This past weekend I sat down to watch Jessica Yu’s documentary Protagonist. I’ve been meaning to see the film for quite some time now (I’ve had it for at least 3 months from Netflix..eeek!) and I was excited to finally watch it. Yu’s unconventional doc combines the stories of 4 very different men,  reenactments performed by wooden-rod puppets modeled after Greek masks, animated title cards based on Euripides and more puppet performances also based on Euripides.

The men who all tell their stories have little in common except that they all faced obstacles in their lives that led them to commit in an intense way to a specific belief or action and after that path came crashing down each man came to a realization about their life. The stories of the men are captivating and even int he beginning before the stories between to connect you can’t help but watch. The reason they are so interesting? Each man paints a different picture of what it means to be a man in today’s society - and how notions of masculinity are changing.

Combined with the beautiful puppetry and Euripides words, Yu presents a complex portrait of growing up and accepting who one is. Each of the men in her film face tough decisions, but in the end realize that it’s OK to be yourself, which may seem like a somewhat cheesy moral except for the fact that many people don’t actually know that they are OK.

Here’s a link to some pieces that explore the film more in depth:

• http://www.protagonistthemovie.com/press.html

Watch the trailer below and also takepart to learn more about one of the protagonists in particular, Joe Loya, a former bank robber who now writers and speaks about his experiences.