ive ever seen, its a fucking wild experience.
“this film is about you, not about its maker.”
its not very often you watch one of the most ambitious and philosophical films ever made… i just have. my view of cinema has been fully flipped on its head. its like ‘As I Was Moving Ahead, Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty’ in the way it makes me feel, but its so different in every other regard. this Brakhage-esque collage documentary is a sensational reflection of mankind and existence, Elder swan dives into the mind as if it were a bottomless abyss of insight and answers, exploring countless philosophies through multiple cinematic mediums. throughout the films runtime, overstimulation and intensity is constantly being contrasted by calming yet eerie subtitled imagery, contemplating faith versus logic, celebrating birth, death, and rebirth as the film guides us through our dead world.
i would be lying if i said or acted like im anywhere near intelligent or educated enough to fully grasp this monstrous enigma, but what i managed to piece together was fascinating and marvelous, and im eager to learn more about what’s explored in the film in an attempt to possibly understand it further. overall this is one of the greatest, most unique movies ive ever seen, its a fucking wild experience.
Jackson Lang
10.0★ · 01/03/24
It’s not every day that you see the most ambitious artwork you’ve ever seen.
I often hear a criticism of Godard that his films are messy and i would agree though I disagree that that makes them bad. The reason godards films are messy ,at least in my opinion, is that godards is striving for a goal so unattainable and lofty that even when he falls short of it the attempt alone is awe inspiring. None of Godard’s films ,even my favorites of his, achieve the goal that he set out for but in the “failure” to achieve it we are privy to glimpses of something beyond the boundaries of what has cinema has explored.
And there is no higher example of this concept than R. Bruce Elder’s “Lamentations: A Monument For the Dead World”. It is a film truly unmatched in its ambition. A film that reaches so far past the language of current cinema that it’s almost illegible. Does it always work? No? Yes? Maybe? In a weird way It almost feels unimportant to even look at it through a lens of success or failure.
Built off the backs of Michael Snow, Jonas Mekas, and Stan breakage Elders Lamentations attempts to contextualize culture, camera, sex, history, and philosophy and their relation all at once. It is a film that attempts to capture both the collective historical and current human spirit.
Our current cinematic language is an island surrounded by a dark void of what we don’t know. Elder looks at this void steps into it with a bat in hand and swings wildly trying to hit any kind of New land. Elder jumps into the complete unknown and accepts the consequences. Success or failure happiness or suffering Elder crafts for us what he finds in the darkness.
It’s a film written in language that we have not yet developed. It is an exhaustingly active film only allowing the slightest amount of passive consumption completely losing you if your attention strays for even a second too long. Such intense engagement is both immensely draining and incredibly rewarding.
Like Kubrick's black monolith the secrets Lamentations holds are both completely unattainable yet instantly understandable .
Art at the edge. Art close to the heart.
I often hear a criticism of Godard that his films are messy and i would agree though I disagree that that makes them bad. The reason godards films are messy ,at least in my opinion, is that godards is striving for a goal so unattainable and lofty that even when he falls short of it the attempt alone is awe inspiring. None of Godard’s films ,even my favorites of his, achieve the goal that he set out for but in the “failure” to achieve it we are privy to glimpses of something beyond the boundaries of what has cinema has explored.
And there is no higher example of this concept than R. Bruce Elder’s “Lamentations: A Monument For the Dead World”. It is a film truly unmatched in its ambition. A film that reaches so far past the language of current cinema that it’s almost illegible. Does it always work? No? Yes? Maybe? In a weird way It almost feels unimportant to even look at it through a lens of success or failure.
Built off the backs of Michael Snow, Jonas Mekas, and Stan breakage Elders Lamentations attempts to contextualize culture, camera, sex, history, and philosophy and their relation all at once. It is a film that attempts to capture both the collective historical and current human spirit.
Our current cinematic language is an island surrounded by a dark void of what we don’t know. Elder looks at this void steps into it with a bat in hand and swings wildly trying to hit any kind of New land. Elder jumps into the complete unknown and accepts the consequences. Success or failure happiness or suffering Elder crafts for us what he finds in the darkness.
