147 minutes may be too much or too little for a documentary about the biography and career of one of the most important contemporary film directors. That’s exactly the feeling left by Susan Lacy‘s ‘Spielberg‘ for HBO. On one hand 147 minutes for a documentary is far above the average or the ‘norm’, although at the end of the viewing I can testify that I was permanently captivated and that I did not have the impression of repetition or boredom at any time. On the other hand, I was left with the feeling that there were enough un-elucidated aspects, enough questions that were not asked, and even important and interesting Spielberg films that were ignored or mentioned only superficially.
What I liked: The first part of Steven Spielberg‘s career, including television directing and his first films, is rendered in an interesting and well documented manner. The formation of the group of young directors and friends who conquered Hollywood in the 1970s and who have since dominated an important segment of the American film industry is also well described, including the testimonies of Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, Brian De Palma. Very interesting and authentic are the discussions about Spielberg’s family, including interviews with his parents and sisters, especially since family relationships and broken parents’ marriage played a decisive role in the development of the director’s personality. Finally, the best part of the film, in my opinion, is the one that discusses Spielberg’s attitude towards his Jewishness, artistically transposed on screen into the most personal, most special, and perhaps the best film of his career: ‘Schindler’s List‘.
What I liked less: The film is based, like any documentary dedicated to a film director, on many testimonies of actors, producers, other collaborators, as well as on the comments of film critics and colleagues. These abound here as well, but their quality is uneven. Few of them bring up original information and different perspectives. Most do not go beyond laudatory superficiality. Also some of his important films were left out, while too little space was given to others, for example the sci-fi trilogy made in the early 2000s. It would also have been interesting to find out more about Spielberg – the film producer.
Considering the quantity of the material and I suspect that a significant part was eliminated during the editing, I think that this film dedicated to Spielberg contains two films. One of them, original and interesting, would be the one about Spielberg’s family and person, and their impact on his films. Mounted and presented separately I think it would have made a sensation. The other film, about Spielberg’s film work, I believe would benefit from more in-depth work. Fortunately, Spielberg’s career is still in progress, and there is still plenty of time for improvement.