Vienna Events
Vienna Events On Screen
The Oscar-winning film by Susanne Bier portrays the moral hazard of aid work
Ulrich Thomsen as Claus and William Johnk Nielsen as Christian more than a dusty tent set up in the middle of nowhere. He is a compassionate doctor, a member of Doctors Without Borders, who commutes between his home in an idyllic town in Denmark and Africa. The need for medical care is overwhelming, and there is evidence of inhumane brutality when victims arrive at the clinic – pregnant young women who are savagely cut open by a sadistic local warlord making bets on the sex of the unborn children. The chaos of the dusty camp with beautiful hues of sunburnt earth contrasts dramatically to the serene and verdant coastal town in Denmark to which Anton returns. Although his world back in Denmark bears all the hallmarks of being more civilized, tensions are rising to the surface and moral issues continue to vex him. Anton and his wife Marianne (Trine Dyrholm), who is also a doctor, are separated and struggling with a crumbling relationship and the possibility of divorce. Anton spends time with his boys by sitting by a beautiful lake, taking pleasure in their proximity, longing to be able to talk to them as a compassionate and affectionate father. As the story further unfolds, we realise that the violence in Africa is being juxtaposed with that in Denmark: Anton comes face to face with the brutal local “Big Man,” who is a bully protected by bullies just as his son Elias is facing constant bullying at school. Anton attempts to adhere to a strict code of ethics but ultimately finds this impossible when he is pushed to breaking point. A further intersection comes when another boy, Christian, joins Elias’s school. Christian has recently lost his mother to cancer and has moved from London to Denmark to live with his grandmother. His father Claus is a
The first Vienna Circle was a group of philosophers who met every Thursday to solve the riddle of existence. Knowledge, they decided, must come from experience: What was real could be observed, its existence proved through science; what was metaphysical could not, and was therefore meaningless. Which was problematic when it came to things like friendship (which they shared but could not prove!) and so annoyed Ludwig Wittgenstein that he took to reading poetry in the meetings. Our Vienna Circle is all of us – the many groups who meet mornings or evenings, at concerts or coffeehouses, at vineyards or a vernissage. It’s where international Vienna gets together to exchange “knowledge from experience” and where friendship is simply a -DMN fact of life. Photo: Per Arnesen/Sony Classics
businessman who is often away, and their relationship is put under immense strain. To give himself a protective armour against his buried grief, Christian uses revenge as a way of getting control over his own life. The situation at school quickly escalates when Christian defends Elias, beating the bully and then pulling out a knife. Amongst the different views of the school teachers and the parents, Anton attempts to explain to the children how fighting is never the best way to resolve problems. “If you hit him, he hits you, and then it never ends,” Claus tells Christian. “Not if you hit hard enough the first time,” Christian retorts. “Nobody will pick on me again.” When a situation similarly escalates between an aggressive garage mechanic and Anton, after their children fight over a swing, Anton chooses to display his pacifism to the boys and literally turns the other cheek. This is strongly contrasted with Christian’s savvy of the way of the world, and Anton’s refusal to fight back further solidifies the idea that something must be done. Elias is malleable and confused, but in the desire for Christian’s friendship and solidarity, decides to go ahead with him and take revenge by making a bomb to destroy the mechanic’s van. In a Better World builds a mounting sense of dread of how it will all end, of how lives are wasted. The characters are very well drawn and the actors are well chosen for these sensitive and poignant roles. From the schoolyard to tribal savagery the film poses constant moral questions and explores flawed humanity. The title ultimately suggests that in a better world, there would not be so much cruelty. But it provides no easy answers as, we sense, there are none.
Honoured Past, Bold Future
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Groups, Goals and Gatherings: Where Internationals Meet
From genre films to challenging experiments and hybrids: Pushing 50, the Viennale film festival is still taking risks
by Philip Ellison Heading into its 50th year, the The Viennale International Film Festival Vienna is still taking risks in 2011, with the schedules and plans announced at its pre-season press conference in August. The roughly 130 new feature films scheduled include big names along with new discoveries; from classic narrative to experimental forms; from genre films to the more challenging experiments and hybrids operating at the limits of film as currently defined, all of interest to the film lovers targeted by the festival organizers. The range includes the dreamy exploration of an old house in Aitá, a dizzying tour de force between revenge and salvation in Drive; the abandoned children on the streets of Yatasto or the protesting, shrewd citizens of Palermo in Palazzo delle Aguile; of Schlafkrankheit (Sleeping Sickness) and Melancholia, of Schakale und Araber (Kafka’s Jackels and Arabs) and of the funny and crazy existence of a useful life in cinema in La vida útil. Also scheduled is Way of Passion, a new documentary by Joerg Burger about a Catholic procession ritual in Sicily. Another path of passion is what determines a Filipino girl’s decision to leave her country in Ang damgo ni eleuteria; the wild life of Hole drummer Patty Schemel is documented in Hit So Hard. Still being negotiated is a complete screening of Todd Haynes’s multi-
September 2011
Vienna Circle
