Whoever coined the phrase ‘truth is stranger than fiction’ must have had this film in mind. Hollywood screenwriters wish they could come up with something like this (literally as it turns out, as a feature adaptation is slated for the future). The documentary itself tells a tale as old as time – boy meets girl, they fall in – then out – of love, boy disfigures girl’s face with acid and goes to prison, 16 years later they re-unite and get married. Oh how I love a happy ending.
So goes the twisted romance of Burt and Linda Pugach as they reset the benchmark for twisted romance. The pair – and those closest to them – recount the bizarre chain of events in standard talking heads format, the simplicity of the delivery underscoring by contrast the outlandishness of the incident in all its jaw dropping glory.
Ramping up the weirdness are the contributors themselves, most of whom carry themselves with a quiet, dignified insanity that is equal parts intoxicating, unsettling and darkly amusing. Style wise, there’s not much to this, but that ends up enhancing the en29d product. Not only does it allow you to focus solely on the story of the relationship, but it also lends it a cheap, lurid tabloid feel that is absolutely in keeping with the nature of what it presents.
Still, it’d be wrong to sum this up as simply a celluloid freak show. While a lot of the time you do feel like you’re rubbernecking at a car crash, by film’s end an elusive, intangible commentary on love and relationships seems to have been pieced together from the most unlikely of sources. Check it out and put your own dysfunctional relationship into perspective.
