芝加哥一家医院的看门人亨利·杜杰（Henry Dudger）于 1973 年去世，享年 81 岁。他没有家人，没有朋友，他的邻居甚至不知道他的姓氏如何发音。房东惊讶地发现，他留下了一本1500页的小说：《虚幻之境》。这部小说是关于儿童和成人之间的战争。儿童被奴役、虐待、谋杀，然后被儿童救出。亨利·达格根据这部小说绘制了 300 多幅美丽而诡异的水彩画。这些画有很多是3米长，纸的两面都画着不同的情节。这个谦逊、未受过教育的人通过模仿杂志插图、海报和广告来完成这些画作。这位日本出生的地主有一些艺术造诣，看到这些文物的价值，他把亨利·达格曾经住过的房间变成了博物馆。媒体纷纷报道，让人惊叹梵高这样的天才隐藏了一辈子。 1990年代初，获得奥斯卡最佳短片奖的美籍华裔电影制片人于林敏亲临现场，立即被这些神秘的画作所吸引。她和许多其他人一样，想象着这本小说和这些画作的作者是谁，为什么他有这样的想象力，为什么孩子在他的故事中被如此血腥和暴力对待，为什么每个裸体的孩子都有一张女孩的脸，一个男孩的身体，为什么耶稣在他的故事中不是一个积极的角色。这些画在亨利·达格去世后价值数十万美元，当时他很穷I just watched this awesome documentary on Henry Darger, recommended by Renee (again!). It tells the true story of this poor and solitary janitor in Chicago who did a 15,000 page novel named The Realms of the Unreal together with 300 paintings in his life. All his works were only discovered by his landlady after his death. The film presents to us two pictures of Henry Darger: his social picture which is very limited and almost invisible; his inner picture, his private art world, which is in contrast so overwhelming and rich. His isolated way of living left the world little evidence of his physical existence, except three photos of himself, one friend and a few acquaintances. Instead of trying to create an objective biography, the film rather explores Henry’s mysterious inner world by blending in a large amount of his paintings, writings and autobiography with limited source of interviews and photographs. Through his works, we see his constant inner struggle with God, his eccentric vision of kids, his expression for peace and freedom… The strangely beautiful art world Henry created is the ultimate world he lived in. From a presentation perspective, the animation of Henry’s original paintings is quite appealing and innovative. The juxtaposition of the blooming time images of Chicago with Henry’s fantasy characters makes sharp contrast between two different time and atmosphere which paradoxically coexisted. These imaginative techniques employed in the film simply accord with the incredible imagination inside Henry. Worth mentioning, director Jessica Yu spent five years in making this film including extensive research on Henry’s works. I appreciate her efforts to show us the work and life of such a hidden genius.
