German Gems

at the Jewish Film Festival and now at Opera Plaza in San Francisco

A week or so ago at the Jewish Film Festival in San Francisco I saw Margarete von Trotta’s latest film HANNAH ARENDT, highly anticipated not just by me but by a sold-out Castro crowd. Ever since it’s premiere at the Toronto Film Festival last September we have been waiting for von Trotta’s take of the outstanding Jewish philosopher/thinker/political scientist who escaped Nazi Germany and then France to settle down in New York where in 1961 she shook up the Jewish intellectual community with her reports on the Eichmann trial. Von Trotta’s film focuses on this year or two of her life – not on her relationship with writer Mary McCarthy as suggested by an article in the New Yorker from May 2013. This is not a film about Arendt’s philosophies, her way of dissecting the world, but about a few action packed months of the philosopher’s life that were full of controversy, tension and accusations.

Her reports for the New Yorker portrayed Eichmann not as the devil, the incorporation of all evil, but of the “banality of Evil”, an ordinary guy who followed orders and did not think about the consequences. The Jewish intellectual community of New York and beyond condemned her analysis as a defense of Eichmann, lacking any feelings and emotions for her own Jewish people. Did the term “banality of Evil” spring from a cold, albeit brilliant intellect that had dissected the trial without being able to feel any compassion? Formidable Barbara Sukowa (seen here most recently in VISION, another collaboration with von Trotta, shown at German Gems 2010) gives a strong, nuanced (chain-smoking) performance as Arendt who, confronted with harsh criticism also from close friends, does not give in. She can handle hate mail, yes. She can escape to the country, has friends and famous lovers, like Mary McCarthy, (Heidegger included in flash-backs), she has a loving, open-minded husband and many devoted students. I agree with those who say that this strong, highbrow woman might have found in von Trotta’s film some of the mediocrity she detected in Eichmann (and failed to see in McCarthy’s writing). Still, it is very worth watching the film and reengaging in the discussion about Eichmann in Jerusalem.

After 50 years the audience at the Castro seemed to be just as divided as the readership of the New Yorker in 1962. When Arendt /Sukowa defended her position in front of her students with a brilliant speech half of the Castro applauded, the other half applauded her Jewish friend Hans Jonas who criticized Arendt as a defendant of Eichmann

The Castro felt very alive, as if the actors had stepped out of the screen onto the stage of the theatre, like Barbara Sukowa did a few years ago as guest of Berlin & Beyond and star of the film THE INVENTION OF CURRIED SAUSAGE / Die Erfindung der Currywurst.

Here a review from the NYReview of Books 11/21/13. An insightful take on this film, different from all the reviews I read. http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2013/nov/21/arendt-eichmann-new-truth/

In meinem Bücherschrank fand neulich ich eine wunderschöne Ausgabe von Goethe’s Italienischer Reise, ein Bat Mitzvah Geschenk für meine Tochter Milena von ihrem Patenonkel Charles Rosen. Natürlich auf Deutsch ohne Übersetzung, was Charles sicher so nebenbei las, während er auf dem Klavier Fingerübungen machte und dabei nicht nur Goethes zum Teil lange und verschachtelten Sätze verstanden, sondern in seinem Kopf behalten hat. Charles war ein außergewöhnlich kluger Kopf, der einen ganzen Abend damit verbrachte mit seinem Freund Henry die Vornamen deutscher Dichter und Denker des 18. Jahrhunderts aufzuzählen – Lessing: Gotthold Ephraim, Schlegel: August Wilhelm, ETA Hoffmann: Ernst Theodor Wilhelm, Mörike: Eduard Friedrich, Wieland: Christoph Martin, Wackenroder: Wilhelm Heinrich, Hegel: Georg Wilhelm Friedrich und natürlich Goethe: Johann Wolfgang. Er kannte viel mehr als ich, die ich zu der Zeit Literatur studierte und mich an dem Spiel beteiligte so gut ich konnte. Die Ausgabe der Italienischen Reise enthält sowohl Faksimiles von Goethes Zeichnungen und Malereien, die während der zweijährigen Reise entstanden, als auch von Tischbein, Kniep und anderen Malern, die ihn begleiteten und oft auch portraitierten. Der Reisebericht ist erst 30 Jahre später veröffentlicht worden, nachdem Goethe viel Persönliches und wohl auch Intimes, herausgenommen hatte. Dennoch gibt es Anekdoten, die die Wahlverwandtschaften andeuten, ein Faksimile der 5. Römischen Elegie, Liebesgedichte, die auch erst nach seiner Rückkehr veröffentlicht wurden und Beschreibungen von Frauen, die ihm am Herzen lagen. Was mich an den Tagebuchberichten fasziniert ist ein Goethe, der sich selbst nie in der Vordergrund spielt, fast bescheiden von dem berühmten Dichter schreibt, der incognito reist, sich oft nur zögernd zu Erkennen gibt, Gemälde bemängelt, die ihn nur als “hübscher Bursche, aber keine Spur von mir” darstellen, die Schwächen seiner eigenen Malerei sehr genau erkennt und das Talent, was ihn vor allen andern auszeichnet, die Kunst zu Schreiben, nie zur Schau stellt. Braucht er auch nicht, denn man hat das, was er meisterhaft beherrscht, vor sich, die wunderbare Beschreibung der Italienischen Reise.

My long overdue trip to Japan finally happened – I had tickets for March 11, 2011, when earthquake and tsunami devastated the country but this time I was greeted by friends who had nearly forgotten the disaster and beautiful cherry blossoms (sakura) in Yamagata, 30 min. away from Fukushima. I stayed with families throughout the 10 days in Japan, shared a tiny apartment and a loving relationship between a 70 year old mother and her 45 year old daughter in the middle of Tokyo, and up North I joined 84 year old grandma visiting to her husband’s grave, soaked with mom in the hot springs, while dad in his brand new mercedes with tv and all the gadgets prepared the tour route to the best cherry blossoms and the oldest temples. I am one of the very few who went to Japan and left out Kyoto, a reason for me to return.

