Review of Marwencol (2010) by Sam T — 10 Apr 2011

Marwencol is a documentary unlike any other I've ever seen and could actually be used as an example of potential treatment of traumatic brain injuries. On April 8, 2000, Mark Hogancamp was attacked by five men outside a local bar in Kingston, New York.

They beat his head in so much that he almost died, he spent 9 days in a coma and emerged as a completely new person. He had to learn everything again, from walking to writing. Mark had no health coverage so after basic recovery he was left on his own to figure out his life.

Mark decided that if he could recover his imagination he would regain other basic abilities. Before the attack Mark was a creative individual, he could draw almost anything but usually his creative spark came from drinking.

Mark was an alcoholic before the attack and after his recovery he had no interest in alcohol anymore. Mark also lost almost all of his memory and felt alone due to his inability to trust strangers anymore so Mark started his own world that he controlled completely.

This town, set in WW2 is called Marwencol. The town developed from a bar and a character modeled after Mark himself. Slowly as time continued Mark modeled every individual character he bought on people in his past life before the attack.

Mark slowly recovered motor skills and memories by working on his city and developing plot lines for his characters. He captured his stories through photographs that were discovered by a local photographer.

The film focuses on Mark's mental state and how fragile he is. The city of Marwencol paints a living, passionate picture of Mark's desires and ideal life. The film, directed by Jeff Malmberg is simply amazing and moves at a steady pace, revealing new elements to Mark's life as the film progresses.

This is a superb documentary showing the possibilities of the imagination that every human posses and it's potential to repair damage that has been inflicted.