Nicht versöhnt oder Es hilft nur Gewalt wo Gewalt herrscht
On a whim, I decided to watch this film without knowing much about it except that Gorp loves Straub/Huillet. This is weird enough because the truth is that politics and messages don’t really coincide all that well with art, which is why the most acclaimed films typically don’t have all that much politics (such as “La Règle du Jeu” or “2001”). And the seemingly very radical political stances Straub/Huillet are standing for typically don’t lead to significant art. Furthermore, I have never been a fan of Heinrich Böll who mostly stands for these utterly boring authors you have to read in high school.
But here, both Böll and Straub were a pleasant surprise. I am absolutely in love with the “citing instead of acting” concept. While I had a really, really hard time to find out what the whole story is about – the fact that the story was jumping around and I couldn’t recognize people’s faces didn’t help either – I enjoyed every single scene. In just 55 minutes, I have rarely seen such a concise style despite the confusion, and I am a big fan of the scene in the restaurant when Fähmer meets with Nettlinger (or not?) That dialogue is pure brilliance, and it makes you think. We are in the same lethargy as the Fähmel family, but then again, if I think about it, I don’t hate those systems, I ‘only’ despise them without any passion whatsoever.
By the way, I have my own personal little history of ‘not speaking up’ when I felt like I should have. I was 6 years old and that experience is probably going to have an impact on me forever. Today, the only thing I can do is not bow down in front of a statue of Mao and not to clap when people are clapping for soldiers at the airport.
Machorka-Muff
Brecht is utterly un-funny, and most of what was produced around the 47 stuck in my mind as incredibly boring too. I like political satire and the Jewish way of seeing even the worst things with a grain of salt, I was amazed when I read Chekhov’s satirical publications, and for me, there is nothing such as a satire that goes too far; there is only satire that is bad.
The story is nothing special, doesn’t go as deep as “Nicht versöhnt” and doesn’t raise so many questions. It was also much less ’emotional’ for me and ultimately feels like a less meaningful movie, but the subtle humour of the film totally made up for it. Just for that, I would totally watch the film again and I feel like with a second time I would discover even more of those subtle scenes that make me grin.
For some reason, I am absolutely fascinated with Straub and Huillet simply because I want to see whether that kind of directing with such a political agenda works. And I think they picked a wonderful character with Anna Magdalena Bach to make a film of; I imagine her to be one of the numerous women who probably would have had great careers today.
i rewatched Nicht Versöhnt yesterday evening (because I saw that it popped up in your backblog!) and for some reason, I could 1. understand everything that was going on in the dialogues 2. remain un-confused despite the incredible pace of the cutting. That was definitely a first, ahahaha. The previous couple of times I saw it, it definitely felt like the film was running sped up. (that is the nice thing about the 55 minutes – it doesn’t kill too much of your time, you can afford to just watch it at a random point of the day xD ). As you said, it is pretty amazing that there emerges such a clarity of style in such a short timespan – all the more remarkable as this is their first feature (that is also one of many reasons why I love Godard’s Breathless so much, and why I can rewatch it so many times); and on top of it, it was the result between a very close collaboration between two filmmakers who seemed to share not only the vision for this particular work, but also the grounding philosophy for the ways to approach filming and production in general. Such examples of collaboration on an essentially “authorial” level are pretty damn rare in cinema, when you think about it…and they managed to make it work throughout their entire career. I really recommend the Pedro Costa documentary when you want to find out more about the dynamics of their teamwork! It’s basically the most enlightening and intimate film about filmmaking that I’ve seen.
I’ll have to rewatch the Anna Magdalena Bach film, as I recall not being quite as impressed – it seems more like an extended documented concert than anything else, and the relationship between her and Bach seemed rather complicatedly processed through presentation of historical evidence (documents, letters etc.)…but I remember being pretty tired that time, and much of the subtleties probably went straight over my head xD As with all their films I’ve seen so far, the gorgeous cinematography and the complex soundtrack are what stuck with me most.
Oh my God, so I read your comment early this morning and couldn’t bring myself to reply to it. You’re just setting such a high ladder? (Why is it that you don’t blog anymore? *sad*)
So yeah, maybe I should just re-watch the film yet again and remember well who is who. Also, I totally share your fascination for the first features of filmmakers, and I still think Breathless is his best movie.
For Straub and Huillet, I guess love plays a role, they must have been… soul mates or something. I’m totally interested in this Pedro Costa documentary now, and I read an article about “Une visite au Louvre” which sounds incredibly intriguing to me. Perhaps I just totally love the topics Straub and Huillet tackle, and coupled with their way of making films, I can’t wait to see more. When I saw “Nicht versöhnt”, I felt that their style was so amazingly different, unique and refreshing.
I can totally see how the Anna Magdalena Bach film would be extremely subtle, just like “Nicht versöhnt” actually is too. I want to see it nevertheless! Heh. Also, I am a huge fan of letters after all.