I'm sure you've seen this clip on Youtube before. It's a series of outtakes from an industrial commercial for Winnebago RVs. The man is Jack Rebney, and it looks like it's the worst day of his life. The tape has been going around for quite a while now, first circulating as an endless stream of VHS copies, then viral video fame on Youtube.
One filmmaker, Ben Steinbauer, asked himself a question: who the heck is this guy, and what happened to him?
So he made a documentary about it. Enter Winnebago Man.
At first the film seems like a commentary on internet celebrities and fame, but the documentary goes further than that. Thanks to a few intriguing twists and turns, the story turns out far more complex than initially perceived. The filmmaker paints a picture of a man with many contradictions: wanting to be isolated, yet yearning to be heard. At times calm, well spoken and verbose, and at other times still as hot tempered as the guy we saw in the clip. But deep inside he's just a really nice guy who wants to be understood, in the face of this sudden internet notoriety that he doesn't fully understand.
We're approaching a culture whose boundaries are smaller than ever before, and one whose media is shaped not only by the creators, but by the audience as well. But then again, that really isn't the point of this movie. Though we do not know much about Jack's past, or his life before, but by film's end you get a sort of understanding of the person he really is.
Oddly the film's final message is kind of appropriate: this raw moment of one person's frustration over a really bad shoot on a really bad day becomes a symbol of sorts for standing up to adversity in the human condition. Or, shit happens. We just have to live with it sometimes - and sometimes, there are people like Jack that help us along the way.
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