The Story of Film Episode 10 – Movies to Change the World

1969-1979: Radical Directors in the 70s – Make State of the Nation Movies.

Showed the radicalism of new movies, how other movies differentiated from each other.

• Fox and His Friends (1975) (a.k.a. Faustrecht der Freiheit) dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder – Goes naked in front of the camera, displaying his personal life.
• All That Heaven Allows (1955) (introduced in Episode 6) dir. Douglas Sirk – Sweet and orchestral.
• Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974) (a.k.a. Angst essen Seele auf) dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder – “Remake” of “All That Heaven Allows”. Turned it into a less glossy, less beautiful movie. Utilizes a tracking shot to show the prejudice of a family. Shows racism within movies, and the darkness of human identity.
• The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972) (a.k.a. Die Bitteren Tränen der Petra von Kant) dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder – Also shows the darkness of human identity. Took the American story of “All About Eve” further. It loved Hollywood, but sneered at it’s lies about identity, and love.
• All About Eve (1950) dir. Joseph L. Mankiewicz – Inspired Fassbinder. Yet, he took the American story much further.
• Alice in the Cities (1974) (a.k.a. Alice in den Städten) dir. Wim Wenders – Utilizes a crane shot under a bridge. Utilizes an iconic American location, the Empire State building, and utilizes natural light. Utilized long lenses, and the camera was unsure about what it was looking for.
• An Affair to Remember (1957) dir. Leo McCarey – Also utilized the Empire State building. Images were crisp, and controlled.
• Gods of the Plague (1970) (a.k.a. Götter der Pest) dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder – Shows how Fassbinder controls the actors within his movies.
• The Second Awakening of Christa Klages (1978) (a.k.a. Das zweite Erwachen der Christa Klages) dir. Margarethe von Trotta – Showed how different the actress acts between different movies/their directors. Utilizes closeups, and direct sight lines between the actors. Showed intimacy.
• Burden of Dreams (1982) dir. Les Blank – A documentary film. Shows emotion, even with a far back camera.
• Arabian Nights (1974) (a.k.a. Il fiore delle mille e una notte) dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini – End of a trilogy. Filmed in mirrored rooms.
• The Spider’s Stratagem (1970) (a.k.a. Strategia del ragno) dir. Bernardo Bertolucci – Utilized a tracking shot from left to right. Utilizes it alongside an actress walking. What made it different was it’s concern for visual beauty.
• The Conformist (1970) (a.k.a. Il conformista) dir. Bernardo Bertolucci – About fascism and identity. Utilized bold composition and perspective for visual identity. Utilizes leaves, and camera movement, as if they were blown by the same wind. Brought visual beauty back to Italian cinema.
• Taxi Driver (1976) (introduced in Episode 1) dir. Martin Scorsese – Shows visual beauty of a scene, that derives of the conformist. Filmed a violent scene with a high, and gliding camera, an ugly event turned into gorgeous form.
• Women in Love (1969) dir. Ken Russell – Films a sex scene as a slow motion, long lens, outdoor dance. Turned the camera sideways, as to defy gravity.
• Performance (1970) dir. Donald Cammell & Nicolas Roeg – Shows a man adjusting them self through a mirror, comparing it to that of a scene in “Mean Streets”. Utilizes a dissolving shot into hair, and has an actor look into the camera. Utilizes the dissolving effect, as to show two people becoming the same person. Utilizes a shot of a bullet going through a brain, into a different image. A film about identity.
• Mean Streets (1973) (introduced in Episode 9) dir. Martin Scorsese – Another mirror scene utilized. All about display.
• Persona (1966) (introduced in Episode 7) dir. Ingmar Bergman – Utilizes the dissolving effect to show two people becoming the same person.
• Walkabout (1971) dir. Nicolas Roeg – Filmed with wide angle lenses, to stretch the landscape. This film is about both civilized and wild landscapes. Questions what freedom is.
• Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) dir. Peter Weir – Films a scene in slight slow motion, as to create a notion of mystery. Shows how an editor can change an ending. Set in Victorian times.
• My Brilliant Career (1979) dir. Gillian Armstrong – Glamorized, and filmed in dabbled light.
• Minamata: The Victims and Their World (1971) dir. Noriaki Tsuchimoto – Tried to change Japanese culture with a hammer, and utilized documentaries. Filmed over 17 years. Utilized a small 16mm camera so Tsuchimoto can get directly into the action. Utilized shaky cam to directly show action.
• The Emperor’s Naked Army Marches On (1987) dir. Kazuo Hara – Showed Japanese assertiveness. Filmed scenes with a handheld camera. A mystery-type film. Utilized slow motion to show the action of a scene. Showed that truth is buried under layers of lies.
• Black Girl (1966) (a.k.a. La noire de…) (introduced in Episode 8) dir. Ousmane Sembène – The bold start of Black film making.
• Tarzan’s Secret Treasure (1941) dir. Richard Thorpe – A Western-looking film. Clean people in a dirty setting, still one of the most popular films screening in Africa.
• La nouba des femmes du Mont Chenoua (1971) dir. Assia Djebar – A dreamlike film. Utilized a backwards tracking shot. Was a more realistic Africa.
• Xala (1975) dir. Ousmane Sembène – Funny and rude. About the move from colonial to post-colonial identity. Shows how different a new lifestyle could be for people. A dude washed his car in Evian water.
• Sinemaabi: A Dialogue with Djibril Diop Mambéty (1997) dir. Beti Ellerson Poulenc – A documentary about Mambety, shows his thought process on making movies. Mambety created African modernism.
• Badou Boy (1970) dir. Djibril Diop Mambéty – Picture shows an abstract rhythm, and jaggedness.
• Hyènes (1992) (a.k.a. Hyenas/Ramatou) dir. Djibril Diop Mambéty – Shows consumerism, and how it affects individuals, and communities. Later to show the joys of capitalism. Shows a lynching. A type 3 film.
• Kaddu Beykat (1975) (a.k.a. Lettre paysanne) dir. Safi Faye – Mid-sized framings. Shows the life of an African tribe.
• Harvest: 3,000 Years (1976) (a.k.a. Mirt sost shi amit) dir. Haile Gerima – Story shadows over 3 millennia. Extreme long lenses, low contrast black/white. Makes us feel distant.
• Umut (1970) (a.k.a. Hope) dir. Yilmaz Güney & Serif Gören – Utilizes ripped clothing to represent how poor one is. Shows insanity within a man.
• Yol (1982) dir. Yilmaz Güney & Serif Gören – Shows freedom. Utilizes long-lens filming, and wide open spaces. No words needed to show emotion.
• The Battle of Chile (1975/1977/1979) (a.k.a. La batalla de Chile) dir. Patricio Guzmán – About identity, and betrayal. Shows the center of action. Filmed from rooftops, with a handheld camera. Shows history, walls/railings half obscured their views. No gloss.
• The Holy Mountain (1973) (a.k.a. La montaña sagrada) dir. Alejandro Jodorowsky – About identity/psychedelics. A 3rd cinema setup. A lot about symbolism/abstract. A very 70’s production design. About self-discovery.