In 2013, a camera crew gained access to one of the most independent, secluded, and private societies in the world. Having the opportunity to interview members of such a private culture is, for many, a rare, once-in-a-lifetime chance to see how the other side lives. Indeed, the team behind What We Do in the Shadows—a documentary directed by Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi—no doubt found themselves asking the same questions that one often asks: What makes them truly different from us?
In a nutshell, What We Do in the Shadows is an examination of the inherent darkness found within human society. The film asks its audience to reframe its preconceived social and cultural expectations. Clement and Waititi’s film asks us to let go of our privileged positions in favour of adopting a worldview that approaches respectability. In short, What We Do in the Shadows asks its audience to treat its subjects—Viago, Vladislav, Deacon, and Petyr—with fairness, equality, and respect.
This group of four men—and yes, dear readers, I use the word men because I pride myself on my pursuit of progress—together share a combined age of almost 10,000. They have witnessed history’s perversions and they’ve been subject to the ever-developing cultural landscape produced by a species capable of enacting cataclysmic change.
As I continue this review, be warned that I do not advocate for the use of the term, and that I simply use the term due to its use in this film. For lack of a better word, Viago, Vladislav, Deacon, and Petyr are vampires. As an audience, we watch Clement and Waititi’s film and we see these men act in the typical—some might even say stereotypical—manner that popular fiction has cast their species. They fly, drink blood, avoid sunlight, transform into animal familiars, and their reflections are invisible in mirrors.
However, where Clement and Waititi succeed—indeed, where all great documentaries should succeed—is in their use of the camera as an observational and effective tool. Though we see the vampires act like vampires, one never gets the impression that Clement and Waititi attempt to oppress or demean the behaviours of the four men. Instead, the camera acts as a powerful instrument of observation, while Clement and Waititi often avoid commenting on the actions of the people we see onscreen. As a result, the film allows its audience to connect with the people they observe—we’re given the opportunity to form our own conclusions about the vampires as they live their lives in New Zealand.
Interesting, of course, is the film’s setting of Wellington. Due to centuries of culturally insensitive portrayals of vampires—made even worse due to Bram Stoker’s Dracula securing a status within the cultural imaginary—one must excuse the average human for not understanding the vampire identity. As Clement and Waititi show, vampires are welcoming, inviting and kind people. They drink, they imbibe, they eat—humans, of course, but the point still stands. Most importantly, they long for the comforts of their former human lives—a point often ignored in popular literature simply because the “Vampire” genre often refuses to paint vampires as normal people. Wellington, a city full of warm-hearted, inviting folks, seems the perfect environment for a socially-interested vampire to spend their time.
There are caveats to this film, however. Clement and Waititi are human; therefore, they often succumb to the human need to frame events and observations within the realm of prose and story. What We Do in the Shadows—a documentary in the same vein as Pennebaker’s Don’t Look Back—turns the real lives of four people into a proper three-structure narrative. That is to say, What We Do in the Shadows features conflict: between the vampires and werewolves, between the vampires and humans, and between vampires and themselves.
One excuses Clement and Waititi simply because they are not vampires themselves. The use of their positions of privilege to allow marginalized members of the vampire race to voice their opinions, hopes, fears, and concerns is admirable—though What We Do in the Shadows often seems a tad exploitative. This sense of exploitation is eased as one never sees or hears Clement and Waititi from behind the camera. The audience only hears from the vampire cast.
Ultimately, Clement and Waititi’s film is an ambitious production, as it attempts to educate its audience—and allow them to unlearn their learned prejudices—in as many ways as possible.
A brief aside: What We Do in the Shadows is very much a mockumentary, though the grander inferences one can make about race relations—and documentary filmmaking—remain evident. This is a film that serves as an educational piece on both how to handle complex race relations, but also how to create wonderful documentary cinema.