Violence in Two Worlds by Valerie Crawford Pfannhauser We live in a violent time, where the tidal flows of migration are pressing with nearly unbearable strain against the traditional life of Europeans. It’s not only here, but this is our world and thus it is here that we feel it and know it. Elsewhere, though, pressures are often even greater, as the social fabric is more fragile and less able to cope. Between these worlds, says Susanne Bier’s 2010 Danish-Swedish co-production In a Better World, runs a single common thread of a shared story of almost overwhelming urgency. It is the story of our international community. It is also the story of our time. Here we see marked out the parallels between a refugee camp in Africa and a small coastal town in Denmark. The original Danish title of the film translates simply as The Revenge, but there is much more at stake in this film than just that. In a Better World, winner of both the 2011 Oscar and Golden Globe Awards for “Best Foreign Film”, is a compelling and challenging drama, that shows real people enduring life’s trials and seduced by its moral hazards. Although the screenplay by Anders Thomas Jensen is not entirely successful at merging the two stories – in places we lose a keen sense of the parallels, when opportunities for analogy pass unacknowledged – director Bier more than makes up for the gaps. With a sure hand, she guides us through an examination of characters who are capable of compassion and empathy and of those who seem to be instinctively violent; it contemplates suffering and loss; examines the limits of pacifism and is an intelligent meditation on masculinity, family and accountability. Cinematographer Morten Søborg and production designer Peter Grant present scenes of turmoil in Africa in nearly heartbreaking contrast with the apparent idyll of Danish village life, providing a visual vocabulary that is consistently eloquent yet manages to avoid cliché. The story primarily centres on two families: pre-teen boys Elias (Markus Rygaard) and Christian (William Johnk Nielsen) and their respective fathers Anton (Mikael Persbrandt) and Claus (Ulrich Thomsen). We first encounter Anton in a makeshift medical clinic – no
The Vienna Review
part HBO TV adaption of Mildred Pierce starring Kate Winslet. Very current will be a look in on the insurgents of the “Arab Spring” vanguard in Tahrir, Liberation Square from Egypt. In his comments on the Viennale ‘11 program, festival director Hans Hurch, said that it advances the festival’s mission “to create a large arc across current world cinema,” reflecting, in its way “the fragmented, the temporary...” Thus, the program will be the last of its kind. According to Hurch, in 2012, the 50-year anniversary of the festival, the Viennale will see a “comprehensive relaunch” retaining “the meaningful and the tested” but will also be “expanded and updated with new, varied program ideas and structures.” In short, the secret is to be bold, yet ever vigilent. “Or as Fred Zinnemann (the Austrian-born director of High Noon) once said: ‘Never sleep without your pistol.’” Of particular interest to the home audience will be the Austrian premiere of A Dangerous Method, David Cronenberg’s adaptation of Christopher Hampton’s play. Set in 1904, with Viggo Mortensen and Michael Fassbender, the focus is on the deteriorating relationship between Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung as they treat a particularly troubled patient at the Burghlzli Mental Hospital. While the younger psychiatrist and his highly respected mentor drift apart, their work leads to profound breakthroughs in the practice.
Harry Belafonte and Dorothy Dandridge in Carmen Jones at the Viennale Photo: Fox Studios Other festival highlights will include tributes to Harry Belafonte and British film Producer Jeremy Thomas. Belafonte began his career in the late 1940s on Broadway as an actor and as a singer, with his album Calypso, making him a star in the ‘50s. Belafonte attracted attention as
The American Women’s Association
One of the oldest international clubs in Vienna is the American Women’s Association, founded in 1924 by the wives of U.S. diplomats and military personnel. More recently the AWA has broadened to include an international community of English-speaking women, some 250 members from over 30 countries. AWA is a non-profit volunteer organization financed primarily by membership dues. They describe themselves as “interesting, enthusiastic, energetic and fun,” and have a rich and varied program of outings and gatherings, language classes, charitable activities and support groups, all “opportunities for English-speaking women to make friends and support each other as they adapt to life in Austria,” according to their website. (www.awavienna.com) “Don’t forget, Americans are joiners,” a member said, as if such a thing needed explaining. The “Amis” are clearly not alone. AWA’s latest service initiative launched this month is AWARE: Service in Austria, inspired by the 9/11 Day of Service in the United States, and in the spirit of the 2011 European Year of Volunteering. Intended to be on-going, their first project is to collect school supplies, dictionaries, books, games and puzzles for refugee children in Austria, partnering with schools, clubs and organizations – including Caritas, Diakonie, and Menschen. Leben – working with refugees in Austria. AWARE: Service in Austria Team: American Women’s Association of Vienna 1., Singerstraße 4/11, awarevienna@gmail.com
a film actor in Otto Preminger’s musical Carmen Jones (1954) which has been newly restored and, with luck, will be screened in this version. But Belafonte was interested in extending his range and also starred in the science fiction film The World, the Flesh, and the Devil (1959) and, the same year, in Robert Wise’s gangster movie Odds Against Tomorrow, a decidely unusual film noir addressing the subject of racism, which Belafonte produced. Belafonte’s charisma, his music, his screen presence, and his progressive politics have remained unchanged over the years, and are reflected in the recent documentary Sing Your Song (2010) by Susanne Rostock, which is included with a selection of Belafonte’s films in the Viennale tribute. Belafonte will be in Vienna to take part in this tribute. The Viennale tribute to Jeremy Thomas will include a selection of his most important productions, including the aforementioned A Dangerous Method. According to festival organizers, the tribute is “a mark of respect for his cinematic instinct, his love for his directors and his unconditional idea of artistic independence”, the driving force behind his creative work. Thomas occupies a special position, having established himself as an independent, collaborating effectively with a core group of great directors since the mid-1970s, and playing a central role in contemporary international cinema. Jeremy Thomas will be in Vienna for this tribute. The Viennale is Austria’s most important international film event, as well as one of the oldest and best-known festivals in the Germanspeaking world, paying particular attention to documentary films, international short films, as well as experimental works and crossover films. The complete film program will be online on Oct. 11 at 20:00. Ticket pre-sale starts as usual on Oct. 15.
06.09.2011 21:46:29 Uhr