The Valley (Obscured by Clouds)

Deep philosophical and poetic time capsule film circa 1972. A main character seems like a young yet more wholesome Klaus Kinski. Lush scenery and intense authentic native tribal rituals. As 'decadent' civilized misfits trek deep into the jungle searching for paradise, they find bitter truths. Awesome soundtrack by The Pink Floyd. This is an 'idea' movie accompanied by a vibrant and wonderful landscape. This really could have happened exactly as portrayed in the film. If you want to know what it was like to be a globe trotting mystic hippie in 1972, this one is for you.

Without giving too much away, this is an intellectual road trip movie with a documentary atmosphere in many scenes. It is somewhat muddled for the first 15 minutes, but then you can really get into it (if you're ever going to). It relies on atmosphere more than plot, but it did have a clear meaning to me. Overall it's fairly sobering and I can't say it will leave you happy.

I didn't see this as a "hippie" film, rather a commentary on the human condition. One oddity was the interspersing of French subtitled dialog with segments of non-dubbed English. The scenery was very lush and I don't think a second of the film was shot in a studio.

People who didn't like this are probably in the short-attention-span crowd. I don't think this film has anything to do with being a Floyd fan. The music is mostly in the background and doesn't quite fit what you're watching anyway. Any number of low-key instrumental soundtracks may have made more sense. It really doesn't need music at all, except for the tribal chants. Only a few songs from the Floyd CD were apparent, but I know why they called the album "Obscured By Clouds."

It's not easy to do justice to La Vallee in a few sentences. It weaves adventure, anthropology, social criticism, nature, and relationships into a parable of self-revelation. The film focuses on Viviane, one of the beautiful people who know all good things except heart-felt passion. Literally by accident, her fascination with exotic feathers draws her into an expedition with a "family" of Utopian idealists. As they cross New Guinea in search of an isolated valley, Viviane simultaneously experiences a joyful odyssey across her suppressed inner landscapes. Sumptuously filmed events interlaced with moments of self-revelation transform Viviane from a pampered woman of the world to an impassioned child of nature, and beyond. Each character influences her personal quest differently: pragmatic enlightenment (Olivier), universal love (Hermine), visionary fanaticism (Gataen), oneness with nature (native tribe).

Outer and inner realities begin to merge, eventually reflecting and enhancing each other in mystical parallelism. She becomes possessed by a sense of seamless unity between her self and her environment. Feeling herself flow into the world around her is a joyful reward that richly compensates for forfeiting every accoutrement of civilization. Anyone expecting to see them giggling merrily over tropical drinks in a valley of palm trees and friendly monkeys is in for a rude shock. This is an honest film. Our little self-styled cult of postmodern zealots knows the price of following the inner path and they have prepared themselves to pay it fully. We do see their valley though we may not readily recognize it as paradise. The Valley obscured by clouds is the ultimate parallel symbol in this film of symbols: it is the undiscovered depths of ones being, and an enabling realm of detachment totally cut off from self-alienating civilizations. La Vallee marks a path by which one aspires to universal harmony through unfettered spiritual freedom.

Schroeder uses varying combinations of sound and picture as an expressive tool. As the story progresses, he steadily diminishes emphasis on words while increasing the importance of images. Conversations in rather bland settings dominate the first part of the film (excepting some rapt moments under the seductive spell of magic feathers). Gradually, visual elements gain prominence. The final scene is in the style of silent film, with only sparse dialog inserted like a few lines of printed text in a Chaplin movie. Our experience of this shift from word-biased content to image-biased content is also Viviane's experience as she gradually reaches into parts of herself that are beyond words. This structural analogy lets us join her inner transformation through our eyes and ears, thus making the abstract seem real. It also unifies style and substance in a way that contributes handsomely to the film's focus and intensity. Every aspect of this film was created solely by movie professionals. La Vallee is an impressive example of the unique potential of their craft.

Those who would turn to this film mostly to hear Pink Floyd's music should buy the CD instead. Three years later Pink Floyd released Wish You Were Here which has a similar theme. If you like Wish You Were Here, you will probably also like La Vallee.

This is a very interesting, but (unfortunately) underrated, film from the hippie era of the late 60's-early 70's that would make a great addition to any collector of this genre of film. Along with Schroeder's "More", Max Steuer's "The Committee", Roy Battersby's "The Body", Antonioni's "Zabriskie Point", and George Greenough's surfing documentary "Crystal Voyager", any fan of the music of early Pink Floyd should add this to their collection -- if they can find a copy. Unfortunately it is out of print...again. All 6 of these films *should* be released on DVD. Let's hope the distributors will realize the market potential.

The Valley is not for everyone's taste but is still worth a look. Sometimes looking like a cross between Jimi Hendrix's Rainbow Bridge and National Geographic, the Valley pretty much centers on the same themes of the former although it exhibits a much more lucid character development, not to mention poetic discourse. The Valley brings up many ideas of its era: free love, mind expanding drugs, psychedelic music, and ontological excursions. However, the foremost point seems to be a clash between the first and last cited, and sometimes presented sporadically.

The film follows a girl who latches on to group of hippies on an expedition for the `Valley obscured by Clouds.' Her primary motive is to collect rare feathers for her husband in France, but she inevitably falls in love with two of the hippies. Amongst their infidelities and hypocrisies, the group manages to find aid with a friendly New Guinea native tribe who slaughter pigs and perform ritualistic dances. Finally, the group makes their way back on the path, but do they?

Although somewhat slow at moments (i.e., the group's interaction with a peaceful African tribe) the Valley primarily has a steady pace; however, this minor flaw is (!) obscured by the beautiful cinematography and scenery. I enjoyed a large percentage of this film (especially the incidental music composed by Pink Floyd) but the ending a bit abrupt, a quality that may upset some viewers wanting more. Nevertheless, the Valley is still a great film with a beautiful story and beautiful images.

Note: about the music, if you're looking for another Pink Floyd album in this movie, forget it! As mentioned above, it's purely incidental and few of the Floyd's songs are in this film. Go buy the complete soundtrack in the stores.