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Global
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The
production “Mas
Man” is one that
should be
introduced
and featured
at film
festivals
worldwide.
After all,
this
chronicles a
man whose
works and
creativity
have been
the visions
which
entranced
international
audiences
over the
years,
including at
the 48th
annual Miss
Universe
pageant, and
when more than
eighty
percent of
the world’s
population
was
encamped
around their
television
sets for
the full
opening
ceremonies
of no
less than
three
Olympics
(1992
Barcelona,
1996 Atlanta
and 2002
Salt Lake
City).
The
magnificence
and
challenges
of the games
that were
about to
unfold for
two weeks - were
envisioned
and launched
via the
mind of
Peter Minshall
as the
opening
ceremonies’
Artistic
Director.
Acclaimed
Carnival artist Peter Minshall
But as much
as he has
been
internationally
heralded,
Peter Minshall has
always
returned
home, to
where his
heart is.
And it is
against this
backdrop
that much of
Mas Man the
film,
unfolds.
Mas Man is
far more
than an
outstanding
documentary
film about a
great,
internationally-acclaimed, award-winning,
multi-talented
artist named
Peter Minshall,
who,
incidentally
is one of
the best in
the world at
what he
does. This
production
goes further
and
essentially
provides a
successful
definition
of the
question
“what is
this art
form called
‘Mas’?” In
the study and
highlighting
of
the genius
of Minshall,
we, the
audience,
are afforded
a glimpse
into the
very
obsession
that
Minshall
himself
expounds to
be far
greater than
him, or
any
individual -
“The Mas.”
“...Mas is
about taking
the essence
of a people
and
processing
it in such a
way that you
can
represent it
in a forum
that
has not
existed
before, but
which the
people will
immediately
recognize -
And lets
them (the
people) see
themselves
and
understand
their own
essence.”
- Todd Gulick
The film,
Mas Man, opens
with the
strategic
positioning of
Todd Gulick,
managing
director of
the Callaloo
Company,
explaining
what is ‘Mas.’
The
comprehension
of what is Mas is a
critical
component to
the understanding
of what
makes up
this complex
character
that is
Peter Minshall.
Mas Man goes
a long way
towards
successfully
allowing the
audience to
feel the
passion for
the art form
that burns
within Minshall,
and the
raging
indignation
and contempt
he holds for
those who
would
denigrate
the art form
by
design,
ignorance
and/or
lack of
talent
- for mere
profit.
For Minshall,
in
denigrating
the Mas, one
demeans and
severs the
continuity
of a story,
heritage and
life of a
people.
Life is art
- art is
life.
Visions
from
Minshall’s
1982
Carnival
presentation
‘Papillon’
And there
lies the
brilliance
of this
documentary
film
produced and
directed
by
film maker,
(and steelpan
historian
and pan man) Dalton Narine; by Minshall
allowing
this
selfless
examination
of his life
work and to
a certain
extent, his
philosophies
and beliefs.
We, the
viewers
leave with
a better
understanding
and
appreciation
of ourselves
- and the
dynamics of
life -
through art
and culture.
Indeed, Minshall is
Trinidadian
and the
stories he
tells
through his
creations
are those of
Trinidad &
Tobago, but the
themes of
self-examination,
self-empowerment,
epic battles
between good
and evil,
and
realization
of beauty
through art
- are
universal
concepts and
needs that
everyone can
identify
with and relate to.
From
Paradise
Lost (1976)
to The
Sacred Heart
(2006),
Peter Minshall has
had a
special love
affair with
the people
of Trinidad
and Tobago
through his
Carnival
productions.
Minshall
himself says
in this film
that:
“....real art
was being made
all around me...the real art is literally emerging from the streets
- Mas is a powerful, communicative expression of the spiritual and
physical energy of human beings, and that is as good a definition of
Art as you will get anywhere. Mas is a combination of music, dance and sculpture and painting. It communicates with gesture and movements. It is danced. It is played. And then to double up the emphasis and to say -
‘I goin’ to play a
Mas!’ - cannot reduce that to a few feathers and beads and a little bourgeois jump-up, and when it gets too hot, you go under the sprinkler!” -
Peter
Minshall
Narine
brilliantly captures and
essentially
televises
the essence
of Minshall’s
significance
-
and by
extension,
the
greatness of
the Trinidad
& Tobago Mas art form.
It is
accomplished through a
series of
personal
interviews
and
testimonies with
Mas Man,
reflective
stories by
those who
have worked
closely with
him, and
images and video
clips of Minshall’s
works.
In fact,
there is no
narrator. Narine lets
Minshall
himself,
his work and
those close
to him- do
all the
talking.
Film maker
Narine
cleverly
allows the
lead
protagonist
of this
documentary
to be the
‘work’
itself (the
genius and
artistic
expression) of Minshall
- which is
consistent,
with Minshall’s
philosophies
and own approach
to his
productions.
Self-examination,
the magic
and depth of
Trinidad &
Tobago
culture, both
figuratively
and
literally,
and of
course the
epic battles
between good
and evil - are
central
themes to Minshall’s
works.
Narine
adequately
documents
both
artistic and
“cerebral”
growth by
examining
Minshall’s
influences
and
Trinidad
& Tobago’s Carnival
works from
year to
year.
