"In Search of the Great Beast"

At the end of last year three films about Aleister Crowley were released. I reviewed one of them, Chemical Wedding, last issue and was not impressed by it, as you may recall. I am pleased to say that In Search of the Great Beast is a superior production in every regard.

 

The director, Robert Garofalo, opted to make a documentary about Crowley, the twist being that mock interviews are interspersed throughout the narrative with actors playing Crowley and the major people in his life. The main such interview is with Crowley when he was living in Netherwood. Imagine Crowley's Confessions crossed with Citizen Kane and you have the flavour of the whole thing.

 

To complement the interviews we have a narrative read by Joss Ackland and a soundtrack written by Rick Wakeman. For many people Wakeman's music is the whole point of the exercise and it doesn't disappoint. It is going too far to suggest that the you should watch this film solely for the music, but hopefully a soundtrack album will be released if it hasn't been already.

 

One of the most interesting elements of this film is the way in which Crowley (and presumably the other characters) are allowed to speak in their own words. In the case of Crowley this means that his interviews consist largely of quotes from his Confessions. This has the effect of humanising him, which is a first for the popular media. Usually Crowley is thoroughly demonised and I am pleased that Garofalo chose not to take such an obvious route. The resulting film presents Crowley in all his complexity, arrogant and humble by turns and a man of enormous accomplishment. This is not a hagiography, however; Crowley's very real failings as a human being (as opposed to the ones that people made up) are presented from the viewpoint of those that he failed.

 

The film is not without its problems however. Though mostly accurate there are a few factual errors and the narration presents Crowley in a negative light, as is traditional. But the most bizarre aspect of this film is the way it implies that Crowley was Dubya's grandfather (!) and that the Book of the Law prophesied 9/11 (!!) This latter is so subtley done that I missed it until a friend pointed it out to me. Despite these flaws this is the best film ever made about Uncle Al and I thoroughly recommend it.