After a 3 hour flight I landed in Shanghai. A culture shock, warned my friends, and they were right. 100 square kilometers of city that never ends with buildings that looked like East-German Plattenbau, some much worse than what I saw in East Germany years ago. They were interspersed with beautiful old buildings from colonial times, many restored – the famous Bund with banks and hotels that cater to tourist and the many rich in Shanghai – others terribly run down, windows and doors absent, laundry covering the open holes. The fantastic subway system always crowded with pushy people is like a city below a city. Be prepared for very long walks if you have to change lines and you better know your exit, otherwise another long walk. Tokyo’s metro is similar but it feels different, people don’t scream into their cell phones, don’t push you around. And, thank God, I was not driving in China, just sat in taxis and friend’s cars fearing for my life. Rules don’t seem to exist, or they are tested to the max. Hangzhou is known for being one of China’s beautiful cities. Like Shanghai, it has a wide, slow moving river with slow moving barges that look like big black pieces of wood flowing down the river. There is a romantic, large lake – Xihu or Westlake in Hangzhou, a “Fussgängerzone” like in German cities where you can see the remains of the thousand year old city wall, many beautiful pharmacies from around 1650 where lots of patients visit doctors and buy strange herbs, There are silk shops where big balls of raw silk are sorted and sieved by hand and a silk road for tourist to buy silk products, and a wide variety of Chinese and western restaurants. If you visit Shanghai, stop in Hangzhou, it’s only an hour away by fast train and tickets are much cheaper than in Japan. I didn’t loose my heart in China though, too many people who think of nothing but work, family and making money by selling something — very different from the Japanese where salesmen or women would rather hide in their shops than try to talk you into buying something. Would like to go back to Japan to visit Kyoto and hike on the Kumano trails.

Check out the German language films (Austria’s MUSEUM HOURS and Switzerland’s ROSIE – included). I have not seen any of these films but heard from friends who went to the Berlinale that DAS MERKWÜRDIGE KÄTZCHEN / The Strange Little Cat was the best German film at the festival in 2013, it was shown in the Forum section. I’m very pleased to see that it made its way to San Francisco so fast, in previous years Berlinale films would have to wait for the next spring to be included in the SFIFF. Sorry to say that I will be in Japan and China during the festival, bad timing for a trip that was long overdue. But I hope to get your feed back.

http://prod3.agileticketing.net/websales/pages/list.aspx?epguid=db9c7f13-edc8-489f-bc28-5aa111f9970e&cp155=German&

Also a “Musikvideo der Woche” made by Milena (my daughter) during her Berlinale 13 visit. Jeans Team came to SF a few times over the past 10 or so years and some of you might remember — here “Berliner Schnauze” at its best:

http://detektor.fm/musik/musikvideo-der-woche-jeans-team-scheiss-drauf/

My granddaughter arrived and she lives close by, so I can visit often and soon do all the things grandma is supposed to do, like teach her how to blog… I can see talent there, yes, bloooooog, she said on day 5, but mama has doubts.

Landmark Theatres has several acclaimed German films opening in our venues in San Francisco and the East Bay. These 3 upcoming movies LORE, THE SILENCE, and BARBARA promise to be riveting and definite food for thought for any German affiliated groups. My comments about BARBARA (Germany’s bit for this year’s Oscars) are further down on this blog, yes, worth seeing. THE SILENCE I saw at the Munich Filmfest when it premiered there in 2010, a film packed with village oddballs and lots of suspense that did not quite work for me. Couldn’t put the puzzle together but you might. LORE, Australia’s Oscar nomination for 2013, takes place in Germany, is in German with German actors, and tells a riveting war story.

Check the movie pages for times at the various Landmark Theatres, BARBARA will open March 8, LORE and THE SILENCE are playing now at Embarcadero and Shattuck in Berkeley.

Yes, the Pope is German which qualifies him to get a space on my blog. I clicked on his resignation speech given in Latin and written by a press woman on his staff who seems to know Latin as well as he does. Why in Latin? Are those the rules of the game in papal circles? Nobody blinked while he was reading the text, like a sermon he had given 100 times before. No signs of emotions anywhere in the chapel among those who listened or read along with texts in hand. No surprise looks on their faces, not a trace of a shake in the Pope’s 85 year old hands when he was holding this historical piece of paper. The last time a pope resigned was around 1200 AD. Leave it to the Germans, they know how to make history.

Here some critical comments about his rule from today’s New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/12/opinion/farewell-to-an-uninspiring-pope.html

Photos by Milena Pastreich

The only German film in the competition of this year’s Berlinale, GOLD, by Thomas Arslan who is know for making films in the Berliner Schule tradition (i.e. slow, composed, detailed) seems to have tried something different, a German Western starring wonderful and ubiquitous Nina Hoss. Here a review from DER SPIEGEL http://www.spiegel.de/kultur/kino/berlinale-wettbewerbsfilm-gold-rezension-a-882341.html High marks are given to Ulrich Seidel’s HOFFNUNG, the last part of a trilogy (LOVE premiered at Cannes 2012, FAITH at Venice 2012, and now HOPE); the three films will come to YBCA in June. Seidel fans mark your calendar! Here SPIEGEL’s comments – auf Deutsch http://www.spiegel.de/kultur/kino/berlinale-ulrich-seidl-zeigt-abschluss-der-paradies-trilogie-a-882178.html