Visions
from Minshall’s
“Papillon”
creation
Mas Man
shows how Minshall,
through the artistry
of his Mas
presentations,
speaks for
the common
man, the
voiceless
and the
disadvantaged. Minshall
clearly
understands
the enormity
of the art
form - its
socio-political and
spiritual
contexts and
ramifications
- as did other
nationals of
his country
who, too, have
created
genius
works.
The steelpan
music
arrangements
of Clive
Bradley, the
writings of
the
country’s
first prime
minister Eric
Williams,
the steelpan
innovations
and
inventions
of Anthony
Williams and
Bertie
Marshall - are
some that immediately
come to
mind.
In addition,
Dalton
Narine,
through Mas
Man
and in Minshall, was able to
quantify
that ‘thing’
which defines
the context
for
greatness -
the ability
to produce
excellent works that
have global
outreach, appreciation
and
implications,
and that
capacity
to do it
again and
again, and
the courage
to embrace
and express
in those
works, one’s traditions
-
without
apology.
Mas - “It’s
like theater
but it is
not scripted,
per say...
It has very
powerful
visual
elements
almost
always, even
if it is
down to the
naked body. Mas
necessarily
implies
performance
- you cannot
have a mas
without
performance
it is a
performance
art...” -
Todd Gulick
In
Mas Man
we see
Minshall
exhorting,
almost
pleading
with his supporters,
masqueraders,
and viewers of
his work
(especially
the latter), to
recognize
that
through
their own
history and
very
present-day
existence,
that there
is regal
greatness in
they
themselves,
and that
aspect
cannot be
denied, granted, or
bestowed. Minshall is
essentially
saying “it’s
an innate
part of your
DNA and
heritage -
which starts
by
recognizing
that
greatness.”
Moreover,
when you
participate
in “Mas” you
embrace that
part of you.
Mas is life
and one of
the highest
forms of
human
expression.
Conclusion:
Peter
Minshall is
an artistic
genius.
His
creativity
and
productivity
are
unquestioned,
unchallenged
and
unparalleled.
His place is
in the
annals
of high
theater -
for the
people, by
the people -
the telling
of their stories
is assured.
Dalton
Narine was
able to
capture the
importance
of this
individual.
He was able
to put
together a
production
through Mas
Man, that
showcases
the mindset
of the man -
through Minshall’s
own words,
but even
more
importantly
through the
words of the
people affected
by his work
- the
audience,
the
craftsmen,
the
performers,
his peers.
Acclaimed
Carnival
artist
Peter
Minshall
Minshall,
like other
great
artists of
Trinidad and
Tobago -
is
unabashedly
and
unapologetically
aware of the
presence,
richness and
legacy of
the
country’s
history,
arts and
culture.
He is proud,
but
cognizant
and
remorseful
for the
current
unimaginative
and
sometimes
ignorant
group of mas
promoters
and their
prevalence. In
the words of
Minshall,
Mas cannot
be “reduced to
feathers and
beads.”
Minshall is
a Trinidad
and Tobago
treasure,
who understands
the value of
those Mas
creators who
came before
him, but he
is also very
conscious of
his own
contributions
to that
legacy.
Mas Man’s film director, pan man and
steelpan historian - Dalton Narine
Film maker
Dalton
Narine was
able to
successfully bring
the
contradictions, modesty,
denial of
self-importance
coupled with
the
necessary
arrogance of Minshall, to
the big
screen
through Mas Man. Mas
Man shows Minshall
found a way
to express
that which
was already
exploding
within him.
Furthermore,
through his
artistry,
creativity
and the
embodiment
of same
through and
by his
legions of faithful
masqueraders, Minshall
time and
again
articulated
with
all its
contradictions,
the social
landscape around him
and his
people, both
on the
national and
global scale
- for the
eyes of the
beholders.
As the film
maker,
Dalton
Narine is
not cowed by
and is
unafraid of,
the
magnificence
of the
creativity
of the
Mas Man
himself,
Peter Minshall,
and
deliberately
goes about
the
expression
and
celebration
of
Minshall’s
life’s work
to date,
without
diminishing
the man
himself in
any way, but
maintaining
the full
‘glare’ of the
spotlight on
the subject
matter
itself - the
work of
Peter Minshall.
What we see,
and more
importantly
what we
learn or
leave with
from the
production,
is directly
attributed
to director
Dalton
Narine.
And in this
light Narine
has put
together a
winner.
Director Narine has
done
a masterful
job.
He is a man
with the
confidence, depth of
knowledge,
and vastness
of
experiences
to
adequately
pull this
off.
And Emmy
Award winner Peter Minshall,
himself, is
about
unbridled
passion;
insane
commitment; courage; exuberance; a continuous quest for
knowledge;
giving
voice to
truth;
feeding that
insatiable global thirst for
excellence;
and
bettering of
the human
condition.
All this is captured
in “Mas Man,”
by a Pan
Man -
director
Dalton
Narine.
More on Mas
Man, the
movie -
MasManTheMovie.com.
Highlights
of
Mas Man’s New York
screening
Contact
Dalton
Narine -
narine67@bellsouth.net
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