essay 3 rough draft

Jason Wang
November 5, 2007

Analysis of Brett Kashmere's “Valery's Ankle”


Brett Kashmere sets out to focus on one of the most dramatic events in hockey history, the 1972 Canada-Russia Summit Series. In the series, the long-haired, brash and talented Canadians faced the disciplined Russians when the shot heard around Canada occurred: Bobby Clarke slashes at Russian Valery Kharlamov's ankles with his stick and Valery's ankle snaps. Kashmere's film begins with the speech of Bobby Clarke, the flashy Canadian forward, but then the film evolves into something more than just a documentary. Eventually, Kashmere creates an entire film collage of some of the most vicious acts in the sport of hockey, set to the background sounds of Kashmere's own haunting narrative. Although the artist, Brett Kashmere, never actually experienced the 1972 Summit Series firsthand, it is clear that the essay film “Valery's Ankle” begins to serve as an archive for the expression of his own experiences. (Valery’s Ankle)
Strangely, at the end, the film begins to intermingle a modern reenactment of the 1972 Summit Series, starring Kashmere himself as a Canadian star, with the brutal scenes of the actual event. Perhaps Kashmere ran out of footage of the 1972 Summit Series, but the reenactment not only demonstrates the scenes leading up to the main event, but it also alerts viewers further to the personal connections Kashmere has with his film. As a young boy, Kashmere played hockey himself until about the age of fourteen or fifteen when he quit. Brett Kashmere says he was always one of the smallest boys on his team and one can infer that he himself definitely did not appreciate the roughness of hockey. After describing the events of the 1972 Summit Series, the film moves on to a collection of of violent hockey scenes. National Hockey League (NHL) team players fistfight each other, tomahawk each other with their sticks and check each other viciously into the sidelines. Many Canadian NHL teams are shown and different players are mentioned to be part of the scenes made up of violence, gore and dazed victims, all in the context of hockey. The genre of “Valery's Ankle” is an essay film because Kashmere narrates an essay complete with questions and a theme in the background of the movie images. The theme of “Valery's Ankle” involves violence in hockey and how it relates to Canadian culture and social history. To highlight these themes, Kashmere begins slowly with an explanation of the 1972 Canada-Russia Summit Series in order for viewers to understand this most significant event in sport history and know its relation to Canadian history. After this, Kashmere adds an onslaught of violent hockey scenes. Soon, slow tinkling music slows the action as Kashmere zooms in on the one violent act that unites them all, the slashing of Valery's ankle. The scene freezes, the tinkling music continues, the picture blurs and Kashmere's narrative with the many questions continues. In his narrative, Brett Kashmere explains his own childhood history as the tinkling bells music plays. The tinkling bells make the atmosphere seem mysterious and dark. It shocks viewers and promotes more questions from the mysterious feelings it evokes, while further enhancing the negative thoughts concerning the hockey violence in the film. The fast-paced action adds another piece of shock value to Kashmere's film because violent acts reel through the film quickly without stopping, allowing no time for viewers to stop and think, only to be thrown along for the dark ride filled hockey violence. Furthermore, Kashmere utilizes another technique persistent in most documentaries, commentary and facts that appear over a blank black background. These commentaries and facts with the violent hockey scenes equally appear at a fast pace. In one such fact, Valery Kharlamov mentions how Bobby Clarke seemed intent on harming him the entire series. In another quick factoid, the tragic early death of Kharlamov is mentioned. Is Kasmere being purposefully sympathetic towards the Russian? (Valery’s Ankle)
In Critical Art Ensemble's “Video and Resistance: Against Documentaries”, Critical Art Ensemble, the authors, conceive an entire argument against documentaries. Many of the points made in this article apply to Brett Kashmere's film. Obviously, “Video and Resistance: Against Documentaries” disapproves of documentaries, believing the art form to allow for the portrayal of biased views. Critical Art Ensemble gives the example of how sometimes filmmakers accelerate the pace of their film to further drive their opinions into the brains of viewers, without allowing viewers to think for themselves. In addition, inaccuracies existed in the first documentaries when facts and reality were misconstrued. Brett Kashmere's film can be considered as a documentary. Kashmere's film contains many attributes of the art form, including the portrayal of a historical event, with film clippings, the addition of facts and different interviews, but Kashmere's film “Valery's Ankle” is considered an essay film because it does branch away from the typical documentary. All of the faults Critical Art Ensemble finds with documentaries begin to appear in Kashmere's film, including a fast pace and certain obscurities. Kashmere never continues to delve into Canadian history or the entire context surrounding the violence in all the hockey