Marwencol

Marwencol is a fascinating movie about one of my favourite subjects, the ability of creativity to heal or at least comfort. It's a documentary about a guy who was badly beaten in a bar brawl, to the point where he doesn't remember much about his previous life, even being married. As he recovered, he began building a miniature world. He invented a town in World War II Belgium called Marwencol, and populated it with mail-order action figures, Barbies and magnificently detailed sets involving American and German soldiers and local inhabitants. He based many of the characters on people he knows in his upstate New York town, changing their hair or faces if necessary. And he takes beautiful photographs of them.
Apparently he was a terrible alcoholic before the beating, but now he doesn't drink at all. He builds his sets, takes his photos and walks along the highway dragging a toy jeep so that it will look convincingly mud-splattered for the camera. His neighbours treat him gently and respectfully, and in fact one of them even gets him a show at a New York gallery. The amazing thing is that, while the movie is often funny, it never laughs at this guy, instead walking a very thin line between showing us how weird he is and showing us how interesting his work is, and how and why it got that way. I now regret throwing out my mouldy Barbie dolls. They could have been the victims of some sort of chemical attack....