Spark: A Burning Man Story

Directed by Steve Brown and Jessie Deeter, Spark: A Burning Man Story explores the history behind the annual Burning Man festival and the massive amount of work that goes into it every year. It’s compelling subject matter that’s employed to erratic yet mostly rewarding effect by Brown and Deeter, as the filmmakers deliver an all-encompassing documentary that covers the various elements that go into pulling off such a massive event – with the movie, as well, featuring an ongoing emphasis on several attendees and their efforts at getting ready for the expansive happening. (One such individual refers to Burning Man as a “great venue to build huge things and then blow them up.”) And although Brown and Deeter are generally unable to satisfactorily explain the festival’s appeal – what, for example, drives a person to spend 16 hours a day working on an installation for the week-long occurrence – Spark: A Burning Man Story does an effective job of highlighting the sense of community that the event seems to provide organizers and participants alike. (This is certainly true of the woman who notes that she’s sacrificed having children and a family for Burning Man, and takes solace in the fact that the insular society has been and will continue to be there for her.) The picture’s only real misstep is a prolonged and somewhat tedious final half hour that’s hardly as engrossing as Brown and Deeter have obviously intended, and yet it’s impossible, in the end, to deny that Spark: A Burning Man Story succeeds as both a tribute and primer to the now-infamous yearly event.

*** out of ****