The Great Cinema Survey:
What film would you risk your life for?

A question often posed to me when people learn I have written about film is, "Which film is your favorite?" This is an understandable query, but I feel uncomfortable boiling down decades of art and entertainment into a knee-jerk response that must somehow represent the zenith of cinematic expression, at least for me. My knee-jerk response has usually been Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, for its beauty and technical wonder, its anthropological cunning and, most of all, its uncompromising narrative which demands attention and reflection. All of these elements pointed me in the direction of film studies when I first saw the movie decades ago – and I am still in awe of it today. But lots of people feel that way about 2001, and so as I've gotten older and seen many, many more films, I am tempted to replace my knee-jerk response from time to time, if only to make these film musings less Kubrick-centric. Besides, human beings are notoriously, jealously selfish about their obsessions. What fun is bestowing one's designation of the greatest film (or the worst film) onto a particular motion picture along with millions of other like-minded film fans? Some time ago I came up with an esoteric way to help justify a year's "best films" list I was putting together, and so I wish to invite visitors to WIDE ANGLE / CLOSEUP to select their favorite film by applying the following test: There is a FIRE raging in a warehouse containing the original negatives and all existing interpositives, prints and video masters of every film ever made!!! Critics, film students and movie buffs are racing in and out trying to rescue certain articles before they go up in flames and disappear forever. (Recall the rush to pull out Queen Elizabeth's art treasures when Windsor Castle burned?) YOU are among the throng with an opportunity to save a film, but you only have time to go in once; the smoke and flames are lapping at your heels this very instant. And for the sake of argument, all of the precious materials on each film weigh the same and take up the same amount of space. (In other words, it wouldn't be any easier or harder to save either the complete 13 1/2 hour BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ or the 7-minute WHAT'S OPERA, DOC.) Now the question: which film would you risk your life to save so that you, your children, your great-grandchildren, etc., will be able to see it as well? Or (and you needn't feel ashamed about it) would you just stand back and watch the flames lick higher into the sky while Roger Ebert dukes it out with Pauline Kael to see who gets to rescue CITIZEN KANE? Send your responses in, and I will post a list of the motion pictures that are assured at least somebody cares enough to risk the Ultimate Sacrifice. The prize? Like, you really expect one? Well, let's just say you will feel the satisfaction of making public your own cinematic obsessions. And isn't that what the Internet is all about? Kindly e-mail the following information: Name: e-mail address: The motion picture I would choose to risk my mortal being to preserve and protect is ____: For what reason(s)? For the earliest survey results, click here.