Alabama (2000 Light Years)

With Storm Eunice kicking off outside, I decided to settle down inside and watch a short. Finding a short from Wim Wenders has recently appeared with English subtitles, I got ready for a trip to Alabama.

View on the film:

Featuring just two lines of dialogue, the screenplay by editor/sound man/ writer/ directing auteur Wim Wenders fills the silence with the Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix's versions of All Along The Watchtower blasting out, as the wind began to howl towards the Noir loner/drifter.

Filming for the first time in 35MM, and working with future regular collaborator cinematographer Robbie Muller on this first occasion, directing auteur Wim Wenders covers the 2000 light years with German New Wave stylization, via no profile shots of the drifter, with Wenders holding the camera to the backseat of the car, looking out towards the Road Movie that the lone character is drifting towards, as he drives all along the watchtower.

I saw "2000" just once, yet, like all Wenders' films, I still remember glimpses.

"The Wrong Move(ment)" was the feature attraction, it was 1978, and they were a good pair. "2000" is essentially a 20-minute musical journey.

Traveling thru the deep South, with a bluesy, rambling pace to it. A Dylanesque character .. who's "got no expectations, to pass .. this way .. again" (yes, music by the Stones and Hendrix).

I didn't realize the "film" was shot in 1969. It could pass for a student film, but then again, it's Wenders.

Definitely worth seeing. Not for someone in a rush. A good companion for an evening of subdued reflecting.