Another incredible film I saw in Rotterdam was the 1970 film WANDA, a landmark in overall American independent film. It's a film that has long been on my list of films to see as it had been listed in Filmmaker Magazine's top 50 independent films of all time and I used that list in high school as my bible. WANDA however, had proved elusive to me and I thought I might never get a chance to see it. Well it turns out there actually has been a DVD release of this film but it was only 2 years ago. You gotta go check this film out. Barbara Loden wrote directed and stars as Wanda, a woman wandering a contemporary industrial landscape with both exhausted apathy and firey rage. The film grabbed me in the opening scenes where we see Wanda wake up on a friends couch, and then proceed to show up late to her custody hearing wearing her curlers. Her chrachter sings in these scenes, revealing crushing honesty rarely seen in any film then or since. The film is incredibly surprising at every turn, never going where I think it will and every charachter continually reveals unseen corners as they continue down their paths. The film diverges into a crime spree that seems strangely exploitational at times but also adds to the 70's passion and grit of the film. The entire film has the shape and feel of a passion project, one of those films where you can feel an artist reaching though desperatly to announce herself. It's a tragedy that Loden never got the the support to make another film after this brilliant debut. Ten years after WANDA, she succumbed to cancer. A big thanks to the Rotterdam programmers for finally giving me the chance to see this gem.
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