An experimental documentary comprised of regional vignettes about faith, force, technology and exodus. Eleven parables relay histories of settlement, removal, technological breakthrough, violence, messianism and resistance, all occurring somewhere in the state of Illinois. But the state is a structural ruse, and its histories are allegories that ask what belief might teach us about nationhood. In our desire to understand the inscrutable, whom do we end up blaming or endorsing... (Full plot summary below)
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An experimental documentary comprised of regional vignettes about faith, force, technology and exodus. Eleven parables relay histories of settlement, removal, technological breakthrough, violence, messianism and resistance, all occurring somewhere in the state of Illinois. But the state is a structural ruse, and its histories are allegories that ask what belief might teach us about nationhood. In our desire to understand the inscrutable, whom do we end up blaming or endorsing?
Leave your thoughts about The Illinois Parables.
| NewcityRay PrideIt's rich with imaginative, suggestive raptures and ecstatic banalities (damp country roads, buildings ablaze, tornados, lazy waterways, snow-choked paths). Illinois dreams: mute landscape remains. It's strange history; ours. |
| Maven's NestNora Lee MandelThematically linked experimental documentary "suite" uses strong resonant images, with some re-enactments, to show how the land and prairie landscape don't forget the past. |
| Chicago ReaderJ. R. JonesThis accomplished essay film may focus on our state, but Stratman's real concern is state power in the larger sense...Connecting all this are sweeping aerial shots that capture the beauty of the plains without obscuring the blood spilled to claim them. |
| The New York TimesA.O. ScottThe Illinois Parables is not, strictly speaking, an educational film, but it conveys a unique and precious kind of knowledge. |
| Slant MagazineCarson LundEven more diverse than the film's historical material is its eccentric mash-up of styles and approaches. |
| Village VoiceMelissa AndersonStratman often juxtaposes static, serene landscape footage with an increasingly agitated soundtrack, arriving at an odd consonance amid so much dissonance. |
| The Film StageDaniel SchindelThe documentary’s vision of history as tied to spaces is more difficult to dismiss than its apparent weaknesses would suggest. |
