Wednesday, 8 June 2011

'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

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