Le petit chaos

From the structure of the film, one cannot motivate the title of R.W. Fassbinders third film: Roughly speaking, three young people who can hardly make their living from selling newspapers, decide to make a small robbery and get away with it. However, typical not only for Fassbinder's early movies, "Das Kleine Chaos" is riddled with quotations. As a matter of fact, the whole short movie seems to be one quotation of the major elements of the American Film Noirs of 30ies or 40ies. Fassbinder's acting is highly stylized and remembers that of "methodic" Hollywood actors from that time, e.g. of James Cagney. So, what the actors play, looks like the movie of somebody else (e.g. from Raoul Walsh). Further, at the end, after the three have gotten their money, Fassbinder says: "And I am going to the cinema". Thus he goes to the place, where that what they just played can be seen. So, did they play an actual (yet fictive) event or a story from a screenplay?

We therefore have three levels of reference in "Das Kleine Chaos": 1. The level of a robbery that takes place somewhere in Munich at the end of the 60ies; 2. The acting which is imitating that of American Film Noirs some 50 or 60 years ago, and 3. Fassbinder's uttering that he goes to the cinema, where such American Noirs could be seen often in the Munich of the 60ies. Hence, by "chaotic" may be meant the lack of exact correspondence between the three levels of the movie.

My first film from Rainer Werner Fassbinder is a nine-minute short, one of the director's earliest efforts. The film follows three youths, caught up in the rebellious counter-culture of the 1960s, who decide to supplement their meagre incomes (selling magazine subscriptions door-to-door) by orchestrating a home robbery. The three aspiring criminals – played Christoph Roser, Marite Greiselis and Fassbinder himself – bust into the home of a frightened woman (Greta Rehfeld), and demand her money. The characters, particularly Fassbinder's Franz, do plenty of over-the-top posturing, no doubt in homage to the James Cagney-style of acting that dominated gangster movies of the 1930s and 1940s (the film even references this sub-genre of Hollywood film-making, musing that "I'd like to see a gangster movie that ends well, for once"). The scene of a home invasion surprisingly called to mind 'A Clockwork Orange (1971),' though I don't know how likely it is that Stanley Kubrick received inspiration from the amateur work of an emerging German director.

Though 'The Little Chaos (1966)' was undoubtedly shot on a limited budget, and the cinematography certainly betrays these limitations, Fassbinder does know how to position his camera, alternating between close-up static shots and more dynamic hand-held pans. The film opens with a long zoom across a road, as an enigmatic jazz tune overwhelms the soundtrack, suggesting the brand of classy crime capers that became popular in the 1960s. The acting is adequate enough, though certainly not authentic. Fassbinder mugs determinedly to the camera, a faux tough-guy who perpetually seems to have a foul odour beneath his nostrils. Roser's character is much more tender and introverted, a likable enough guy who's obviously been roped into something in which he desires no part. The film ends with "I Can't Control Myself" by The Troggs on the soundtrack, followed by the wail of police sirens. The three petty criminals will probably get away with it this time, but one gets the feeling that they won't be so fortunate on their next venture.

A group of youths struggle to make ends meet in their jobs selling newspapers. They decide that they need to take the law into their hands and get some money. To this end they carry out a house-invasion and rob a woman. There really isn't a lot to say about The Little Chaos. It's clearly a product of the New Wave. More specifically, it seems to be influenced by Jean Luc Godard's earlier À Bout de Soufflé, with its depiction of young hoodlums and it's allusions to American gangster pictures. It seems to be quite self-consciously cool like that film too. It's really too short to make very much of an impression though. And it just seems like director Rainer Werner Fassbinder was having a bit of fun with this one. The Little Chaos is no more than a little diversion.

"Das Kleine Chaos" marks as being Rainer Werner Fassbinder's first experience with films and what a impressive debut he has with such fun project. With visible inspiration on Godard films like "Bande à Part" and "Vivre Sa Vie" he tells us the funny sometimes violent story of a group of friends (played by Fassbinder, Christoph Roser and Marite Greiselis), all completely losers that are incapable of getting money in selling magazines door to door, and they decide to become robbers. Their victim? The woman who turned their offer of buying their magazines!

Far from being an ambitious project like many of his future works yet intending to make something good out of it so he could try to go to a film school (this and his second short, both rejected by the school), "The Little Chaos" effects lies on the director's talent in putting so many elements in just one short film of less than ten minutes. Comedy, drama, crime movie, suspense, musical, use of film references, political ideas (brief but interesting). This doesn't aim to any message, it's just a tribute to the cinema the director knew and enjoyed during the years, and the movie is very convincing in being simply that, no more, no less.

Known for his dramatic work in masterpieces like "Fox and his Friends" and "The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant", Fassbinder makes of his debut a highly entertaining and funny picture, a kind of humor that disappeared or were used in less quantity in his magnificent films ("Satanbraten" is a pure comedy but very dark). The last line of the movie when he answers what's he going to do with the money stolen is hilarious. As for his acting, posing like a tough gangster, RWF is incredible, stealing the show from his co-stars. Watch it and enjoy it the early talent of one of the greatest directors to ever film on this earth. 10/10

The Little Chaos is another early short from Fassbinder that again shows glimpses of his immense talent that was yet to come. The story was more pedestrian in this film, essentially three door-to-door salespeople get fed up with their job and decide to rob a lady that turned them all away. This short has good acting and surprisingly accomplished directing. However the story didn't really offer anything other then a fun ten minute love letter to classical Hollywood cinema with a slight infusion of French New Wave.

In the end the short is fairly inconsequential, and not as memorable as the City Tramp (which also came in the Arrow Video release). However it's worth seeking out too see a more mischievous Fassbinder at work in front and behind the camera.