New German Cinema: Focused on Germany?
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This is a fantastic short video essay which shows off some of the key shots in the film that underline its cinematic intentions in the portrayal of Berlin. The images manage to demonstrate the film as a "playfully postmodern masterpiece with a modernist sense of humanity" (Miles, 2019, para 2) |
Europe dealt with the aftermath of the Second World War in varying extremes. Germany was faced with a total questioning, revising and rewriting of its national identity; hence why the nation spent the subsequent few decades in periods of change in culture and politics. Cinema has undoubtedly been one of the most useful mouthpieces for telling this change to Germany and to the world.
Following the war, Hollywood's cinematic dominance across the world coupled with a large reduction in the funding of home productions in Germany led to the withering of German Cinema's importance. In essence, the people of Germany turned to Hollywood "to indulge their desire for images... unburdened by political ideologies" (Hake, 2002, p. 97).
Established German directors of the 30s and 40s were lost into obscurity and it took until the maturation of a whole new generation of filmmakers to have the interest of German National Cinema revived. Films by Herzog, Wenders and Fassbinder provided a new filmic style for the nation. Cook speaks of a "Disengagement" featuring in these new films and that the directors rejected past films that laid to a clear path for the protagonist (2013, p. 17).
Taking Wim Wenders' 1987 fantasy film 'Wings Of Desire', this common theme of disengagement is embodied through the central two protagonists (Damiel and Cassel) who are the 'guardian angels' over Berlin. They, along with the film, voyeuristically gaze upon this broken city and its inhabitants. Their 'disengagement' is shown through the colourless world in which they live; they are disconnected from living colour. How the Berlin residents feel is painfully reminded by sudden and intrusive montages showing images from the Second World War; we witness people wondering through the rubble of bombed buildings as well as the planes flying overhead. These visions of the past are those which haunt the German people long after the war and Wenders transmits this concept through his filmmaking.
Taking this into perspective, it is evident that this is a film which is focused on Germany's present. At the time in 1987 the Berlin Wall was still in existence. The film shows certain sites surrounding the wall where characters may wonder aimlessly as if lost within the bordered up city. Often in films by Wenders we see "an unpopulated geography or a deserted landscape [which] serve as a projective foil for ambiguities and aggressions which can never be expressed directly" (Elsaesser, 1989, p. 231) and here the "ambiguities and aggressions" are manifested from Germany's east-west divide.
Some have been quick to claim that the New German Cinema drew parallels with Hollywood filmmaking and indeed through time some German directors (including Wenders) have emigrated to the USA. Wenders made a return to Germany for this film and decided that he wished for a break from his American filmmaking to showcase his homeland on film. As for the New Cinema period as a whole, "[it] competes with Hollywood disaster movies: social alienation and reification are turned into solid entertainment values" (Krabbe, 1976 cited by Elsaesser, 1989, p. 307).
Certainly, New German Cinema uses some of the Hollywood tropes in filmmaking, yet it is undoubtedly a period of film history which expresses the post-war German identity to its audiences. This fact makes the films speak many truths due to their native directors as well as their shared Cold War ordeals.
Bibliography:
Cook, R. , Koepnick, L. , Prager, B. (Eds.). BERLIN SCHOOL GLOSSARY: AN ABC OF THE NEW WAVE IN GERMAN CINEMA. Retrieved from https://books.google.co.uk
Elsaesser, T. (1989). New German Cinema A History. Basingstoke: Macmillan Press Ltd.
Hake, S. (2002). German National Cinema. London: Routledge.
,
Miles, N.C. (2019). In praise of Wings Of Desire, a celebration of life, love and small things. Little White Lies. Retrieved from https://lwlies.com/articles/wings-of-desire-wim-wenders-bruno-ganz/
National Post (2018). Wim Wenders rediscovers Berlin in 'Wings Of Desire'. [Youtube Video]
Wenders, W. (Director). (1987). Der Himmel Über Berlin. [Motion Picture]. Germany: Road Movies Filmproduktion.
Following the war, Hollywood's cinematic dominance across the world coupled with a large reduction in the funding of home productions in Germany led to the withering of German Cinema's importance. In essence, the people of Germany turned to Hollywood "to indulge their desire for images... unburdened by political ideologies" (Hake, 2002, p. 97).
Established German directors of the 30s and 40s were lost into obscurity and it took until the maturation of a whole new generation of filmmakers to have the interest of German National Cinema revived. Films by Herzog, Wenders and Fassbinder provided a new filmic style for the nation. Cook speaks of a "Disengagement" featuring in these new films and that the directors rejected past films that laid to a clear path for the protagonist (2013, p. 17).
Taking Wim Wenders' 1987 fantasy film 'Wings Of Desire', this common theme of disengagement is embodied through the central two protagonists (Damiel and Cassel) who are the 'guardian angels' over Berlin. They, along with the film, voyeuristically gaze upon this broken city and its inhabitants. Their 'disengagement' is shown through the colourless world in which they live; they are disconnected from living colour. How the Berlin residents feel is painfully reminded by sudden and intrusive montages showing images from the Second World War; we witness people wondering through the rubble of bombed buildings as well as the planes flying overhead. These visions of the past are those which haunt the German people long after the war and Wenders transmits this concept through his filmmaking.
Taking this into perspective, it is evident that this is a film which is focused on Germany's present. At the time in 1987 the Berlin Wall was still in existence. The film shows certain sites surrounding the wall where characters may wonder aimlessly as if lost within the bordered up city. Often in films by Wenders we see "an unpopulated geography or a deserted landscape [which] serve as a projective foil for ambiguities and aggressions which can never be expressed directly" (Elsaesser, 1989, p. 231) and here the "ambiguities and aggressions" are manifested from Germany's east-west divide.
Some have been quick to claim that the New German Cinema drew parallels with Hollywood filmmaking and indeed through time some German directors (including Wenders) have emigrated to the USA. Wenders made a return to Germany for this film and decided that he wished for a break from his American filmmaking to showcase his homeland on film. As for the New Cinema period as a whole, "[it] competes with Hollywood disaster movies: social alienation and reification are turned into solid entertainment values" (Krabbe, 1976 cited by Elsaesser, 1989, p. 307).
Certainly, New German Cinema uses some of the Hollywood tropes in filmmaking, yet it is undoubtedly a period of film history which expresses the post-war German identity to its audiences. This fact makes the films speak many truths due to their native directors as well as their shared Cold War ordeals.
Bibliography:
Cook, R. , Koepnick, L. , Prager, B. (Eds.). BERLIN SCHOOL GLOSSARY: AN ABC OF THE NEW WAVE IN GERMAN CINEMA. Retrieved from https://books.google.co.uk
Elsaesser, T. (1989). New German Cinema A History. Basingstoke: Macmillan Press Ltd.
Hake, S. (2002). German National Cinema. London: Routledge.
,
Miles, N.C. (2019). In praise of Wings Of Desire, a celebration of life, love and small things. Little White Lies. Retrieved from https://lwlies.com/articles/wings-of-desire-wim-wenders-bruno-ganz/
National Post (2018). Wim Wenders rediscovers Berlin in 'Wings Of Desire'. [Youtube Video]
Wenders, W. (Director). (1987). Der Himmel Über Berlin. [Motion Picture]. Germany: Road Movies Filmproduktion.