MOVIE: I’M PEOPLE, I AM NOBODY DIRECTED BY SVETISLAV DRAGOMIROVIC RATING: 3 STARS (Out of 4)
By Dan Pal
Here’s a documentary whose main subject never appears on screen. I’m People, I Am Nobody concerns a Serbian man named Stevan who is sitting in a Maltese prison and awaiting trial for various indecent acts. Stevan is also a former porn star. Instead of seeing his face, or body for that matter, filmmaker Svetislav Dragomirovic, offers visuals that loosely relate to thoughts, dreams, and nightmares that Stevan reveals in a series of phone recordings.
It’s an interesting approach seeing as there doesn’t appear to be any available footage of the man. Perhaps the lack of images from his porn career have been wiped out or Dragomirovic wanted to protect his subject by not revealing his physical identity. Either way, the images allow viewers to focus on what Stevan is saying rather than distracting them by his physical form. This is particularly relevant since it is what Stevan says about his physical attributes, specifically his penis, that makes his story such an interesting study of subjective interpretation.
What specifically got Stevan jailed is not exactly expressed. However, he tells stories (mostly to his sister on the phone) about being blessed with a rather large penis. He describes issues with chafing that led him to not wearing underpants. Often he would be “accidently exposed” to the outside world, most notably to children who would laugh and, as Stevan recounts, humiliate him. So, on the one hand, he let himself be revealed in the most damaging circumstances while also choosing to watch young children playing in public spaces. He also had images of children on his website which he deemed as being “part of his nudity collection.” Much of this will automatically turn a lot of people off to his story. However, it is his sometimes, humorous rationale for what has happened to him and his philosophical perspective that proves thought-provoking if not mind altering about any acts he committed.
Stevan, first off, defends his porn career saying that in our culture we believe making love is forbidden but violence is not. He mentions that children regularly watch cartoons like Tom and Jerry which is filled with violent acts. (Apparently, he didn’t have any recent examples.) He argues that “we should grow up watching lovers, not fighters.” With regard to his own publicly watching and loving of children he says “St. Nicholas today would be punished for loving children.” There is a certain logic to this that most of us may not think about during the Christmas season. Then again, no one views the story of St. Nicholas as one about a pedophile. It’s hard though not to see a certain logic in his argument. Similarly, with regard to the sex people watch in his films, he says nobody is arrested for looking at the art in the Sistine Chapel which is filled with varying degrees of sexual imagery. Again, not an unreasonable argument. Essentially, Stevan’s rationalizations sound sincere. It’s doubtful that many people would change their perspective on the man, even though we may not know exactly what he was charged with. Rather, I believe Dragomirovic is trying to present Stevan’s alternative perspective. He’s not judging him just letting his ideas be made public (assuming you believe that Stevan was aware his thoughts would be used in a film receiving world-wide festival attention.)
The visual images presented throughout the film run the gamut of dogs, streets, and parks while also some inexplicable scenes such as a live fish being carved and a bird feasting on a street carcass. Some of these may in fact be reflecting Stevan’s own disturbing inner demons and dreams but there are others that go on a bit long such as shots outside of a driven car and from the perspective of an airplane window seat.
Thus, it would be hard for me to recommend this film to general audiences. However, if you like avant-garde images and would like to hear the thoughts of a man who might view sex, children, and love from a provocative perspective then you may want to check it out.
I’m People, I Am Nobody is playing as part of the DOC NYC film festival and can be streamed via its website at docnyc.net until November 27th.