Ivan Kataev. Triumph of the will

Triumph of the will
Ivan Kataev

Publication date: November 14, 2003

At the beginning of November, the German film festival “Secrets of the Rhine” was held in Perm. The festival was organized by the local contact office of the German Goethe Cultural Center (Goethe-Institut).

It must be said that the Perm representative office of the Goethe Institute has been exerting a significant influence on the cultural life of the city for quite some time. In addition to the film festival, which has already become a regular feature, the contact bureau periodically introduces the Perm audience to the best examples of culture, not only German, but also pan-European. In October alone, the Goethe Institute held the ballet Into the Blue in Perm, a tour of the Moscow Theater.doc (the drama Norway, today was shown in the premises of the avant-garde theater "At the Bridge"), exhibitions of modern German graphics, and the like.

The film festival “Secrets of the Rhine” itself is being held in Perm for the sixth time. In such a laudable undertaking, the Goethe Institute is actively supported by the administration of the Perm region, the administration of the city of Perm, the committee for culture and art of the administration of the city of Perm, the Triumph and Premier cinemas, the regional Gorky library, as well as the Perm media (local bureaus and representative offices of radio stations "Europe-Plus", "Echo of Moscow", "Public Russian Radio", newspapers "My City - Perm", "Komsomolskaya Pravda", "Local Time", "Perm News", etc.).

Previously, previous festivals featured black-and-white films from the silent era, cinema from the 20s to 40s, united under the theme “Music of the Marlene Era,” as well as contemporary films by leading German filmmakers in Germany.

In light of the active cultural activities of the Goethe Institute, some of the dampness of the festival only causes bewilderment. The dampness is not expressed in the program - it is not very original, but, of course, it is composed with taste, although it is inferior to the program of the previous, fifth. The program of the last festival was, in my opinion, one of the best programs of the “Secrets of the Rhine” cycle. Then, from December 20 to 24, 2002, Veit Helmer's Tuvalu, Das Experiment, Oliver Hirshbiegel's Der Tunnel, Oliver Hirshbiegel's The Princess and The Warrior" (Der Krieger und die Kaiserin) by Tom Tykwer and "The Eyes of the Mummy Ma" (Die Augen der Mumie Ma) by Ernst Lubitsch.

This time the festival was opened by Volker Schlondoff's drama "The Legends of Rita" (Die Stille nach dem Schub). Also shown were the tragicomedy Good Bye, Lenin! by Wolfgang Becker, the drama Nirgendwo In Afrika by Caroline Link and the musical documentary Buena Vista Social Club "Wim Wenders.

The whole problem of the festival is its organization. "The Legends of Rita", "Goodbye Lenin" and "Nowhere in Africa" ​​were shown in the rather large Triumph cinema. But Wenders' "Buena Vista" was chosen to close the festival. The film is, without exaggeration, a cult classic. However, they showed it in an extremely small, intimate “Premier”, with about 30 seats in the hall. Need I say that most of those who wanted to simply didn’t get to see the film?

I would also like to note that problems with tickets were not only at the Buena Vista Social Club, but almost everywhere. It’s just that “at Wenders” this problem became especially noticeable. All films at the festival were shown in only one showing. This is despite the fact that a full house of spectators came to Goodbye Lenin, and there were simply no tickets available for Wenders’ Buena Vista. This is not the first time this situation has happened - both overcrowded halls and a lack of tickets, with fairly high prices for them, have been and remain a bad tradition of the Mystery of the Rhine. In general, it’s not entirely clear why, with such popularity, not show, say, the same “Lenin” at two or more screenings? In a more spacious hall, fortunately they are available in Perm? Why put such a large volume of invitation cards into circulation? Getting the latter is sometimes easier than buying a regular ticket through regular ticket offices.

Again, why, before each screening, make pretentious and pompous speeches about the almost decisive, turning point influence of the film festival on the cultural life of Perm? Not decisive, and not even close to influencing, take my word for it. Why say that everyone in the room is a complete connoisseur of cinema (at these words they meaningfully crunched popcorn behind my back), when, God forbid, half of the room knows about the purpose of the director on set?

Year after year, the festival moves away from its initially declared objectives - to introduce viewers to rare, interesting films. Now the films are certainly interesting, but they are no longer rare. For example, “Nowhere in Africa” and “Good Bye Lenin” were widely released. Now the festival is turning into a kind of platform for repeat screenings - those who did not have time to see the film in wide release go looking for tickets to the festival.

To the credit of the festival's producers, it must be admitted that the program itself, like a retrospective of box-office German cinema, has no undeniable weak points. Perhaps "The Legend of Rita" as an emotionless and sluggish drama with dubious morality is not a very good choice for opening. Of course, all subsequent films - "Goodbye Lenin!", "Nowhere in Africa" ​​and "Buena Vista Social Club" - fully compensated for the sluggish opening, but the aftertaste of the unsuccessful start remained throughout the four days of the festival.

It must be admitted that the program is compiled rather one-sidedly - the theme of totalitarianism, even nostalgia for it as the Motherland, is certainly now popular in Germany. You could even say that she is too popular. But in Russia, such a trend has not yet gained such strength that it would be possible to hold a festival entirely on this topic, while managing not to run into accusations of advertising and even propaganda of totalitarian regimes. Of course, it is unnecessary to rush to such extremes as accusing the festival producer of such political views. But still, still... A film whose authors openly express their hostility towards totalitarian and authoritarian regimes can only be called “Nowhere in Africa”. “Goodbye, Lenin” treats them with a not entirely appropriate smile and irony, and “The Legend of Rita” goes to extremes - it almost iconizes and makes a martyr out of the most banal terrorist, even a repentant one.

But such things can - it’s banal, but true - unpleasantly affect someone’s feelings. Some people's relatives could have died because of terrorists like Rita. Someone could unsuccessfully try for years to find out about relatives on the other side of the Berlin Wall. A topic such as life in a totalitarian society cannot be treated so frivolously and frivolously, much less consider the actions of a terrorist only from her point of view.

Of course, I would like the festival to continue to exist in the future. But in the form in which it exists - a half-thought-out program, a not entirely successful organization, it leaves the viewer only in bewilderment. As a result, the picture of German cinema is not the most flattering, and the theme of the festival - totalitarian society, life in it and the fight against it - remained undisclosed and heterogeneous: films were shown that idealized both the fight for it and the fight against it. For what? I repeat that the last festival gave clear answers on a similar topic. This time there was no “triumph of the will”.