Filmmaker seeks out invisible heritage Franco-American culture focus of documentary

BANGOR – For a state with so many French names, why does English remain the predominant language heard on the street in Maine?

It would be easy to chalk it up to America’s “melting-pot” philosophy, where immigrants adopt the prevailing language and culture in exchange for the opportunity to start fresh economically.

Such a conclusion would be simplistic and wrong, filmmaker Ben Levine says in his documentary “Reveil (Waking Up French),” which will be shown at 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 5, at the Bangor Opera House.

In the film, subtitled “The Repression and Renaissance of the French in New England,” Levine shows how French Canadians emigrated from Quebec and Acadia to the mill towns of New England at the turn of the 20th century. They came so quickly and in such numbers that they threatened the existing English Protestant power structure.

In “Reveil,” the Rockland resident makes a compelling argument that what resulted was a systematic campaign of cultural elimination of the French language and Catholic religion, which made use of the Ku Klux Klan, mob violence, exclusionary laws in schools, and attacks on the leadership of the French Church.

“We came to understand that French culture didn’t disappear under the natural order of assimilation,” said Levine, 60. “Instead it was a campaign to eradicate the language in public as the basis of political power.”

The result is disheartened second- and third-generation Franco-Americans who feel adrift from their native culture.

“We’re coming to understand that part of the shame they feel is that they didn’t hold on to their language and culture,” Levine said. “But they didn’t give it up because it was convenient or economically essential. They really had it beaten out of them. And I didn’t like that.”

Levine would seem particularly suited for this quest. He grew up in a Massachusetts mill town, where he heard many different languages on the street every day.

A founding director of Peoples Video Theater and Survival Arts Media in New York, he made his mark in the 1970s’ Video Art and Community Television movement.

He first became interested in the invisible Franco-American culture after moving to Maine 25 years ago.

“I had the sense there were French people, a lot of them, but I never heard or saw anything French,” he said. “And I didn’t understand that. Documentary filmmakers are a strange breed of detectives. We have a nose for what’s under the surface.”

Beginning with 1980’s “Si Je comprends bien … (If I really understand)” and continuing in “Reveil,” Levine has followed two families – one in Lewiston and the other in St. Georges, Quebec – to examine how cultures survive and decline.

Levine screened the earlier film, along with films from Quebec, and videotaped the resulting facilitated discussions. Those responses help to shape “Reveil.”

Levine, who earlier this year was inducted into Maine’s Franco-American Hall of Fame, said the French culture has much to offer the non-French.

“The French culture has a lot of answers and knowledge to it that is very contemporary in a lot of ways,” he said. “It wouldn’t hurt to be influenced by French culture. But it’s invisible and needs to be brought to the surface.”

Through his films and the post-film discussions, Levine hopes to break down a sense of isolation among Franco-Americans.

“The whole point is helping people get in touch with their feelings about heritage loss,” he said. “The response has been overwhelming positive and very strong. People sing songs, recite poems and say things they’ve never said before, about what they feel and what they need.”

Levine said the response to “Reveil” has been very satisfying.

“Film has been the primary influence in my life,” he said. “It’s where you get the most contemporary, deepest kinds of stories. It’s really great to make a regionally specific work, and to see that it works. People use it as a tool for improving their communities.”

Spinoffs from this increased awareness of French culture can be as personal as a person trying to learn more about his or her past from an elderly relative or a group getting together to speak French, or it can be as public as the the Waterville City Council initiating and funding a riverfront re-development project with a French Cultural Center as its core.

Levine downplayed his films’ importance in the resurgence of the French language and culture.

“We’re part of a movement that was already there,” he said. “I’m humbled by the degree that people are passionate about their culture and heritage, and are willing to work extra hard to bring it back into their lives.”

For more information about Levine’s work, access www.wakingupfrench.com.