Filmmaker Jessica Yu has a way of taking complex concepts and art mediums and working them into simple and meaningful stories. Much as in the 2004 In the Realms of the Unreal, Yu’s latest effort, the documentary Protagonist weaves multiple formats together. By blending verite interviews, animation, puppetry sequences with hand carved models and archival footage, the film, inspired by the plays of Euripides, explores the human tendency toward extremism. “I was intrigued by the path of someone who tries to shape his life in one particular direction because of logical reasons, but who becomes so engrossed that he becomes the opposite of what he had intended,” Yu told indieWIRE during this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

Although outwardly none of the four subjects are alike–an ex-terrorist, a televangelist preaching anti-gay sentiment, a former bank robber and a martial arts enthusiast–their stories all begin in the seeds of innocence and then progressively turn to moral cloudiness. Hans Joachim Klein deals with his switch from playing a political activist in post-Nazi Germany to turning terrorist; Mark Pierpont recounts his struggle with his same-sex sexual desire growing up in a religiously dogmatic household; Joe Loya explains how the history of abuse from his childhood enabled him to ignore his moral compass and embrace a criminal life; and, Mark Salzman explores how his childhood hope to fit in drove him to intense–and then brutal–focus on martial arts.

Despite an belabored beginning, the film picks up momentum as each man gradually loses his way–Klein finding himself a pawn of international econonmic dispute, Pierpont uncovering his happiness despite marriage, Loya killing his father and Salzman discovering that his teacher harbored his students ill intentions. It’s here, in the dearth of righteousness, that these men connect to their own humanity, most with eloquence and only Salzman with a turn for the humorous. Interestingly enough, Salzman is in fact Yu’s husband, a fact that explains the intimate and light-hearted nature of his interview.

The classic tragic hero character arc applies here fittingly if a bit pointedly, a reminder that the emotional stories of our lives are those that have always been told and will always be told.

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