It’s a film written in language that we have not yet developed. It is an exhaustingly active film only allowing the slightest amount of passive consumption completely losing you if your attention strays for even a second too long. Such intense engagement is both immensely draining and incredibly rewarding.
Like Kubrick's black monolith the secrets Lamentations holds are both completely unattainable yet instantly understandable .
Art at the edge. Art close to the heart.
It’s not every day that you see the most ambitious artwork you’ve ever seen.
I often hear a criticism of Godard that his films are messy and i would agree though I disagree that that makes them bad. The reason godards films are messy ,at least in my opinion, is that godards is striving for a goal so unattainable and lofty that even when he falls short of it the attempt alone is awe inspiring. None of Godard’s films ,even my favorites of his, achieve the goal that he set out for but in the “failure” to achieve it we are privy to glimpses of something beyond the boundaries of what has cinema has explored.
And there is no higher example of this concept than R. Bruce Elder’s “Lamentations: A Monument For the Dead World”. It is a film truly unmatched in its ambition. A film that reaches so far past the language of current cinema that it’s almost illegible. Does it always work? No? Yes? Maybe? In a weird way It almost feels unimportant to even look at it through a lens of success or failure.
Built off the backs of Michael Snow, Jonas Mekas, and Stan breakage Elders Lamentations attempts to contextualize culture, camera, sex, history, and philosophy and their relation all at once. It is a film that attempts to capture both the collective historical and current human spirit.
Our current cinematic language is an island surrounded by a dark void of what we don’t know. Elder looks at this void steps into it with a bat in hand and swings wildly trying to hit any kind of New land. Elder jumps into the complete unknown and accepts the consequences. Success or failure happiness or suffering Elder crafts for us what he finds in the darkness.
It’s a film written in language that we have not yet developed. It is an exhaustingly active film only allowing the slightest amount of passive consumption completely losing you if your attention strays for even a second too long. Such intense engagement is both immensely draining and incredibly rewarding.
Like Kubrick's black monolith the secrets Lamentations holds are both completely unattainable yet instantly understandable .
Art at the edge. Art close to the heart.
I often hear a criticism of Godard that his films are messy and i would agree though I disagree that that makes them bad. The reason godards films are messy ,at least in my opinion, is that godards is striving for a goal so unattainable and lofty that even when he falls short of it the attempt alone is awe inspiring. None of Godard’s films ,even my favorites of his, achieve the goal that he set out for but in the “failure” to achieve it we are privy to glimpses of something beyond the boundaries of what has cinema has explored.
And there is no higher example of this concept than R. Bruce Elder’s “Lamentations: A Monument For the Dead World”. It is a film truly unmatched in its ambition. A film that reaches so far past the language of current cinema that it’s almost illegible. Does it always work? No? Yes? Maybe? In a weird way It almost feels unimportant to even look at it through a lens of success or failure.
Built off the backs of Michael Snow, Jonas Mekas, and Stan breakage Elders Lamentations attempts to contextualize culture, camera, sex, history, and philosophy and their relation all at once. It is a film that attempts to capture both the collective historical and current human spirit.
Our current cinematic language is an island surrounded by a dark void of what we don’t know. Elder looks at this void steps into it with a bat in hand and swings wildly trying to hit any kind of New land. Elder jumps into the complete unknown and accepts the consequences. Success or failure happiness or suffering Elder crafts for us what he finds in the darkness.
It’s a film written in language that we have not yet developed. It is an exhaustingly active film only allowing the slightest amount of passive consumption completely losing you if your attention strays for even a second too long. Such intense engagement is both immensely draining and incredibly rewarding.
Like Kubrick's black monolith the secrets Lamentations holds are both completely unattainable yet instantly understandable .
Art at the edge. Art close to the heart.
Leo
10.0★ · 04/10/26
Nicolas Valenzuela
10.0★ · 02/05/26
dthyo afupts
9.6★ · 07/13/25