Educational Media Reviews Online

A PBS “P.O.V.” series feature, in No Bigger than a Minute, filmmaker Steven Delano, himself a (to use his own, preferred term ) dwarf, seeks to give voice and a higher and notably non-skewed look at dwarves and dwarfism. Via archival footage and interviews, Delano is able to explain his own and his family’s and friends’ experiences as he grew up with the genetic variation. As the film progresses, the filmmaker interviews other dwarves, eliciting their own experiences in personal hardships, growth, and progression.

Delano skims his mother’s, cousin’s, and father’s friends’ memories of his own childhood, and finds that while concerned, his family was supportive of him and pushed him to do whatever he wanted, whatever he could. Notably, the filmmaker never grew up around anyone else with dwarfism, and never met another “little person” until he was 35. Throughout the film, Delano occasionally revisits his past—for example, mentioning his college life. He did not “fit in,” of course, by merely donning conventional college-type clothing; but the director expresses that in this and other instances, he faced what it was to “[grow] up short.”

Interviews with other dwarves are somewhat evocative, but most touch only superficially on their personal experiences in growing up and internalizing what many people would doubtlessly see as a handicap. Certainly, some of the interview scenes betray a disgust with society at large or suspicions of personal unhappiness, but these emotions are never really explained or expounded upon. More troubling is the fact that the other dwarves on whom any real film time is spent are themselves involved in the entertainment industry. This is at least somewhat antithetical to Delano’s assertion that there exists a global “imposed celebrity status that dwarves don’t ask for.” The filmmaker would do No Bigger than a Minute a huge service by, then, presenting members of the alluded-to “Little People of America [LPA] Convention,” many of whom, surely, do not want – nor do they seek – celebrity status.

Interestingly, one interviewee, himself a well-known and lauded actor, evinces reticence to join larger organizations like the LPA; he seems angry toward the overall movement, perhaps; but this is simply not explained at enough depth. On something of the other hand, though, another interviewee expresses his issues with the conventions, noting the need for tools and resources from them. This sentiment, though, is mitigated in so far as the speaker stars in “Little People, Big World,” an arguably exploitative “reality show” about little people. Would that representatives of the LPA or non-actors we interviewed to counterbalance the narrative, allowing viewers into many sides of the diverse experiences of little people – not just a media-oriented subset therein.

And again, Delano’s anecdote of a subway station, where a clearly deranged woman began screaming, “Chucky! Chucky!”, after the name of the pop-cultural demonically murderous doll, does not authentically come across as being indicative of the experiences of other little people nor is it necessarily a demonstration of the real obstacles faced by dwarves. Lots of deranged people scream a lot of deranged things to everyone, after all.

In interviewing “Bushwick Bill” of the hardcore rap group “Geto Boys,” Delano admits that he does not want to see stories of dwarves that “overc[o]me obstacles” or that are “just like you and me…. That bores the heck out of me.” Perhaps unfairly to the film’s ethos and the filmmaker’s intent, though, this might be what viewers want to learn. And even barring audiences’ desires, the question is made obvious: what, then, is the film showing?

A mix of animation inserted into the “straight” interviews and footage is momentarily diverting, but even in these instances of whimsy, a heavy hand seems to be pushing a hazy agenda. For instance, the filmmaker, staged before a theatre curtain, reads a purported dictionary entry on “midgets” in which the increasingly odd synonyms come to include “dusty butt.” This is surely not a term from any dictionary, and a brief Internet search produces a number of meanings. (True, it might mean a person of short stature, but also can apparently denote a “cheap prostitute” or a bicycling move.) These interludes feel cloying and forced.

There are great elements in No Bigger than a Minute – the archival and film footage of the treatment and portrayal of little people is visually arresting and offers many opportunities for further exploration into dwarfism that audiences would not generally see – but these are too short, and nothing substantive is made of these episodes. (For instance, some exposition and theorizing regarding the ridiculous and exploitative 1938 film The Terror of Tiny Town – an “all dwarf” Western movie –, perhaps more insight into the use of little people in Browning’s Freaks, or some thoughts into the carnival sideshows that employed dwarfs…. Anything of this sort would fill the documentary out much, much more.) It is surely telling that Delano thinks of himself more as a filmmaker than as someone “short,” because his strengths lie in a wonderfully kaleidoscopic montage of film scenes! If only that subtext were heightened into the film’s overall narrative.

Incidental scenes such as Delano’s meeting with a geneticist who explains (but too briefly) some of the science behind dwarfism, developing a musical score based on his own genetic sequence, and lightly investigating the threat of – like the coming possibilities with other conventionally “undesirable” traits – in utero abortion (in the interests of the parents or of the insurance companies, asks Delano trenchantly)…. It is these scenes that could have been expanded and wrapped into the personal narratives of the filmmaker and his interviewees.

As it is, No Bigger than a Minute presents an interesting view of a filmmaker looking a dwarfism, but an incomplete look at dwarfism itself. The film is, then, marginally recommended for students of film, perhaps, but not recommended overall for libraries and other repositories with an emphasis in disability studies and film studies. Notably, there is a classroom-friendly feature on the DVD which “bleeps” the occasionally rough language.

Awards

• CINE Golden Eagle Award
• Silver Plaque, Hugo Television Awards
• Director’s Citation, Black Maria Film and Video Festival
• Award of Excellence and Spirit of Superfest Award, Superfest International Disability Film Festival
• Best Short Form Documentary, ReelHeART International Film Festival