Like the film itself, the title of Hart of London is ambiguous. It refers to a deer trapped and killed in London, Ontario, but recalls London, England and invites old/new world comparisons and a questioning of place, identity, and origins. Indeed, one of the film's recurring themes centers on cycles of life, death and rebirth, both personal and historical. These are broached through a history of the filmmaker's hometown told with ghostly, evocative archival materials; subtle allusions to his own life; and more directly, and perhaps less successfully, a montage of blunt images of life and death. A Canadian painter who died in 1978, Jack Chambers here created haunting images which he layered and repeated, suggesting an inability to reconcile his experiences, memories and dreams. The pointless killing of the deer becomes an extended metaphor for his sense of society as harsh, destructive and lacking "heart." The final, whispered "you've got to be careful" seems a troubled plea that touches on the personal, ecological and societal, and longs for other possibilities. Kathy Geritz