November 16, 2023
FILM: HAPPY CAMPERS
DIRECTED BY: AMY NICHOLSON
RATING: 3 ½ out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
Do you have a vacation spot that you’ve gone to for many years? How about a place that your family has regularly visited for perhaps decades? What happens when it no longer exists? Yes, this is a sad opening for a documentary called Happy Campers but it’s these emotions that linger after viewing this fine film which fills most of its 80-minute running time with happiness and joy. Filmmaker Amy Nicholson spends a portion of a summer with the residents and visiting campers of a place called Inlet View Camping Ground. It’s situated on a lake somewhere in Virginia. We only gradually learn that the setting has been sold for development. This is their last summer to be there.
The structure of the documentary is quite interesting in that we truly spend more than half the film meeting the various people who have made the grounds their homes. We watch them do their daily activities: cleaning, mowing the lawn, gardening, painting, drinking beer, and just simply enjoying life. Nicholson shows us the various individual touches in and around the modest campers such as personal signs, paintings, furnishings, and many American flags. Several of the residents are interviewed and tell stories about what this setting has meant to them and how long they’ve been coming there. People of all ages are enjoying their final summer. One young boy gives a tour around his grandmother’s camper and shows the special lights above the stove and the cabinets that are large enough for a small child to sleep in. While one resident calls it “the armpit of America” there is clear love and care being taken to eat up as much of this particular summer as they can.
Symbolically a thunderstorm hits but the residents do not cower in a corner. They continue playing cards and enjoy each other’s company. Of course, it becomes clearer that they have to begin selling items and pieces of their homes off. Slowly, the sadness reveals itself as the residents are anticipating the loss to come.
After about the first 50-55 minutes of the film I thought Nicholson had made her point: these people love this place and eat up every moment they are there. However, when the final days approach it is hard not to feel a huge lump in one’s throat as we watch them hauling things away and setting a fire to all they can’t take with them. The party has ended.
While Nicholson doesn’t provide details as to who bought the land all we do know is that it has been sold and will be developed. Another film may have provided the other side of this story and given us the big bad company that has purchased it, thus making them the evil villain, but Nicholson doesn’t need to do that. This isn’t about big business taking over rather it is about a community of people who have developed friendships and memories that they won’t soon forget. Yes, the final shots are devastating to watch and many of these people are quite sickened by the what has happened to their favorite place, but there is a sense that “this is part of life” which truly resonates. We have to accept the changes that enter out lives and while we may be reluctant to do so, these residents show that life, for better or worse, moves on after a loss.
Happy Campers is having its world premiere at DOC NYC. It is available to be viewed virtually via the festival’s website until November 26th. For tickets, go to https://www.docnyc.net/film/happy-campers/.
FILM: HAPPY CAMPERS
DIRECTED BY: AMY NICHOLSON
RATING: 3 ½ out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
Do you have a vacation spot that you’ve gone to for many years? How about a place that your family has regularly visited for perhaps decades? What happens when it no longer exists? Yes, this is a sad opening for a documentary called Happy Campers but it’s these emotions that linger after viewing this fine film which fills most of its 80-minute running time with happiness and joy. Filmmaker Amy Nicholson spends a portion of a summer with the residents and visiting campers of a place called Inlet View Camping Ground. It’s situated on a lake somewhere in Virginia. We only gradually learn that the setting has been sold for development. This is their last summer to be there.
The structure of the documentary is quite interesting in that we truly spend more than half the film meeting the various people who have made the grounds their homes. We watch them do their daily activities: cleaning, mowing the lawn, gardening, painting, drinking beer, and just simply enjoying life. Nicholson shows us the various individual touches in and around the modest campers such as personal signs, paintings, furnishings, and many American flags. Several of the residents are interviewed and tell stories about what this setting has meant to them and how long they’ve been coming there. People of all ages are enjoying their final summer. One young boy gives a tour around his grandmother’s camper and shows the special lights above the stove and the cabinets that are large enough for a small child to sleep in. While one resident calls it “the armpit of America” there is clear love and care being taken to eat up as much of this particular summer as they can.
Symbolically a thunderstorm hits but the residents do not cower in a corner. They continue playing cards and enjoy each other’s company. Of course, it becomes clearer that they have to begin selling items and pieces of their homes off. Slowly, the sadness reveals itself as the residents are anticipating the loss to come.
After about the first 50-55 minutes of the film I thought Nicholson had made her point: these people love this place and eat up every moment they are there. However, when the final days approach it is hard not to feel a huge lump in one’s throat as we watch them hauling things away and setting a fire to all they can’t take with them. The party has ended.
While Nicholson doesn’t provide details as to who bought the land all we do know is that it has been sold and will be developed. Another film may have provided the other side of this story and given us the big bad company that has purchased it, thus making them the evil villain, but Nicholson doesn’t need to do that. This isn’t about big business taking over rather it is about a community of people who have developed friendships and memories that they won’t soon forget. Yes, the final shots are devastating to watch and many of these people are quite sickened by the what has happened to their favorite place, but there is a sense that “this is part of life” which truly resonates. We have to accept the changes that enter out lives and while we may be reluctant to do so, these residents show that life, for better or worse, moves on after a loss.
Happy Campers is having its world premiere at DOC NYC. It is available to be viewed virtually via the festival’s website until November 26th. For tickets, go to https://www.docnyc.net/film/happy-campers/.