Europa

By watching this movie I discovered an artist that I waited too long to discover. Playing with multiple cinematographic tricks Trier not only bring us back in history but he also adopt the style that movie had in the time where the action is depicted. Also, with the rear screen projection, Trier had the chance to give his movie a unique depth of field and by the way to mix color and B&W and therefore make a magical masterpiece that can be appreciated by the dumb movie eaters that most of us are.

In 1995, Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg created what is known as the 'Dogma 95 Manifesto'--a series of rules that these and other Danish avant-garde film makers would adhere to the in the future. I mention this because although "Europa" was made by von Trier, the film does not at all adhere to these rules--as the film was made four years before this film movement was deliberately created. Von Trier's use of black & white film (interposed throughout the film with muted color), sets, incidental music, non-hand held camera, the use of a crane for a few shots and setting the film in the past were all techniques he would eschew only four years later. I guess he was just getting it out of his system!

The beginning of "Europa" is very, very strange. You hear the voice of Max Von Sydow and he leads the audience in a hypnotic induction--taking you back to the year 1945--just after WWII. And, later, you will once again hear the voice of Von Sydow talking throughout the film like a hypnotherapist--a VERY unusual way to narrate this film.

The film plot revolves around an odd and rather non-emotive American, Leopold Kessler. It seems that he was a pacifist during the war and has moved to Germany to work for the railroad. This is odd, I know, but it gets a lot more unusual than that... I would try to explain the story, but frankly it all becomes very surreal and a bit weird. Additionally, while the film is supposed to be about a group of post-war terrorists named 'Werewolves', the film does NOT attempt to provide an actual history lesson or really discuss their actions. My advice is like all surreal films, don't try to understand it or make sense out of why von Trier made it--just absorb it and make of it what you will (or not).

My feeling about the film is that I liked it because of its bizarreness and innovative cinematography. Sure, there are a few sloppy portions (such as the dubbing of the Colonel's voice) but what's important is that this film was made in 1991. Using computers to make this sort of project would be pretty easy today--but back in 1991 personal computers were still a bit rare and amazingly underpowered. Yet, von Trier was able to use black & white mixed with occasional splashes of grainy color--a difficult trick in its day. There are also very very beautiful camera shots throughout the film (such as the bombed out church in the snow) which are achieved through superimposing characters into scenes he shot previously. Totally weird, confusing but visually arresting. This is NOT a film for the average person--they probably wouldn't have the patience or would demand a more coherent and traditional plot. But, it's the sort of thing that is worth seeing once--it's that unusual and unique. The style, the narration, the cinematography and the music provide a once in a lifetime sort of experience.

If you get the DVD, be sure to see if it has the French documentary "The Making of 'Europa'", as it explains the various very innovative camera tricks that were used. Additionally, just how complicated it all was to make is revealed...and it took two years to make!

Zentropa is another von Trier film that manages to tell an authentically interesting story, revel in its own aesthetic beauty, and engage us in questions of metaphysics. The films narration, as described above, sets the gauntlet very high. The often tired flashback/hypnotism/relapse/etc structure poses a certain disaster to most of the films that dare to use it. However, it is pulled off masterfully.

With Zentropa, we must first buy into the introduction. We prepare ourselves to relive these moments, and allow the film to justify its use of this down the tracks. However, we learn very quickly that what we have been sold is not the standard omniscient perspective. It is distorted and fragmented; emotion has been poured on too thick at parts, while in others it is spread too thin. We must accept the story directly from a mind that we considerably mistrust.

The rest of the film tirelessly reconstructs the scenes of this deranged mind. We transition from b&w film, to color. From a nearly mystical hope, to an absurd pessimism. Time moves too slowly, but abruptly jumps ahead too quickly. von Trier understands the architecture of this 'hypnotic' state supremely.

The movie progresses sporadically which is mandatory given the structure. von Trier plays wonderfully with the noir genre, he throws in some espionage, some sex, love, hats and guns. Finally, he skillfully introduces issues of morality, war, and responsibility- adding a rich political dimension to an already layered film.

The final scenes are visually the most beautiful in the movie, and some of my all time personal favorites. The quiet, tenseless moments in this sequence finally allow us to sink into a comfortable pace and an agreeable aesthetic.

Ultimately, von Trier has framed this film around a giant question of reality. As is his standard. The fact that this metaphysical dimension continually impinges upon the film, justifies its validity. The question was artfully asked. And beneath this works a noir film, a veritable feast of imagery, and wonderful performances.

Von Trier has created a film that is a noir satire, a joke on psychotherapy, the last great hurrah for back-projection in movies (even tops "The Nasty Girl" in that depatment), a historical hoax, a satire of the Prussian work ethic, a satire of noir romances, and an indirect indictment on the firms which profited off twelve years of Hiterite insanity. The train is Germany, with Ernst-Hugo Jaregard and Jean Marc-Bar decked out as its' SS and military (notice the tunic design, the collar patch piping, the peaked caps, the fact that it's all black.) The Werewolves are taken from Reichspropagandaminister Goerbbles' last hat trick, that the Reich gov't. was prepping an army of saboteurs in 1944-45 to make occupation a misery. The Zentropa firm is a combination of the steel kingpin Krupp (which used slave labor at Auschwitz), and Deutche Reichsbahn (the state railway firm which sent so many to their deaths), along with others like Ford, who profited from Axis and Allied war efforts. Hence the burial sequence is doubly ironic; the Nazi war profiteer getting last rites in a ruined cattle car that was probably resposible for the oblivion of hundreds. The film leaves you with the suspicion that Nazism was an extreme expression of the German national psychology of sado-masochism and that 46 years later Hitler's shadow still stalked Europa (the cathedral scene was shot in an actual Polish cathedral which had been left roofless by the Communist Polish gov't.) I will say no more, but I do love the "Europa Aria" over the final credits. That song says more then I possibly could.

Von Trier once explained how he created such strong involvement from the viewer with his movies by placing his movie world in about the middle of the real world and the imagined world. So as viewers we think we watch a "true" story while in fact we are thoroughly manipulated, often to the point that the movie works disturbing (Dancer in the Dark) or painful (The Idiots/ Idioterne). Of course the Dogme-films acted only as a vehicle for this theory (besides creating some welcome spotlight on Von Trier).

The story is typical for Von Trier: our hero is idealistic, seems to balance his relations with everybody else, but soon becomes the victim of the problems others have created in the past for themselves. The idealist inevitably has to reject society in order to stay idealistic and becomes the terrorist. Mankind is spoiled and purity only leads to (self-)destruction. (These elements were also very omnipresent in Breaking the Waves and Dancer in the Dark.) The movie is also full of cynical (even humorous) undertones about the role of the Germans and Americans in post-war Germany.

As a technical achievement the movie is wonderfully designed: shifting and fading washed-out colors, screen overlays, action on different overlays (with the shooting of the soon-to-be mayor as the most interesting). In this movie we can see how good Von Trier's handles film as a technical medium. In his later works he seems to step down from this (as if he is not longer interested in technical achievements because they become so easily available).