| alexanderplatz |
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1. What is the significance of the title?
2. The Belgrade Zoo is bombed in the
beginning of the film--how and to what end
does the filmmaker use animal imagery? Note
also the relationship between characters and
animals.
3. There are two heroes in the film, Marko
and Blacky (Crny). Discuss each character,
and how are they related, and what does each
seem to represent?
4. Andrew James Horton, in his article on
Kusturica (Central European Review, Vol. 2,
No.14, 10 April 2000) points to the varied,
and even diametrically opposed responses to
the film. He notes that:
Supporters maintain that it is a complex work
on many levels with an acute awareness of the
contradictions of Yugoslavia's troubled
history and that it satirizes the dishonesty
and opportunity of the warmongers. As one
critic, mindful of both the comedy and
tragedy of the film, describes it as being
"as if The Marx Brothers had been enlisted to
tell us the history of man's inhumanity to
man."
Detractors have labeled the film
pro-Milosevic, pointing out that it presents
the Balkans as some great arena of madness,
in which some ingrained mentality makes
violence inevitable and unstoppable. This,
critics say, puts Kusturica in line with
Serbian foreign policy at the time, which was
to try and cloud the issue of Bosnia and make
it seem somehow beyond and incapable of
rational comprehension. The aim was to induce
a "there's no easy solution, let's leave them
to shoot it out"-type.
Moreover, the film's subtitle, "Once Upon a
Time there was a Country," has been taken by
many to indicate that the film is an exercise
in nostalgia for Yugoslavia in its largest
sense.
5. While we have covered less of the
historical context in the course, is it
possible to take a side here? Is it
necessary? And what does this kind of
controversy say about the role of art? Can it
exist independently of politics? Remember
what Drakulic discusses in "Why I Never Went
to Moscow," and the issue of the writer's
role in Eastern Europe.
6. The two heroes are linked through their
common history, through Natalija, and through
their parallel lives aboveground and
underground. What issues is the director
trying to raise in this way of portraying
Marko and Crny?
7. Discuss the portrayal of the character of
Natalija in the film. Positive? Negative?
Ambiguous?
8.Newsreel and documentary footage are used
throughout the film; how does the director
incorporate these segments into the larger
context of the film. There is some rather
heavy-handed photo-montage (Marko kissing
Tito, Crny walking in Belgrade after the
bombing); is there a message what appears to
be the deliberate way the director reveals
this device?
9. A theme in art on totalitarianism concerns
the manipulation of historical reality--this
theme is clearly brought out in the film; how
and why?
10. There are numerous sex scenes and sexual
imagery; often they are linked with
violence--during the siege of Belgrade, or in
Marko and Natalija's relationship above the
cellar. What is the significance of this
connection?
11. How does the director use music in the
film--from the almost frenetic folk/gypsy
band that follows Marko throughout the film
(in stylized form during his rise to fame as
a poet) to the use of the famous German war
song "Lilli Marleen" as an accompaniment to
the occupation of Yugoslavia by the German
forces and to the funeral of Tito?
12. Marko is portrayed as a great poet--the
theme of art about art. This finds a parallel
in the film within the film, i.e., the story
of Marko the partisan and the "martyrdom" of
Crny. How is Kusturica examining the theme of
art here and elsewhere in the film?
13. The distortion of time and place, both
literally and figuratively, are central to
the structure of the narrative--Marko even
slows down time so that it seems as if less
time has passed for the people in the cellar.
How is this important in the film's message?
14.Discuss the use of madness or insanity as
a motif throughout the film--for example,
Ivan, Natalija's brother, the people in the
lunatic asylum all point to this motif.
Tags : alexanderplatz |
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Affichage : 1431
Durée : 60 s |
| Berlin Alexanderplatz |
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Rainer Werner Fassbinder's controversial,
fifteen-hour-plus Berlin Alexanderplatz,
based on Alfred Döblin's great modernist
novel.
Tags : Rainer Werner Fassbinder |
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Affichage : 6344
Durée : 316 s |
| WORLD TIME CLOCK - ALEXANDERPLATZ - BERLIN - GERMANY |
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The World Time Clock is seated here:
Alexanderplatz is a large open square and
public transport hub in central Berlin, near
the Spree river and the Berliner Dom.
Berliners often call it simply Alex.
Originally a cattle market, it was named in
honour of a visit of the Russian Emperor
Alexander I to Berlin on 25 October 1805. It
gained a prominent role in the late 19th
century with the construction of the station
of the same name and a nearby public market,
becoming a major commercial centre. Its
heyday was in the 1920s, when together with
Potsdamer Platz it was at the heart of
Berlin's nightlife, inspiring the 1929 novel
Berlin Alexanderplatz. (see 1920s Berlin)
The Alexanderplatz has been subject to
redevelopment several times in its history,
most recently during the 1960s, when it was
enlarged as part of the German Democratic
Republic's redevelopment of the city centre.
It is surrounded by several notable
structures including the Fernsehturm (TV
Tower), the second tallest structure in
Europe. Because of its high profile, many
newcomers to Berlin mistake the nickname Alex
and apply it to the Fernsehturm instead. The
Alex also accommodates the Forum Hotel Berlin
and the World Time Clock, a continually
rotating installation that shows the time
throughout the globe. Following German
reunification the Alexanderplatz has
undergone a gradual process of change with
many of the surrounding buildings being
renovated. Despite the construction of a tram
line and the addition of some greenery it has
retained its socialist character, including
the much-graffitied Fountain of Friendship
between Peoples (Brunnen der
Völkerfreundschaft). In 1993 plans for a
major redevelopment including the
construction of several skyscrapers were
published, but due to a lack of demand it is
unlikely these will be constructed. However,
beginning with the reconstruction of the
department store Kaufhof in 2004, some
buildings will be redesigned and new
structures built on the square's
south-eastern side.
Many historic buildings are located in the
area around Alexanderplatz. The traditional
seat of city government, the Rotes Rathaus,
or Red City Hall, is located nearby, as is
the former East German parliament building,
the Palast der Republik, demolition of which
began in February 2006.
Tags : clock watch big huge sign berlin mitte city alex tv tower station railway many coutries symbol right time travel tourist |
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Affichage : 12304
Durée : 48 s |
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