ZENTROPA
Only Lars von Trier can get away with making a B&W German movie that's both very American and 'colorful' when you least expect it!
3-1/2 stars [B&W and Color/(1991)Denmark/2006-USA-REVIVAL/Nordisk-Obel-Mital] - (1 hr. 54 min.)
Co-written & directed by Lars Von Trier
Characters/Cast
Narrator - Max von Sydow
Leopold Kessler - Jean-Marc Barr
Katharina Hartmann - Barbara Sukowa
Lawrence Hartmann (her gay brother) - Udo Kier
With: Ernst Hugo, Erik Mork, & Eddie Constantine
Review:
Lars von Trier supposedly said that he's been so influenced by American films, music, and television that he himself is, for all intents and purposes, ... American. And it's for this reason that U.S. audiences find so much to like in his movies because he does have a very American approach to filmmaking, and his use of blue-screen and other special effects seems very Hollywood-like in almost every respect.
Of course, not long after the making of this movie, Lars von Trier abandoned technically-influenced filmmaking and started telling his stories under a simpler, and much stricter, set of rules otherwise known as 'the 10 rules of dogme'.
That said, "Zentropa" opens with the voice of Max von Sydow as he counts us into 'Europa' (the orignal title of the film). We are on a train heading to occupied Frankfurt, Germany in 1945. This was a time when 'werewolves', partisan terrorists and ex-Nazi's, continued to operate in order to protest the occupation by American soldiers (yes, this does resonate more thanks to the recent Iraqi war headlines).
Barbara Sukowa noted in her experience as a native German that she had always been told the werewolves were more like boy scouts gone bad than actual terrorists. Obviously, von Trier's sentiments lean more toward the extreme as they carry out bombings and hangings within the storyline of the film. This may contrast with German 'beliefs' but they certainly ring truer than tales of young boys slashing jeep tires or sabotaging street signs.
No matter what you know or believe, von Trier's point-of-view is always worth taking in, so catch this one when you can. On DVD now!
Key crew:
Co-writer: Niels Vorsel
Cameramen: Henning Bendtsen, Edward Klosinski, & Jean-Paul Meurisse
Editor: Herve Schneid
Music: Joakim Holbek
Art Director: Henning Bahs
[NOTE: Sadly (for me), this film was a shown at the von Trier REVIVAL as a DVD-projection because the 35mm print did not have the correct subtitles. On the plus side, actress Barbara Sukowa intro'd the "screening" IN PERSON and she looks better now than she did in the movie. I hope to see her and this film in all its 35mm glory ... someday]
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