Berlinale 61

In the queue. One hour before the opening of the counter...
It is once again cold February and once again Berlinale. Although it is freezing cold, people are rushing from one cinema to the other. Berlinale fever! This time 61st.

Berlinale has different sections depending on the film profiles. Accepted big international movies are shown in the Competition, independent productions in Panorama, experimental films and films with exotic origin in Forum, movies mostly for young audience in Generation, German productions in Perspective Deutsches Kino, short films in Berlinale Shorts. Every year there is also a Retrospective section which focuses on the works of a master. This year we had the opportunity to see works of Swedish director Ingmar Bergman in the frame of this section once again.

Berlinale is Europe's, for some the world's most contemporary cinema event and it is the festival of discussions and encounters. This mega event fits perfectly to the cosmopolitan, alternative texture of the Berlin city.

Some small tips for the beginners: Plan ahead! Advence sales of the tickets are possible only 3 days before the show. Only a tiny bit of tickets are available online. You can still find tickets from the box office, they call here "Abendkassee", as well. But this would be difficult in general and impossible for the galas.

This year Asghar Farhadi from Iran held the golden bear with Jodaeiye Nader az Simin (Nader And Simin, A Separation). And silver bear went to Béla Tarr from Hungary for his film A torinói ló (The Turin Horse).

I saw A torinói ló with a Hungarian friend of mine. This film is photographically a masterpiece. All black and white. But it can be depressing if you are not prepared. It is about a week of a father who is a coachman, his daughter and their horse. All days are the same in poverty. A storm is accompanying the lack of hope in the background of the film. One day the horse refuses to eat, move or doing anything. They try to escape from their misserable circle but they turn back from the half way. At the end, they cannot eat anymore neither. Like the Turin horse. There are only few dialogs in the film. Turin is a city-a nice city according to Mónika-in Hungary. The guy who was sitting next to us asked where we are coming from. When he learned Mónika is Hungarian, he asked her if she could explain him what was the whole film about. Well, as I mentioned one should be really trained before watching this film. The film abstracts can be deceitful.



Friedrichstadt Palast

Coriolanus is a modern Shakespeares adaptation from Ralph Fiennes. It is about power struggles between Rome and Volscians at ancient times. Commander Coriolanus is a tough soldier but as a hero and an honest man he enters to the politics. His opponents trick him and he is banished from the city. He joins to the Volscians and attackes on Rome. Then he makes the mistake of forgiving Rome for the sake of his mother and wife.

I had the chance to see the restored 4K version of Taxi Driver from Martin Scorsese. He was expected in the Berlinale Special Gala but he could not show up because of illness. The scnenarist of the film Paul Schrader attended to the gala. He explained how he has written the script. Basically he insprired from his own life, a 26 years old man with an old car like a coffin, in a killer loop. He told if he had not written the Taxi Driver, he would be like the Taxi Driver. And this 4K version of the film is brilliantly high definition.

My favorite film was Made in Poland from Przemyslaw Wojcieszek. It is again a black and white-and a bit of red-film, but it is full of humor. Boguś is a young and angry man left the school and he wants to do a revolution. All his attempts to organize a revolutionist group fails and he demolishes the cars in a parking lot. That lands him in a big trouble, one of the cars belongs to a ganster. He has to pay the price. It is possible to see several reflections from post-communist Poland in the film. A rebel teenager, voice of national conservatives Radio Maryja which promotes the “Prayer for Poland’s Rescue”, new riches and gangsters born after the fall of communist regime, neo-liberals lulling everyone to sleep, a literature teacher who caused injury of his daughter in an accedent, a romantic socialist mother, a disabled law student living with his sister full with hope for the future and a priest as a father figure. I watched the film with my Polish neighbour who hosted me in Gdansk. We really saw the new Poland in the film blended with black humor.

Cinema is war! A pamphlet

WAR! Cinema is war.
Cinema is not comforting stories.
Cinema is war.
Cinema is not bringing people together.
Cinema is war.
Cinema is not cherished nostalgia.
Cinema is war.
Cinema is not beauty of life.
Cinema is the destruction of a system that turns you into a slave.
Cinema is not fancy hits in the background of your well-mannered life.
Cinema is a war cry, cinema is warfare, cinema is a warpath.
Cinema is not a million dollar camera set up and a truck of lights.
Cinema is 5D, 7D, Super 8, an insurgent’s backpack full of batteries and flash cards.
Cinema is not money.
Cinema is poverty.
Cinema is not status quo.
Cinema is disruption of status quo.
Cinema is not a dinner at Davos.
Cinema is riots in Greece.
Camera is not a toy.
Camera is not a tool.
Camera is a weapon.
Ready to shoot.
And we’re about to begin.

Przemysław Wojcieszek