“Shadowland” - Documentary Film Review
When a child is young, one of the most important lessons they’re taught is the difference between reality and fantasy. For a long time, these two concepts have seemed to be so clear, with a massive chasm between them that was impossible to blur. One of the unintended effects of the rise of the digital and internet age is that this chasm is shrinking by the second. As it stands now, we’re living in a world of alternative facts and fake news. In order to get information, people must wade through seas of lies presented as fact. We have created a society of distrust that is only becoming more confusing every single day. It’s no wonder people are desperate to find something to cling to that presents itself as an answer to the problems of the world. It’s why so many flocked to the French Pyrenees, a place rumored to be the home to the Holy Grail. This setting and the people who found their way here are the subject of Shadowland, a documentary that examines the universal need to belong, and how easy it is to prey on the vulnerable.
Shadowland opens with a voiceover that says “Reality becoming fantasy and fantasy becoming reality. The two things that should be separate are constantly crisscrossing to the point where trying to draw a hard line between them is very difficult.” There’s something mystical about the setting of the film, and that setting is a main reason people come to this area. Perhaps if they’re close to the supposed source of spirituality, then they’ll become enlightened and all their problems will cease to exist. It’s a wonderful concept, but one that doesn’t hold much water because, as Shadowland demonstrates, some people who come to this place are not as spiritually minded as they appear.
courtesy of Shadowland
One of the movie’s subjects is filmmaker Richard Stanley. He’s best known for his work in the horror genre and was attached to direct the cursed 1996 The Island of Dr. Moreau with Marlon Brando and Val Kilmer. After that fallout, Stanley did not direct another feature film for twenty-three years until Color Out of Space, an H.P. Lovecraft adaptation. His return was regarded as triumphant and more Lovecraft adaptations were planned. Then the abuse allegations emerged. Shadowland began its production before the allegations came out and the documentary can reveal, in almost real-time, Stanley’s actions in Hollywood and in the small-knit community that exists in the French Pyrenees.
Shadowland is shot like a horror movie. Few, if any, documentaries look like this. It’s moody, but still lush. An almost tangible darkness exudes from the screen. Even if the viewer is unaware of Stanley and his allegations, an unsettling air permeates everything. It’s an uncomfortable feeling that perfectly lays the groundwork for the film’s exploration of abuse of power within spiritual communities. There’s a deep vulnerability that exists in these groups because most of the people are genuinely driven to this point by their search for support or tools to better themselves. Yet time and again, we see individuals with histories of abuse at the center of these communities. The community leaders are charming, affable, and good at creating the sense of unity that so many people are looking for. Shadowland plays about a lot like another standout documentary from this year: Sweetheart Deal. Both are observational documentaries that do a stunning job of showing what a predator is capable of. The other people in the films can’t see it because they’re already deeply embedded in the world this person has created, but the viewer notices the red flags immediately.
One of the participants in Shadowland talks about people like Stanley and describes them as “spiritual narcissists.” They abuse these vulnerable communities to mythologize themselves as something larger than life. Shadowland allows the web to untangle itself and the reality to fully differentiate itself from the fantasy, while still being respectful to those whose lives have been upended by these “spiritual narcissists.”
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