Response to “The Five Obstructions”

I have to admit that I’ve never seen The Perfect Human before.

I think it’s interesting that Jørgen Leth is willing to participate in this project with Lars von Trier because it is never easy to tear your own work up to create something new. Every piece of work one does is a compilation of years of experiences, hard work, and dedication. Destructing that is never easy because you’re breaking down what you put together. On top of that, it’s hard to shake the image of what the project looks like off as it’s already so ingrained in the brain.

Seeing Jørgen Leth’s struggle and resistance to Lars von Trier’s obstructions and restrictions is very interesting. There are definitely a lot of tension here and there as Leth tried to push back and defend his work (for example, when Leth defends for his Bombay piece). But what’s more interesting to me is to see how all the end results from the obstructions are essentially different from the original. I really like how setting limitations can really push someone to think outside the box because these limits forces people to do things that they wouldn’t have done in the normal setting. And I really like how limitations can push someone to create unexpected yet amazing work.

I think the 5th obstruction is a really well thought of way to tie the whole film together. And in my opinion, it’s von Trier’s love letter to Leth.