games pictured. “I'm not an expert on hockey, hockey violence, or social violence”, writes Kashmere (E-mail page?). “In creating a documentary, one small adjustment could be made with minimal disturbance to the traditional model-to announce for a given work that the collection of images presented have already been fully digested within a specialized cultural perspective”, writes Critical Art Ensemble (46). Remarkably, Kashmere never falls into this trap of claiming full authority. Kashmere speaks about his own experiences as a hockey player directly in the film and also when he presents his film. It becomes obvious that Kashmere's own experiences contribute to the attitude of the film. What is the significance of “Valery's Ankle”? For every piece of art, there usually is an audience and a subject matter. (Valery’s Ankle)
Considering Brett Kashmere first begins by describing the 1972 Summit Series, one begins to wonder about the actual significance of this event. It was the first tournament to provide where the lines between amateur and pro hockey did not exist. Anyone could play and there was much dispute over who should represent Canada. “It was hockey of the highest caliber”. In the end Canada “defended its national pride” because Canada one the series in a heated 6-5 final game. (Podnieks) One thoughtful question is whether or not Canada would have won the series if Kharlamov was not injured. Would history have changed if Bobby Clarke did not slash Kharlamov's ankle and Canada lost? Possibly, the sport of hockey would be less violent without this one hallmark event, representing the most grotesque of violent acts. “One intention was to present a revisionist history of Canada-Soviet Summit Series, which is now so ingrained in the national mythology. And secondly, to use that series as a starting point for the construction of an alternative history of hockey in North America”, answers Brett Kashmere. With this intention in mind, “Valery's Ankle” can be classified as new genre public art.
Miwon Kwon writes about community based art in her book One Place After Another Site-Specific Art and Locational Identity, including many passages about new genre public art. In Kwon's passage about how to find a community that an artist addresses and involves, one art critic, Grant Kester, mentions, “a sense of specific, personal identification with civil and human right issues has nurtured our practice...We are from inside the belly of the beast trying to be responsible for and to people and things seriously wronged and wrong, that need work all around us in our immediate environment.” (Kwon) Brett Kashmere's work of art evolved from a simple documentary of a sporting event to a form of new genre public art because Kashmere's piece attempts to involve the community. Kashmere tries to make audiences think about the significance of a past event. “Valery's Ankle” reminds viewers of a significant turning point in history and it continues to attempt to cause readers to consider the harms of sport violence. The audience for “Valery's Ankle” is the general hockey fan, a fan who would be affected by the seeing the scenes of violence. It is true that many factors influence violence in sport including a psychological issue, people’s strange enjoyment of aggression, social dynamics and the media (Goldstein).
Since hockey is a sport the Canadians invented, does it make sense that Canadian hockey players would protect their sport at all cost and, in effect, win at all cost during international competitions? This relate to Kashmere’s creation of an alternate history. If Canada did not win, maybe hockey would be less violent. Kashmere wants the audience to think about this and other alternate histories to bring social awareness to a personal cause. This is why “Valery’s Ankle” would be considered new genre public art.
Hockey is comparably different from American football because of its fast-paced action, as dangerous blades cover player's skates and player's carry long sticks. Football is a slow and strategic sport, much like chess, even though athleticism and violent hits are also promoted. It is obvious that the issue of violence in sports is common around the world. The Todd Bertuzzi incident shown in the film where Bertuzzi tackles and punches an unaware player with his back turned the NHL has further evolved to have more strict rule and flashy new uniforms to encourage audiences of hockey to appreciate skating skills rather than violence. Obviously, this issue of sports violence is that is still common today.
The brutality of the hockey scenes shown in Valery's Ankle obviously demonstrates a violent sport history, but in an age today, violence sells, as medical precautions and rules have changed. The film Valery's Ankle is still a unique starting point to begin analyzing the history of sport itself and the social history of Canada. Valery’s Ankle is a perfect example of new genre public art because it involves a community, hockey fans, particularly Canadians. The film makes a statement and makes viewer think.

Critical Art Ensemble. "Video and Resistance." The Electronic Disturbance: 37-46.

Goldstein, Jeffrey H., ed. Sports Violence.

Kwon, Miwon. One Place After Another: Site-Specific Art and Locational Identity. Cambridge: The MIT P, 2002. 1-218.

Podnieks, Andrew. Kings of the Ice : a History of World Hockey.

Valery's Ankle. Dir. Brett Kashmere.