Marwencol

2010 | Documentary | 83 minutes | In English

Info

On April 8, 2000, Mark Hogancamp was attacked and beaten outside of a bar when five thugs found out  he was a cross-dresser. After being in a coma for nine days, he spent an additional 40 days in the hospital. He was discharged when the hospital personnel felt they could not rehabilitate him. Mark was brain-damaged and could hardly walk, eat, or speak. Occupational therapy was an option, but without insurance Mark couldn’t afford it. However, he was determined “not to let those thugs win.” His self-designed therapy was to build a miniature World War II-era Belgian town in his yard he called Marwencol, a blending of Mark, Wendy, and Colleen.   He meticulously constructed the town’s infrastructure and inhabited it with the locals and with toy soldiers. His creation was discovered by photographer David Naugle, who deemed it a work of art. Mark was now torn between continuing to develop Marwencol or becoming an art celebrity.   

Why Stream This Film?
It’s one of the most  affecting, stirring, and inspiring character studies I’ve seen and, fortunately, it has been so expertly captured on film. 
  • Rotten Tomatoes Score (Critics Consensus): 98%
  • Metacritic Score: 82
Accolades
  • Winner, Best Documentary at these major film festivals: South  by Southwest (SXSW), Seattle International Film Festival, Woodstock Film Festival, Whistler Film Festival, Cleveland International Film Festival
  • Winner, Best Documentary: Boston Society of Film Critics
  • Entertainment Weekly: Listed in the article “50 Best Movies You’ve Never Seen”
  • SLATE Magazine: Marwencol listed #1 in the 2012 article “The Golden Age of Documentaries: the Best Docs of the Last 5 Years” 

Now streaming on:

Four years in the making, MARWENCOL emerges as a number of things: an absorbing portrait of an outsider artist; a fascinating journey from near-death to active life; a meditation on the brain’s ability to forge new pathways when old ones have been destroyed. Woven together by Jeff Malmberg—if not seamlessly, then with illuminating patience—these disparate strands honor an individual as unique as the miniature universe on which he depends. 
Jeannette Catsoulis

The New York Times

Watching MARWENCOL, Jeff Malmberg’s probing documentary on Hogancamp’s undertaking, is an exhilarating, utterly unique experience. The film isn’t standard man-triumphing-over-adversity fare, though that is the essence of the story. It is rather a celebration of the transformative power of art in coping with so many challenges people face—healthcare problems, post-traumatic disorders, and alternative lifestyles. 
Kevin Thomas

Los Angeles Times

YOU MIGHT ALSO CONSIDER:
Michael Collins 

Michael Collins 

The major part of the Irish War of Independence takes place from 1919 to 1921, between the Irish Republican Army (IRA) headed by Michael Collins and Éamon de Valera, and the British Army…

read more
Advocate

Advocate

Advocate is a film about Israeli human-rights lawyer Lea Tsemel as she tirelessly navigates through Israel’s judicial system defending Palestinian prisoners…

read more
All In: The Fight for Democracy

All In: The Fight for Democracy

This searing documentary traces the origins and history of voter suppression in American political history. We no longer require voters to pass incomprehensible literacy tests or pay poll taxes…

read more
Contact

If you found this site helpful, please recommend it to a friend. We also welcome your comments.

info@streaming-flix.com / call 917-439-3364

P.O. Box 20038
New York, N.Y. 10075

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published.

Tired of searching for what to stream?

Join our free email newsletter! A curated selection of the best TV shows and movies available, focusing on a different subject, genre, or theme every Friday.

You have Successfully Subscribed!