Naked World: America Undercover
Naked World: America Undercover
| 25 June 2003 (USA)
Naked World: America Undercover Trailers

One year. Seven continents. More than 6,000 naked people--all willing to bare all for Spencer Tunick in the name of art. This globally scaled follow-up to the America Undercover documentary Naked States finds the celebrated and controversial artist at work on his most ambitious project: a one-year trek to all seven continents to shoot people in the nude--individually, in groups and against various man-made and natural backdrops.

Reviews
jaroslaw99

I will say that I rented it for the nudity but tried watching the documentary. This guy Spencer Tunick is such a flake and so arrogant. He is asked what makes a bunch of naked people standing around so special and he can't really even defend his own actions. He has a partner who comes across brainy, but then talks and talks without saying much. I would say the most artistic thing in the whole 76 minute movie is some naked people on beautiful rocks by the ocean. As if that hasn't been done a million times by other photographers. Amazing that he could get so many people to get naked for free. Oh, what I mean by flakey? He says in one shoot something like "Only 400 people showed up? I expected 700 - how can I possibly complete the project?" (what is the difference and he didn't pay them!) Like I said, I rented it for the nudity; male in particular. It was either moderately close shots of large numbers of people walking close together (so you only got a millisecond look) or it was a long distance shot, or from an angled side view or people walking by and you see them from the back. Or they were curled up on the sidewalk/pavement. Let me be clear - I didn't expect porn or eroticism, or extreme closeups but if you're going to have all these naked people, show something or else what is the point?

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artisticengineer

Art and nudity have been together in the Western world for thousands of years-dating back to the Ancient Greeks who viewed the body as one of the if not the most beautiful work of art. That, at least, is the western viewpoint. Other cultures vary; not so much as to whether the body is beautiful or not but rather as to when it is appropriate to display the body to all. Mr. Tunick, in this film, goes around the world to try to show the "body is beautiful" viewpoint belongs worldwide. And, to a significant degree, he succeeds. Actually, his film could be viewed not so much as a film about the human body or nakedness but rather about cultural differences overall. For example, his ease of obtaining volunteers in London versus the problems he had in Ireland shows the cultural differences still existing between those societies.Particular mention and praise should be made to him going to a post apartheid South Africa and attempting to recruit (mostly) black models. Virtually all of the models in his previous photo shoots have been white; and this is certainly understandable in places such as Russia (only Black Russian I know of is a drink!). However, other peoples with much different skin tones exist and by going to South Africa he certainly attempted to diversify his selection. I commend him for that even though he seemed to be less than totally successful in that endeavor. The only part of the show that I really object to is the Antarctica session. He wanted to do a worldwide show and, in that regards, I understand his decision to go to the Antarctic. But, I still object for a couple of reasons. The first one, most importantly, is that the Antarctic does not have any indigenous human population-the one part of the landed world that does not. The second objection is more of an artistic nature, and that is due to the environment a nude human being is in no way "natural" in Antarctica. What we see in this movie is the coastal region in SUMMER; the most benign area and time of the year for that entire continent and it is still way too cold for people to venture out without insulating clothes. The models are nude for just a few minutes at a time; yet it is obvious that they are at their limits even then and certainly could not survive for much longer in a nude condition. Nude humans and the Antarctic are therefore oxymorons; they do not go together and Antarctica does not belong in Spencer Tunick's portfolio. Having mentioned that I will say that overall this film is a good example of artistic figure studies.

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Gordon-11

This film is a film of thousands of naked bodies that is disguised as 'art'.It is a very fine line between 'art' and 'porn'. I am not very convinced that this guy is making art. From the film, he admitted that he was doing this for personal satisfaction. I think that the only thing that he could be applauded for was being a persuasive person to create a mass hysteria to take off their clothes.I also found it very insulting to the interviewees, that they actually put subtitles to non American speakers of English. I could excuse them putting subtitles on the Russian woman who was speaking English with an accent (but it was completely understandable English). However, I found it inexcusable to put subtitles on the AUSTRALIANS who were speaking perfect English.Another outrageous thing was that he critised the French for "not relaxed about their bodies as they think they are". Just because some of the French people refused to pose naked for him, did not mean he could attack others like that.I am angered by this film.

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jotix100

The subject of this wonderful documentary, Spencer Tunick, was a surprise when it was shown on cable recently. The controversial artist is seen in an uncanny account of the way he works by the director of the film, Arleene Donnelly Nelson.We watch as the photographer travels to different countries in order to capture in film humans that pose against impressive backgrounds naked. Mr. Tunick speaks candidly about his ideas and how he goes about it. In interviews we see some of his subjects discussing before hand their ideas and reservations.It's surprising that Mr. Tunick is able to get the hundreds of people to pose for him "en masse" without so much of a problem. His shoot in front of the Cutty Sark, a London landmark, is one of the best pictures we see in the film. At the same time, it surprises how the Parisian guards of the Louvre come after him when he tried to photograph a naked man in the museum's courtyard with the I.M. Pei pyramid in the background. We are shocked, in a way, because if anyone, in our minds, should be more understanding, would be the French!The pictures are not pornographic at all! We see ordinary people posing nude, but there is no desire whatsoever to project anything sexual to the would be viewer, in any way. The people posing for Mr. Tunick do so out of their own free will, as no one is pressured to do otherwise.After watching the film, we get an understanding of the artist and his vision.

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