The great Catfish hoax?

  In her most recent blog post, film-maker Louisa Mayman gives her opinion that she appreciates short film 'Catfish' even more because of questions about whether it is a "hoax" or not.

  For me, this brings up the question of whether anything put down on film is really "true". By nature, a ninety minute film (let alone a five minute short) has to leave out huge amounts of background, and documentary makers are often confounded by real life not happening in easy-to-cut two minute tableaus.

  A 'real-life' documentary is not necessarily any more representative of reality than a biopic, for example. In fact, because of the constraints of time and the imperative of using real footage in documentaries, matched with the ability of screenwriters to composite characters and significant events, and also to distil emotion, I would say it's possible that a biopic could, in theory, be more representative of real life than a documentary. I am not saying there actually ARE any examples of such films being more real, but Hollywood has certainly latched on to the idea that the phrase 'based on a true story' adds something to a film.

  Personally I dread those words when watching films (I won't be going to see '127 Hours', for example), however, I did find 'Into the Wild' to be a very good example of how Hollywood can transform real life in to something truly poignant and moving. Before I watched it, I didn't know that it was based on a true story, and I was genuinely moved by the end - which was compounded by knowing that this had happened to a real person.

  But that's the thing about Hollywood's 'based-on' products - they tend to over-simplify; they tend to have an over-arching theme or moral, and they are essentially geared to come to an emotional climax. One simply doesn't get the background and context in the film that you do even from a short newspaper report, for example. In truth, 'Into the Wild' didn't happen to a real person. The true story of protagonist Chris McCandless is perhaps even more tragic, but certainly less moving. The film is the story of the tragic death of a glittering individual. The true story is somewhat more ambiguous - and suggestions have been made that far from the romance of Hollywood, that this is, in reality, a tale of a young man who caused his own death through recklessness, and lack of any form of preparation - who could have lived had he only carried such things as map and compass, or some tinned food. McCandless' actions were described by an Alaskan Park Ranger as "[not] even particularly daring, just stupid, tragic and inconsiderate."

  So while 'Catfish' may or may not be a "hoax", I'd rather enjoy it as a film - because I know the reality wouldn't match up anyway.