A matter of life and death A matter of life and death (October 03, 2003)

A new film explores three women facing life, love and death

By Robyn Israel

Viewers might recoil when they first sit down to watch "Liberty: 3 Stories About Life and Death." The documentary's first scene spotlights Joyce Fulton in her Los Altos home, just two days before her death from a brain tumor.

Viewers who get past the grim opening images of Mountain View filmmaker Pam Walton's movie will discover a celebration of life via an exploration of death.

"Let's face it. This film isn't for everyone," said Walton. "But I think the film has an appeal. It's about what makes life worth living, what gives life joy and meaning. A huge part of that is community, connecting with other people, loving other people, supporting other people."

The 70-minute documentary, which screened Sunday at the Spangenberg Theatre in Palo Alto, is divided into three segments devoted to the trials of three women, all of whom knew each other. They are part of a larger circle of lesbian friends who live primarily in the Bay Area.

Part one, entitled "Death to Life," chronicles Fulton, who died in 1999 from brain cancer at 66. Her tale is told in reverse, with viewers first meeting Fulton in her last days, when she is so ill she can barely speak or breathe. Her painful surgery and radiation are depicted onscreen; then the film goes back in time, to the first few days after her diagnosis in 1997, revealing a vibrant, engaging woman who enjoyed sharing life with her partner of 20 years, Anne Prescott.

"I wanted to bring her back to life. It gave me a lot of pleasure to watch her get well," said Walton, whose last film, "Call to Witness," was broadcast on 15 PBS stations.

It was Fulton's illness that inspired Walton to make the film, as a means of coping with the imminent loss of a dear friend she had known for 30 years. The camera, she said, was like a shield that allowed her to observe Fulton without having to interact with her. Instead, it was Walton's partner and the film's associate director, Ruth Carranza, who spoke more with the subjects.

"I didn't do too well with her death at all," Walton said of Fulton, who had taught social studies at Woodside High School for 36 years (she was also named teacher of the year for San Mateo County and for California in 1994). "Joyce was transformed by that illness."

One scene depicts Fulton at a barbershop in Los Gatos, where she is having her hair shorn prior to surgery. Surrounded by friends and loved ones, she has her hair cut in stages, playfully experimenting with different styles until she is finally bald. At that point, her friend Carol Benoit comes up to her and plants a kiss, sealed with red lipstick, on the back of her head.

"I just think that if I were faced with that situation, I might just want to curl up in a ball," Walton said. "Joyce didn't. She almost celebrated that event.

"Her death experience was very courageous. She wasn't at all afraid of being videotaped."

The second segment, "Life to Death," is devoted to Mary Bell Wilson, who died in August 2000 from lymphoma at age 79. Whereas Fulton's story is about community and support in the face of death, Wilson's is about an individual's seven-year struggle with cancer and the struggle to stay alive. Much of the segment shows Wilson in her Woodside home, dancing to the music of Aretha Franklin as she enjoys the company of partner Kenan Neese and 10-year-old twins Matthew and Christina Thomas, for whom she was an honorary grandmother.

Unlike Fulton's story, Wilson's is told in chronological order, beginning four years before her death.

"Mary Bell was a good friend, but I didn't feel as badly about her death. She had a wonderful, full life, and was close to 80 when she died," Walton said. "For that reason, it made sense to tell her story in the correct, chronological order."

The film's final segment, "Life," takes viewers to New York City, where they encounter Nan Golub, a lively artist and painter. Unlike Fulton and Wilson, she is physically healthy, but still haunted by the sexual abuse she sustained as a child. Viewers discover a humorous woman who channels her anger and hurt into creative pursuits.

"She's one of the most alive people I know," Walton said. "She has a significant amount of pain in her life, but she doesn't let it destroy her."

Golub reminisces about Fulton and Wilson, both of whom she knew when she lived in Woodside. She draws a whimsical "family tree" that shows the interconnectedness of all three women and their close community of friends.

A secondary theme in the film is the Statue of Liberty, which figures prominently throughout the piece, both literally and metaphorically.

"It's kind of intriguing to put liberty and death together in the same title," Walton said. "(But) there is something liberating about death."

"Liberty" premiered in August at the 7th annual InFACT Theatrical Documentary Showcase in Hollywood, which automatically qualifies the film for Academy Award consideration. Its inclusion in the showcase came as a surprised Walton, who feared the film would not appeal to a broader audience.

"It was very gratifying to know they liked it, to know they saw something in it besides this community of women. That was my fear: it wouldn't communicate with anyone outside of the people who knew Mary Bell and Joyce. But obviously it has."

Asked why "Liberty" has resonated with a larger audience, Walton said it has partly to do with the film's structure, particularly the backward storytelling evident in the first segment.

"That's one of the things that makes it different, that gives it appeal. It keeps you drawn into the story," she said. "I love films that make me think, 'Oh, now I get that.' That sort of experience."

Not all of Walton's colleagues agreed with her decision to structure her film that way. She showed it to Bay Area filmmaker Deborah Hoffman ("The Times of Harvey Milk"), who found the beginning too rough and intrusive.

But Walton stuck with it.

"That painful beginning will make what comes later even more wonderful, in the sense that Joyce was such a wonderful, beautiful person."

Walton hopes to see "Liberty" used an educational tool for hospice and healthcare professionals, as well as for university courses that address sociology, women's studies, gay and lesbian studies, and death and dying.

"It would also be a good thing for doctors to see, because they often don't view their patients with enough humanity," Walton said.

She is also planning to submit "Liberty" to a number of local festivals, including Cinequest, the San Francisco International Film Festival and the San Francisco International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. Alyce Myatt, a scout for PBS' "Independent Lens," has also expressed interest.