Welt am Draht

This movie, made for TV in 1973 and consisting of two parts with a total length of more than three hours, certainly can seem a bit slow-going at times. However, there's so much internal tension in the slowly unfolding story that at the end, it doesn't feel too long or drawn-out at all. This is also thanks to the splendid performance by Klaus Löwitsch who convincingly plays the main character as a man who almost frantically tries to keep his guarded, restrained demeanour as his environment gets more and more puzzling and threatening. If we compare "World on a Wire" with the later adaptation "The Thirteenth Floor" which is based on the same book, the earlier film is a much more interesting experience - more layers, more depth, more interesting actors. Craig Bierko's interpretation of the main character in "The Thirteenth Floor" is not a tenth as interesting as Löwitsch's performance - I can't find the emotion in Bierko's "Douglas Hall" character, the self-doubt, the despair... it's all there in Löwitsch's "Fred Stiller". And "World on a Wire" isn't just a pioneering movie, it's also strangely timeless despite the prevalent seventies design. With the very clear, fine picture of the current DVD restoration it doesn't feel dated. It's a strange, half frozen world seemingly not entirely connected to reality - which of course fits the theme very well.

My first impression when watching 'Welt am Draht' was that this was a clear case of style trumping substance. How wrong I was. The film really is incredibly stylish, with the interiors being pure 1970s elegance. Designer pieces that have become classics are scattered right, left and centre. But there is plenty of substance, too. In fact, this is probably the most complex and multi-layered sci-fi I have watched so far - it is a film that asks questions (and suggests answers) about our identity, free will, political manipulation and economic power, to list only a few issues that it addresses. Fred Stiller (Klaus Löwitsch), the new acting director of a government-sponsored research project that uses a computer to simulate real life, begins to notice strange discrepancies and to wonder whether the world he inhabits is a simulation similar to the one his project has developed. The plot is excellent, and the acting is good throughout, though I found the dialogues sometimes a little stilted and unnatural. The one downside of 'Welt am Draht' is the pacing, which is slower than necessary, and slower than in other German films of the 1970s. Other than that, this is a highly impressive sci-fi.

This quite unknown movie impresses the viewer the longer one watches! Even more than 40 years after the release the idea of powerful computers being able to influence our lives has not yet reached the reality in a way as Fassbinder shows us. The camera settings are fascinating, regarding the actors especially Klaus Löwitsch representing Fred Stiller impresses in his actions. His ability to make the viewer believe the character he represents gives his role as a quite simple looking technical director (though he calls himself scientist) a certain kind of deepness. The female actors represent very much the type of woman of the 1070s as of course the total outfit of the furniture. I was amused that the same curtain with particular circular pattern shown in the movie can be found in our old weekend house. Mascha Rabben as Eva is convincing but not comparable to the acting of Klaus Löwitsch (Stiller). At first I thought a movie of 3 1/2 hours of that kind must be too long, but I would't like to miss one minute of it. The reason for only 8 points is the virtual reality movies are not my favorites.

Recently rediscovered TV film made by Fassbinder in the mid-70s, it's an early film dealing with the sci-fi concept of virtual reality. The subject became really popular in the late 90s with the mega-hit The Matrix and several other more cultish flicks like Dark City, eXistenZ and The Thirteenth Floor (which was actually based on the same novel as World on a Wire). This is notably less cheesy than a lot of 70s sci-fi, though 70s styles are ever-present in the decor. I don't know if I'd say it's as fun as some of those cheesy 70s sci-fis, though. The film is split into two parts, and, as a whole, runs about three and a half hours. They probably could have cut it down a lot, because it really drags at times. The one thing I really love about it is the visuals. It might be Fassbinder's most visually resplendent work. I doubt someone watching it on a television screen in 1973 (probably the great majority watched it in black and white) could have appreciated the gorgeousness of it. The Criterion Blu Ray is gorgeous and very unique looking. As long as it was, the visuals always kept me enthralled. Like a lot of early Fassbinder films, it's a bit dry and could use some more interesting characters - he became a much better director starting around this same time when he started embracing melodrama.

Is it possible that the Wachowski brothers knew "Welt am Draht"? That they took the concept of a 'puppet inside a puppet' for "The Matrix" too? The end of "Matrix Reloaded" (2nd Movie, the third is still not out while I am writing this) tells us what the "real world" in Matrix will be: another Matrix :-)