Sather-Olson, IraMissoula Independent; Missoula, Mont.
Don't expect to be sitting through a talkfest when watching Beneath the Beauty. The movie is interspersed with musical vignettes from local music mavens like Joan Zen, John Floridis and Tom Catmull and the Clerics. If you peek into [Nico Holthaus]' cinematic background, that shouldn't come as a surprise. His first documentary, Mill Ave Inc., is about music. Specifically, it details how Tempe's live music scene was affected by the corporate takeover of the city's Mill Avenue District. In fact, it was that movie which got Holthaus up to the Bitterroot in the first place- a few people in Hamilton contacted him after watching Mill Ave Inc., and he soon made his way up to the valley to see what the hubbub was about.
Filmmaker Nico Holthaus admits his newest documentary, Beneath the Beauty, pictured here, covers a lot of ground.
"This is basically at least four different movies that we threw together, and the biggest trouble that we had was to make it cohesive," says Holthaus, who's based out of Tempe, Ariz.
The political documentary revolves around Hamilton and Ravalli County and explores four hot-button issues. These include allegations by citizens of police brutality, ineptitude and political corruption, along with anger toward the local media. The two other issues Holthaus delves into deal with zoning and environmentalism, as well as the raging national health care debate.
If this seems like a multi-faceted, slightly convoluted cinematic beast, it is. Holthaus spent several hours interviewing a swath of city and county residents who vary in political allegiance from far left to far right. Editor Chris Valentine then sliced the footage into a film that's just over two hours long, for a documentary that comes across like a series of point counterpoint conversations.
"It's basically one conversation... that's how we weave all these stories together," Holthaus explains.
But don't expect to be sitting through a talkfest when watching Beneath the Beauty. The movie is interspersed with musical vignettes from local music mavens like Joan Zen, John Floridis and Tom Catmull and the Clerics. If you peek into Holthaus' cinematic background, that shouldn't come as a surprise. His first documentary, Mill Ave Inc., is about music. Specifically, it details how Tempe's live music scene was affected by the corporate takeover of the city's Mill Avenue District. In fact, it was that movie which got Holthaus up to the Bitterroot in the first place- a few people in Hamilton contacted him after watching Mill Ave Inc., and he soon made his way up to the valley to see what the hubbub was about.
In the process of making Beneath the Beauty, Holthaus says he's had a least one big aim.
"One of my goals with this movie was to get extreme left and extreme right, extreme poor and rich, talking to one another," he says.
-Ira Sather-Olson
Copyright Missoula Independent Mar 11-Mar 18, 2010