Salinger
(2013, dir. Shane Salerno)
Unlike most people from my generation, I have never once read Catcher In The Rye. As a book-lover, I have always wanted to change that. However, the intensity of Catcher In The Rye scared me. You see, I fiercely believe that books, films, music, and other such art forms have a power over us. These portals of escape have a very real effect on our emotional state. They can manipulate our moods, and our feelings, affect the way we feel about things that are happening or have happened to us. The characters beat on the guarded walls in our minds, and sometimes send them crashing to the ground as we are swept away by another’s imagination as it feeds on our own.
I had grown up hearing intriguing and intimidating things about Catcher In The Rye and its notoriously mysterious author. Now years later, I had the chance to finally see what it was all about, perhaps through a much kinder filter than my own mind. Shane Salerno’s documentary Salinger was everything I wanted it to be. But I must admit that after seeing it, I have never been more hesitant to read Catcher In The Rye than I am now. I fear that it will affect me, just as this film did.
Salinger’s focus is on J.D. Salinger’s life as a whole: past, present, and future. By painting a very vivid picture of the so-called recluse that Salinger was, Salerno draws us not just into a documentary, but into Salinger himself. Salerno achieves this immersive effect through the use of never-before-seen stock footage from Salinger’s days during World War II, and emotional firsthand accounts of the man he was both before the war and after, as well as accounts from other writers, biographers, even actors and fans whom Salinger affected in some way. Salerno seems more concerned with identifying Salinger the human than Salinger the author. The interviews cross back and forth between Salinger’s biographical past and his popular perception in the present. Jumping between these timelines allows Salerno to paint a picture for the audience.
At several points during Salinger, Salerno utilizes reenactments. This technique, popular with crime-dramas and straight-to-tv-movies, feels a bit risky. Yet Salerno, understanding that there is so much about this man’s life that has never been visually detailed, took the risk and did it very elegantly. The actors who portrayed Salinger were passable, and thankfully never talked. Salerno merely wanted to set the scene for the events that were being described by the interviewees. Another reenactment scenario that Salerno features often in the film involves various actors playing Salinger sitting at a desk on a stage, typing furiously as smoke unfurls from his cigarette. Behind him, a huge movie screen flashes images of the documentary’s content, as if Salinger was writing this film himself. It is a brilliant metaphorical depiction of Salinger’s reclusive mindset. This reenactment technique is overwhelmingly effective. If it were removed, we would still get all the footage and firsthand testimonials from the interviews, and we may even still understand why Salinger was the way he was. But seeing this visual metaphor recur throughout the film is like having a look inside Salinger’s self-image. It is something words and still images could not deliver on their own. He was the vessel, writing his story into existence. Thanks to these reenactments, we can see that. And most importantly, we can feel it.
Where the big, unanswered questions of J.D. Salinger’s life are concerned, Salerno represents both sides in this documentary. This is a brilliant choice, as when there is no agenda, no hidden subtext or biased message, viewers are forced to learn something for themselves. Salerno seemed to want to be as straight up as Salinger was with the truth about who he was. Was he a recluse? Yes and no. Was he a womanizer? Yes and no. Was he tortured? Did he suffer? Yes and no. Salinger presents a variety of perspectives on each of these questions, but nothing in the film is intended to sway the audience one way or another. Love him or hate him, J.D. Salinger was many things–an accomplished and brilliant writer, a war veteran with PTSD, a man with demons, a man with vision, and most importantly, a man who knew that not being there was the best way to be there.
Overall, Shane Salerno did J.D. Salinger justice. The documentary is riveting, informative, bold, and gripping. It will resonate for those who were inspired by Salinger, and for anyone who had a hero that they never fully understood. Maybe people who loved him and couldn’t understand why he removed himself from the public eye can find some closure with this film. You’ll have to check it out and find out for yourself–and maybe J.D. would’ve wanted it that way.
