BALLET

From early on in this fascinating piece of observational cinema we know we're in for the whole warts'n'all Wisemanic thing since much of Ballet is devoted to the sweaty struggle and strain of rehearsal, that laborious and very necessary procedure which only eventually results in the glorious spectacle of perfectly polished performance.

To see legendary personalities such as Agnes De Mille (dispensing advice from a wheelchair), the British Royal Ballet's Michael Somes. Natalia Makarova, Ulysses Dove and Irina Koplokova actively involved in the vital ritual of handing on the mantle to the young, talented danseurs and ballerinas of tomorrow is a delight in itself. But add to this Wiseman's customary glimpses of the ballet world's organisational infrastructure (watch out for Oz ballet's own Ross Stretton) plus the extra cherry-on-cake bonus of seeing whole stretches of Sleeping Beauty and Romeo and Juliet, exquisitely rendered in full costume, and you have a balletomane's treasure trove.

What Wiseman characteristically offers here is a refreshing and stimulating emphasis on process over product, on what's behind the scenes of our conventionally perceived images, on what truly goes into that which we so easily take for granted: the chasm between the professional and the private performing person and the literal pain of the dancer's craft. Completely without commentary or editoriali­sing, Bullet leaves the viewer to take the trip and read between the (chorus) lines. (PH)