Sweetgrass

****1/2
4.5/5

At times the movie seems to be grinding to an almost obnoxious pause, but sooner or later it kicks some drama to just barely keep us into it through the end. In the meantime, we're treated to a feast of stunning visuals. I went into this movie knowing little, and no direct narration is offered until a few words displayed on-screen at the end. These words offer information that elevates the meaning of everything we've just seen. On top of that, the movie is a stunning piece of cinematography and sound. These are basically the only two devices used to tell pretty much the entire story as it unfolds for 100 minutes. We hear characters speak in ways that offer us information which contributes to the story, but that is not to say they are ever really directly telling us the story. There were some times when I was a little confused about what was going on and frustrated by the filmmakers' steadfast refusal to directly offer us information that would help us understand. I do understand, though, and I even did as I was feeling frustrated, that the decision to absolutely refuse to offer the audience any other information than what is there to be captured by the camera and the microphone has purpose. And in fact that decision contributes to the emotional impact of the film's finale. This is a gorgeous film, a touching tribute, and a precious American historical document.