Troublemakers: The Story of Land Art

I call it art. And as long as I’m on the subject, I think the Grand Canyon is the greatest sculpture I have ever seen.

The film’s generous views of spectacular works like Smithson’s monumental “Spiral Jetty” (the work projects into the Great Salt Lake in Utah) and Mr. Heizer’s “Double Negative” in Nevada (a huge trench bisected by a canyon) are best seen on the largest screen available.

The absence of a central narrator for the most part prevents the film from devolving into gratuitous pedagogy.

The film is most illuminating on the prehistory of Land Art.

Crump has directed Troublemakers with assurance and energy. Perhaps too much so.

For anyone with at least a vague interest in the history of art, Troublemakers offers a fascinating if uneven viewing experience and a valuable record of a movement whose boldness still has the capacity to impress.

This reverential documentary, crammed with insidery art-world anecdotes, seems unlikely to convince the average viewer why it was so important that several male artists ventured out of New York at that time to push dirt around with shovels and bulldozers.