A multidisciplinary artist (theater, commercials, music videos) who has previously served as a cinematographer and/or editor on other people’s projects (one of whom, Frank Matter, is now his producer), Gregor Brändli makes his feature directorial debut with Elephants & Squirrels, first screened in DOK Leipzig’s International Documentary Competition. The topical subject matter, and the general popularity of Swiss productions in the documentary realm, should make it an appealing pick for other events devoted to the form, as well as those who look at cinema – du réel or otherwise – through a post-colonial lens.
Shot on two continents, the film is rooted in Switzerland’s relationship with the country then known as Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). Per the opening textual introduction, this is where two explorers, the cousins Paul and Fritz Sarasin, traveled between 1883 and 1913, bringing numerous artefacts with them back to Basel as part of their natural history research. In the present day, Sri Lankan artist Deneth Piumakshi Veda Arachige, who is conducting her own research in various Swiss museums, comes across the very large collection amassed by the cousins.
Further inquiries indicate the methods used at the time were sometimes quite brutal, and Deneth’s discovery leads to a lengthy process whereby she and the chief of the Wanniyala-Aetto, the indigenous Sri Lankan community that created the artefacts, seek the return of all the items stored in Basel. The museum is refreshingly willing to cooperate, subverting the usual image one may have of European institutions that refuse to even so much as acknowledge the sometimes controversial history of their collections (the British Museum is famous for blocking people on social media if they post memes on the subject), and a dialogue begins between the two parties, shedding new light on what went down almost a century and a half ago.
Ably assisted by the prolific cinematographer Jonas Jäggy, whose works spans a wide range of documentaries (most recently Architektur des Glücks, about the history of the troubled casino in the Italian enclave of Campione, on the shores of Lake Lugano), Brändli puts his fascinatingly multifaceted background to good use, crafting a deceptively straightforward film that is at once about history, ethnology, cultural ethics and how to deal with the latter in a post-colonial era.
And while the director is clearly on the side of the artists and indigenous people striving to recover a vital piece of their history, there’s no attempt to demonize the Swiss institutions involved, thematically or visually: whereas other filmmakers might have contrasted the drab bureaucratic grayness of the museum’s office space with the more vibrant color palette of the Sri Lankan landscape, Brändli frames both countries and interested parties as equally dignified conversation partners engaging in a sincere exchange about the way the world was viewed centuries ago and how that perspective has changed, and is changing still, in the new millennium.
Over the course of (just under) two hours, Elephants & Squirrels is informative, illuminating, engrossing, and entertaining. It’s a richly detailed journey through time and space that takes a very familiar topic and explores it through a very geographically precise prism, telling a universal story that draws us in via its cultural specificity, getting to the heart and art of the matter with clever, thorough elegance.
Director, Screenwriter: Gregor Brändli
Producer: Frank Matter
Cinematography: Jonas Jäggy
Music: Yanik Soland
Sound: Thomas Rechberger
Production companies: soap factory GmbH, SRF Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen
World sales: Filmotor S.R.O.
Venue: DOK Leipzig (International Documentary Competition)
In English, Sinhalese, Swiss German, Vedda
114 minutes
