Documentary

52 minutes
English
1999

Jean-François VALLEE

Zarafa Films , France 3 , Lilith Production , 13 Production

IMAGES & BIOGRAPHY OF ONE OF THE MOST REMAQUABLE AMERICAN WRITERS

Like most visionaries, William Burroughs takes his inner war outside the walls, to fight against the evil spirits of power and control that roam the human race. How do these "alien spirit" get us to want always more, better, newer, disregarding the consequences? For W Burroughs, it'simple: we are the junky and the pusher, locked in a deadly embrace of desire. With his unique experience, Prof. Burroughs teaches us " the algebra of need", tenaciously, while his ferocious alter ego William Seward blast us with sensory overload, sulfuric humor, to kill our larval defenses and destroy the contols, the rackets, the "Nova Mob" that enslave us : a lesson paid for in blood. Borrowing the author's telescoping imagery, the film attempt to follow his trips, real and imaginary, pauses a little to tell the story, and goes on to the next stage of Burroughs' "voyage in inner space", where he mixes and cuts his way toward space, out of the slavery of time, to freedom and death.