I was fourteen when my mother took me to see
Deutschland im Herbst,
an omnibus film by the Who’s Who of what was then the New German Cinema. Artists like Kluge, Reitz, Schlöndorff, and of course Rainer Werner Fassbinder responded directly to the political turmoil of 1977. In October of that year alone, terrorists landed a seized plane in Mogadishu, hoping to free the jailed RAF Red Army Faction leaders. Shortly after that hijacking failed, Baader, Ensslin and Raspe were found dead in their cells. Later that same day, Martin Schleyer, a kidnapped industrialist, was abandoned in the trunk of a car. Dead.
Growing up in Germany in the 70’s, politics were never far from anybody’s mind.
Bus stops were plastered with posters searching for terrorists on the run. On my way home from school, I would pass the very spot where Schleyer was pulled out of his car, leaving behind a dead driver and police escort. My first bicycle trip came to a sudden stop when heavily armed policemen insisted on searching everybody who was passing through. What did it matter that we were two teenaged girls on our way to visit grandma?
Germany in Autumn is a collection of highly personal responses to this most troubled time in post-war Germany. But the most personal of them all is the segment by Fassbinder. Lit and framed in his distinctive style, his contribution is a mock documentary featuring Fassbinder himself and his real-life boyfriend Armin Meier. The two men are seen fighting, drinking, snorting coke, sleeping, drinking, fighting, crying. Intercut with their clumsy attempts to come to terms with the political situation of the day is a heated conversation between Fassbinder and his mother Lilo Pempeit. They speak about democracy, terror, and the fear of speaking up. Strangely naïve despite having lived through fascism, Lilo’s tight-lipped assertion that the best solution to the current upheaval would be a benevolent autocrat was as chilling then as it is now.
While to my teenage mind the open display of male nudity might have been the most unsettling aspect of this film, re-watching Fassbinder’s segment now, I am struck by the complex way he reacted to the political events around him.
How personal he allowed politics to become. How personal politics are. A conversation between the two men about what to do with the imprisoned terrorists ends in fisticuffs on the floor. When Armin brings home a stranger in need, Fassbinder throws the man out. Is that out of jealousy or is generosity simply not possible in times of political strife? Even his own mother is not safe from Fassbinder’s need to expose the latent authoritarian longings of regular folks.
In this day of fake news and Internet memes, it is striking that there is no detached irony here. No cynicism. In this haunting, raw, and painfully honest film, politics have a direct effect on the personal life of the citizens. The personal is indeed political – a reality that Fassbinder does not allow us to forget.
German-born, Montreal-based Wiebke von Carolsfeld made her directorial debut with award-winning MARION BRIDGE (starring Molly Parker and introducing Ellen Page). Since then, she has written and directed the documentary WALK WITH US as well as STAY, a Canadian/Irish co-production, starring Taylor Schilling and Aidan Quinn that was featured at TIFF and the EUFFTO. Her most recent film, THE SAVER, is based on a novel by Edeet Ravel and stars the newly discovered Imajyn Cardinal (Best Actress Award at the AIFF).
Speaking of Fassbinder: Win tickets to TIFF's exhaustive RWF retrospective, which the Goethe-Institut Toronto is co-presenting. Email me by 9am EST on December 1 with the answer to the question:
Who was the famous cinematographer of “I Only Want You to Love Me”, “Chinese Roulette” and “World on a Wire”, who also worked with Scorsese, Schlöndorff, and Coppola?
for your chance to win
- 1 pair of tickets for “I Only Want You to Love Me” on Friday, December 2, at 6:30 pm
- 1 pair of tickets for “Chinese Roulette” on Saturday, December 3, at 6:30 pm
- 1 pair of tickets for “World on a Wire” on Sunday, December 4, at 4:15 pm
All films screen at the TIFF Bell Lightbox in downtown Toronto.
Only the winners will be notified.
