‘Class Relations’, dir. Danièle Huillet, Jean-Marie Straub (1984)

As with so many of Kafka’s heroes, our young boy finds himself trapped from the start. Trapped by situations he can hardly control or understand, he drifts through a dark, inhospitable, German-speaking America. Though politics are not exactly explicit, the film title casts a specific light on all his situations: his demise, the rejection by his family, the accidental meet-ups and troubles, the accusations, all seem to stem from class conflicts, aspirations and needs.

As distant as the boy feels in these conditions and claustrophobic surroundings, so we also feel distant from all the characters, even those that we should feel warm towards. That the décor should not be describing the scene, it should be the scene, was what the directors believed, and even the characters seem part of it.

Automata, trapped in their class expectations, are we all, just part of the décor? Is there a way out?


other info:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087566/
http://www.straub-huillet.com/pages/film.php?id=Rapports_de_classes&cls=non

'Germany in Autumn' , dir. R. W. Fassbinder et. al. (1978)

Waving flags of multinational corporation logos, sinister in the background, replace both national flags and funerary ribbons; R. W. Fassbinder is having an argument with his mother on whether state violence is justified; real footage documents the Red Army Faction victims, the victims of state assassinations, the victims of political violence; And its supporters.

The pace of change in cinematic style follows the change of pace in context and form, creating a complex film to speak about the complex time that was the German Autumn. The RAF are both the starting point and the excuse for this conversation. All the questions are given equal space and no definite answers are posed. Layer over layer, the multiple directors offer a dialogue in Cinema as well as on Extremism. We are invited not to pick a side, but to realize there is no side to pick.

‘All political violence is fascist’ runs the quote, and Germany in Autumn would probably agree.


other info:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077427/
http://www.kinoeye.org/02/20/goldsmith20.php

Emma Goldman: 'Anarchy and Other Essays' - Dover Publications

Do not be deterred by the ‘anathema’ that has always been the word Anarchism. The issues Emma Goldman focuses on are, unfortunately, still as relevant as they were 100 years ago when these essays were written.

She has been accused of many things, but what no one could accuse her of is dishonesty. This honesty is reflected in the way her essays are constructed and her arguments formed. No alienating rhetoric, no pompous lingo so favoured by the Left. Talking from experience, not from theories, Emma Goldman’s call to arms is a call to Ethics, Justice and self-realisation. Putting equal weight on the social conditions, the authority structures but also the personal, human failure to act, her accussations are as close to home as ever. No stone remains unturned. Her essays try to uncover all hypocrisy, especially that of the liberals. She is the moral compass, the sleepless eye to reveal the dust on our self-proclaimed good deeds. The priestess that will forgive, as long as we finally look into that mirror.

‘Not for a hundred, not for five hundred years will the principles of anarchy triumph. But what has that to do with it?’

Essential reading for all.



Other info:
http://theanarchistlibrary.org/HTML/Emma_Goldman__Anarchism_and_Other_Essays.html

http://www.archive.org/details/anarchism_otheressays_0908_librivox

'Of Gods and Men' dir. Xavier Beauvois (2010)

Like lambs to the slaughter; the monks choose to stay and not to flee. In a moral deadlock and entrapped in political violence they know that they are paying for their fathers’ sins. The stress of watching is unbearable. “There comes the moment when you have to say the big Yes or the big No”. The monks know that there shouldn’t even be a question.

Rejecting martyrdom for their faith they embrace death for the sake of their community work. “We are the birds and you are the branch” proclaims one of the village women and both the elders and the villagers know at that moment that Man has killed God.

Tchaikovsky sounds their requiem while they sip their last wine. And we weep for them, for we weep for Man.

Miserere.



other info:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1588337/
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/of_gods_and_men/