German Cinema

October 17, 2001

Lecture Notes

1. "NEW GERMAN CINEMA" was discussed

        Films made between 1962 thru 1982

German Directors

German "New Wave" directors included Wenders, Fassbinder, Herzog,

Schlöndorff, Straub, Kluge

Young generation of filmmakers

They were dissatisfied with German film

Godard, Resnais,- French directors who influenced German Film

German Directors influenced by FRENCH NEW WAVE [1959]

        Germans took what French had then went further

influenced by theories of Brecht and movies of Godard

Godard

Goddard- low budget, natural light, seemingly haphazard editing [which was intentional], hand

held camera

Reinvented "language" of the cinema

Rejected classical cinema

BREATHLESS 1960

Bertolt Brecht

Alienation effect

Brecht distance, alienation breaking illusion of reality; you are watching a

construct watching someone's ideology

German directors wanted the movies they produced to:     

Reflect social concerns

Be honest

Communicate what they opposed

war films had  engagement w/past wanted honest portrayal not pacification of

government

  The Oberhausen Manifesto (1962)

Declared the old German  (Opas Kino), cinema dead

Papa's movies (mainly Heimat films and sex films) are dead

     (empty movies of the 1950’s).           

Produced films, on low budgets, that reflected their philosophy.

Concerned with contemporary German problems

i.e.: Unemployment/immigration.

Many of the filmmakers were political.

Believed that film should serve as a forum for ideas and philosophies which

challenged the established order.

Disdainful of "artisty" and "entertainment",

American critics first thought Oberhausen Group was awful, initially saw films as

cold, amateurish, low budget

2. FASSBINDER:

Fassbinder was not a traditional cinema or avant-garde filmmaker

His movies are provocative

The movies he made at times put off many viewers

on a personal level

he was not a nice person

bisexual

troubled

Throughout his 16-year career, shot 44 movies.

portrayed woman negative ways. [woman hater]

In 1982 Fassbinder died of a drug overdose

Like Kluge and Godard his main objective was to evoke a reaction from the

audience.

Kluge and Godard were exponents of French New Wave

Alexander Kluge was Godfather of New German film.

His films are too obscure for most audiences.

His writing influenced other directors

Fassbinder wanted the audience to dissociate themselves from the movie plot,

in favor of their own reality so they would ask “What about me and my life?''

FASSBINDER FILMS:

Katzelmacher (Little Cat Makers) 1969

The failure of the characters to see through their self-delusions.

Encourages the viewer to become introspective.

Deals with community's reaction to an outsider.

Irony is that the members of the community are themselves outsiders

Racism

  The Nazi past

Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven 1975

based on 1920’s film Mother Kuster Finds her Happiness

about a widow whose son is arrested and her life goes down hill

production value on this film better, he had more money.

                  Color

            Hostage movie

            Socialism workers screwed

            Brecht comes through Godard. Action stopped film ends

            with script

                forces viewer to read the politics

                   message is intellectual not emotional

                   end is a given so audience can focus on politics   

The Marriage of Maria Braun 1979

Fassbinder’s most successful movie is about control

The story begins with an explosion, the destruction of Hitler's picture and

the marriage of Maria to Harmann Braun an officer in the German Army. At war’s

end instead of returning home Hermann goes to Canada leaving Maria to think

she is a war widow. Maria a cold, and ambitious woman uses her beauty and

sexuality to get ahead in the world. Working hard and using men she

financially succeeds. Hermann takes the blame for a murder Maria committed

and goes to prison. Maria works for a wealthy mfg. Oswald. Oswald befriends

Hermann without Maria’s knowledge and makes a deal w/him. Through the friendship

Hermann and Oswald remove themselves from a position where they felt

controlled by Maria. Oswald is trying to manipulate lives with his will. The

price Hermann pays is his consent to Maria's relationship with Oswald and,

eventually, his loss of love for her. When Hermann arrives back many years

later -- from Canada - Maria's dreams of romance w/him are defeated by the

void between them. So, while Hermann in the next room listens to a soccer

game Maria turns on the gas stove, runs her bath, then lights a cigarette. As

the house burns the radio celebrates the victory of Germany in the world cup.

The final blast shows a portrait of Chancellor Schmidt.

portraits of all chancellors except Willy Brandt (only one that left Germany

during the years of the Third Reich