'Marwencol' review: The healing power of art

If you have even a passing interest in outsider art, you owe it to yourself to see "Marwencol." It's the real-life story of a severely injured man who, as self-therapy, envisioned and created a miniature Belgian town and populated it with dolls - G.I. Joes and Barbies - enacting World War II stories. The man, Mark Hogancamp, had no training or expertise in art.

In 2000, a group of men beat Hogancamp outside a bar in Kingston, N.Y. He spent nine days in a coma, lost his memory and had to relearn simple tasks. He dreamed up what became Marwencol as a way to restore his manual dexterity.

Marwencol's doll characters are named after Hogancamp's friends, and he is fanatical about detail, to the point of pulling along his model jeeps by string during his long walks so the tires will be realistically worn.

Hogancamp hasn't simply created a static world, like a museum diorama. He manipulates the dolls to enact stories, which he photographs. The narratives speak to deep concerns about sexuality and violence.

In one scenario, the SS capture and torture a doll representing Hogancamp, until he is rescued by a group of two-fisted female dolls.

And a key feature of Marwencol is a bar that offers cat-fighting as entertainment (no one gets seriously hurt, Hogancamp assures us).

First-time director Jeff Malmberg immerses us in this fantastic world by shooting the enacted stories close up, so the dolls look human-size.

The outside world eventually discovered Hogancamp's work. The segment about his exhibition at a Manhattan gallery is interesting, but you almost wish the film had kept its focus on the hermetically sealed universe of Marwencol.

If it had been created with a calculated eye, Marwencol would be less impressive. But as one commentator notes - and this seems essential to outsider art - Hogancamp's fictitious world was made, and is offered, without irony.

Note: Jeff Malmberg will appear at evening screenings tonight at the Lumiere; at evening screenings Saturday at the Shattuck Cinemas; and at Sunday's matinee at the Lumiere.

-- Advisory: No rating, but the film has some sexually charged material.

E-mail Walter Addiego at waddiego@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page E - 8 of the San Francisco Chronicle