FROM THE EYES OF A MASTER : WAR "EUROPA"

As we said, this week I will attempt to share my impressions of a few old masters I have had the good fortune of watching recently. Now, these are directors of truly world-class talent and depth, and I do not claim to be an expert on anything but I do seem to have acquired a fair bit now, which gives me the confidence to rattle on a bit about them. Take Lars Von Trier for example. Now, the first film I watched by him was actually the Dogville series. Marvelous, hard-hitting and truly original film. I then got into him and started researching, trying to dig up more of his stuff. Now, Trier is among other things, a master at editing. Now, editing, if you’re not actually looking for it so to speak, can rather feel like nothing too tough (and the basics are indeed not). What, you just lump the scenes together and that’s it, right? Well, although it can be done like that, there is also the fact that it isn’t so much what you say but the way you say it. And in cinema, the way you say a thing can actually change the entire “thing” – now that kind of editing, is tough indeed. Trier is a master of using technical tricks and novel ways of telling a story to convey feelings and messages – subliminal or overt. Europa is the third film in his Europe trilogy. True to style I have the first at home (I have actually watched it, don’t worry) but have never seen the second. I felt it was OK to go ahead with it; the aim of the trilogy is a description and critique of post-WW2 Europe. Now, admittedly I now feel I will have to watch the first one (Element of crime) with fresh eyes but Europa by no means suffers from not having watched the first two. It is a vivid description of post- WW2 Germany, not so much the physical description though, but the emotions… The picture painted is, I must say, a lot starker than the physical…
Leo Kessler is an American of German descent. He decides, after the Second World War, that the time has come to show some compassion to Germany, so he arrives in the country and under the patronage of his rather gruff uncle and begins to work as a sleeping car conductor on the trains. Leo’s aim is to do as much good as he can and learn about his country of origin but as he goes deeper and deeper into the country, learning about it and even learning to love it, he will begin to see that things are not all they seem. And that Germany is, in fact, a lot more complicated than he first thought it was…
Now this film of Lars Von Trier’s is celebrated as one of his deepest and most original, especially due to his examination of the subconscious. Firstly, one must know that Lars Von Trier is part of a group of directors who want to give a message with their films. He founded the Scandinavian Realism movement back in the day (a group that had very strict rules about how they filmed, basically from using only natural light to, in the same style as the Italian Neorealists, using the services of amateur actors). Now, much in the way of French New Wave, the aim of this group is to actually get the audience to “participate”. That is to say, you are not swept along in the story in a semi-hypnotic state (and Von Trier gives a very powerful poke to that state of spectatorship all through the film although I will not tell you how so as not to spoil the effect) but you are invited to remember it is a film and actively think about the message. Now, the problem with that genre is, that it tends to bore the general public to tears and beyond. (Tell me honestly how many of us have actually succeeded in watching a Truffaut or a Goddard from beginning to end? I haven’t tried yet but will in the weeks to come, check back to see if I do!) Lars Von Trier, very intelligently sits just on the cusp between this genre and an average exciting adventure film. And this is the toughest pose of all to pull off. I mean, the guy has very serious messages about the human mind and the soul to put across which he does, and he does it in a way that gets the audience “out of themselves” and begin to think, but at the same time there is a story to get caught up in, our hero’s life is in danger and he faces tough choices and you grip the arms of your seat and tremble as you wish the film would both go on forever and end your agony at the same time.
I’ll give you one example of the “message” bit though, to give you an idea. Now, the film is shot in black and white. But you will notice that parts of it are actually in color. “Why?” One can’t help but ask oneself. Well, if you watch them closely you will find these are moments of heightened emotion for the characters. It’s like in life, your day to day blends into the back-ground in a (black and white?) mass, while some moments, some important moments (important for you anyway) stand out in Technicolor (so to speak). Isn’t that a brilliant way of highlighting moments, adding to the emotion? You might remember this gimmick from somewhere else; it was later picked up on in another Hollywood film, Pleasantville (starring Toby Maguire and Reese Witherspoon). The two were modern day teenagers who get sucked up into a ‘60s TV show (long story) and the world is very reserved and black and white, but after the children arrive, the possibility of true emotion appears, and every time a character experiences true emotion(anything from sex to true sorrow) they become “colored”. Gimmicks like that… Politically speaking of course, I don’t think I need to go into the significance of the young naïve American going into war-torn and traumatized Europe brimming with “good intentions” and not much else… I’ll let everyone draw their own conclusions there…
I can go on and on but I won’t, just watch the dang thing. Then watch it again.