The Same River Twice (1978, 2003)

a beautiful documentary...borrowed from chelsea...

The Same River Twice, 2003 by Rob Moss.

rob moss filmed the original footage on a river trip in 1978. his group of friends took a 35 day journey down the colorado river in boats; a big naked wily free spirited community.

he then revisits some of his friends twenty years later, at their disparate homes and lives in the late nineties. 

you get to peek back and forth in time to glimpse moments in these very different parts of life.  wild naked river, skin and sky and rock. office, medicine cabinet, cars and kids.

i love it because it is never judgmental; moss doesn't tell us what to think about either the youthful time of carefree adventure nor the responsible time of partnership and family life, nor any of the varied responses the characters have to the span of these years. we just watch with open hearts. it is a moving experience.

it is a particularly poignant experience for me, watching, because some of the characters end up locals here in my neighborhood. barry wasserman, on the right above, is mayor of placerville in the 90s. riverdude jim is living in coloma by the river. he still comes in the bakery where joey and chelsea work all the time. the river community reflects here vividly and i see streets and landmarks from my town that makes them seem endearing to me. i see my friend rachel and her sister lauren as little girls in the late 90s drawing pictures and cards in support of the election. frozen moments of placerville's past captured making you wonder what might have been if the politicians had stopped rampant growth, if fathers had not gotten sick, if Intel had never moved to folsom, if WalMart never moved in on the westside of town, if couples never got divorced.

and always, always, the water. the rivers. in arizona, in utah, through canyons, deserts, and here in the mountains and forests. for us to give our troubles to, to send them off down to wide oceans that can hold all, big as our earth, twice as deep as the mountains, full of the rumblings and roarings of our souls.

it's a good summer journey you can get on netflix.

whenever i write about a film here, it makes me wish we could gather in real life and have a movie night. make some popcorn and have follow up discussions!