BURNING MAN: BEYOND BLACK ROCK

The festival goes from literally nothing, to a bustling functioning city of over 30,000 people, then back to nothing. It is really quite impressive.

From Woodstock to Lollapallooza to everything in between, big outdoor festival gatherings have come and gone with varying bursts of success and eventual waning interest. One of the most enduring (and growing) modern gatherings is Burning Man, which takes place one week a year in the middle of the Nevada desert. Held out in the middle of nowhere, in a completely flat desert valley called the Playa, the festival goes from literally nothing, to a bustling functioning city of over 30,000 people, then back to nothing (with the mantra of "leave no trace"). It is really quite impressive.

If you are looking for a doc about the spirituality and the experience of the Burning Man festival, this documentary might not be the place to start. I was expecting two hours of testimonials of "you had to be there" ecstasy-fueled confessionals about peace, love, and understanding. But Burning Man: Beyond Black Rock is quite literally that: a documentary that goes beyond the festival itself, and it more about the before and after planning, organizing, and hosting of the event.

Counting down with titles like "The man burns in 75 days," the film follows the staff of full-time organizers behind the scenes discussing mundane details, as well as artists planning and creating months in advance the sculptures that they will haul with them out in the desert. Seeing the artists' work evolve is perhaps the most fascinating. They create like mad scientists, and some of their results are truly spectacular. A few talking head interviewees do discuss how the festival has grown and changed. Many are still happy with it, others, like one artist, says his fourth year attending will be his last.

At the festival itself, the city is carefully mapped out in half-rings (kind of like Amsterdam, but without the water!), cable is layed in the ground for electricity, facilities like cafes and restrooms are set up, and security checks out each car of arrivals, as well as patrols the outer perimeter of Black Rock City. The City, while in existence for those few days, is something like the 5th largest in the state. But when all is said and done, the organizers and volunteers keep to their end of the bargain (that gives them the privilege of using the protected land), and picks up every last speck of garbage and foreign material, and leaves the Playa as clean as it was before they arrived.

Burning Man: Beyond Black Rock, is a fascinating account of the organization of any huge festival (and there are hours of extras if you wish to delve further). It may not be the best account of how it is to actually experience the festival, which culminates in the burning of a huge man-shaped wooden figure, but that, I'm sure, is a different movie altogether.