RUDE AWAKENING (US, 1976, Warren Sonbert)

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Sonbert's vivid color palette enhances the ritualistic nature of each action observed. Set against this lush panorama, Sonbert subverts the expectation of classic cinematography with a liberal sprinkling of avant-garde techniques. The incorporation of the materiality of film, the treatment of light, and the use of a hand-held camera, all suggest the influence of Stan Brakhage (Sonbert's ‘hero’). Sonbert's use of the shot as the foundation of his silent montage works parallels the use of the frame as the basic filmmaking unit in the films of Gregory Markopoulos (Sonbert's ‘mentor’). —Jon Gartenberg

Warren Sonbert described his 1976 polyvalent montage film RUDE AWAKENING as being “about Western civilization and its work; activity ethic and the viability of performing functions and activities.”

As noted by GME President Jon Gartenberg in the above quote, Sonbert was influenced by such avant-garde luminaries as Stan Brakhage and Gregory Markopoulos in the creation of RUDE AWAKENING. Sonbert was also influenced by mainstream filmmakers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger.

The creative partnership behind such classics as THE RED SHOES (1946) and BLACK NARCISSUS (1947), Powell and Pressburger produced and distributed their work under their company “The Archers,” which was denoted at the beginning of their films with a logo featuring an arrow landing in the center of a bullseye. Sonbert explicitly echoes Powell and Pressburger’s logo in RUDE AWAKENING by starting the film with a brief shot of a young man shooting a bow and arrow, prior to his montage footage commencing. The video below combines Sonbert’s introduction with Powell and Pressburger’s logo:

As noted by Gartenberg: “On a structural level, Sonbert’s polyvalent montage technique in RUDE AWAKENING parallels Powell and Pressburger’s narrative conceits. Sonbert utilized his unique editing approach to represent a constantly shifting tension between balance and disequilibrium, just as in Powell and Pressburger’s films, a psychologically-wounded protagonist (think of Sammy Rice in THE SMALL BACK ROOM) performs an act of bravery to overcome his own vulnerability and return himself, as well as Britain in wartime, to a sense of normalcy and equilibrium.”

According to Sonbert’s shot list, he began filming RUDE AWAKENING in July 1972, and began editing his footage for the film on May 16, 1975:

Early in RUDE AWAKENING, Sonbert includes footage he took of Fountain Valley’s Young American Miss receiving a bouquet of flowers on stage (denoted on the above shot list as “Santa Rosa beauty getting flowers”). It was recently discovered that this footage was actually taken from the set of the 1975 feature film SMILE, starring Bruce Dern and Barbara Feldon and directed by Michael Ritchie, which satirizes beauty pageants.

The corresponding scene in SMILE shows the same actress, Shawn Christianson, as Fountain Valley’s Young American Miss, walking downstage to receive her flowers. A reverse shot reveals a group of spectators at the foot of the stage filming her. Among them, a tall man with dark, curly hair, a mustache, and a wristwatch can be seen filming Christianson with a Bolex. GME surmises — based on the resemblance to Sonbert, corroborated by the corresponding footage in RUDE AWAKENING — that this is, in fact, Sonbert.

A still from Sonbert’s footage in RUDE AWAKENING, and the corresponding scene in SMILE, can be viewed below:

RUDE AWAKENING
(US, 1976)

Director: Warren Sonbert

  • 36 minutes
  • 16mm
  • Color and B&W
  • Silent
Distribution Format/s: DSL/Downloadable 1080p .mp4 file on server

Published By: GME

Institutional Price: $250

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