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The Big Bang (1989)

A review by Damian Cannon.
Copyright © Movie Reviews UK 1997
Documentaries often have a special ability to fascinate, purely by virtue of the fact that they illustrate real lives and situations (although filtered by the director) rather than fiction. Perhaps we can compare our own lives with those captured on film and convince ourselves of our good fortune? If that is the case then The Big Bang, conceived and directed by James Toback, provides us with plenty of opportunity. Toback's basic premise is to ask an eclectic and wide range of people a variety of fundamental questions, such as why are we here?, what created us?, where are we going?. The replies, which range from the glib and banal to the tragic and affecting, are both surprising and predictable.

From an initial montage of faces and captions (such as "The Violinist" or "The Astrophysicist") which introduce the characters whom Toback has managed to persuade, the style is of short sequences jumping from comment to comment. Placing remarks, from those who have somewhat opposing viewpoints, next to each other tends to enhance the feeling of individuality within a whole, a strange sensation. Perhaps among the most interesting characters are those of Barbara Traub (an Auschwitz survivor), Tony Sirico (an ex-gangster) and Anne Marie Keyes (a philosopher/nun) as their recollections suggest deeper under-currents than the mere words spoken. However, no one is uninteresting in their replies, just less interesting.

Covering topics such as where did the Universe come from, how do sex/love affect our lives and is there a perpetual "I" in our beings, the answers are often revealing and thought-provoking. Unfortunately this leaves us with the unfulfilled desire to ask more questions and spend more time with these people, which may or may not have been the aim of Toback. The result is an unusually moving picture which shows us just how candid people will be when they're placed in front of a camera.

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