Naked Spaces – Living Is Round 

Trinh T. Minh-ha, USA 1985, 135 min, English OV

In a circular motion Trinh leads through the cultural history of building and living in six West African countries. The movements of the camera, the montage and the use of sound are reminiscent of her debut ›Reassemblage‹ – but the length of the film presents challenging demands to the audience. Three female voices from off screen present information, experiences, proverbs or phrases. They perform cautiously a circling movement in thought, an approach close to what is shown: ›Living is Round‹. It is nevertheless impossible to appropriate the images, to delimit what is seen, to understand what it is exactly about. More than once, statements can be heard in different visual context. Shifts in meaning occur; meanings influence each other, expand, complement each other. Thus, Trinh proceeds the radical, confrontative intervention in a prolonging gesture that ›Reassemblage‹ has marked in scientific and experimental documentary film.