Can I Have a Danish with my Kafka?
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The end of the Europe trilogy is at hand and what a film to end it all on. Now, to those that go about in parading their cinematic knowledge without giving the Wikipedia a glance, let me explain the trilogy as a whole. Shit happening in Europe. The first story was taking a murder mystery and placing it in a hypnotic and hallucination vision of post World War 2 Europe. The 2nd takes place primarily in Denmark as the world slowly succumbs to a killer disease via two writers trying to get writers block for a script that's coming due.
This third and final entry is one that dives into quite interesting terrain and could be seen as the true blossoming of Lars Von Trier as a cinematic milestone at this time. I don't believe it is hyperbole to say this as this film was released in 1991 and Cinema was going to change for what can be described as the worst of times but at the time, the false assumption was that it was the best of times. It was a time when a strange cloud was forming in the horizon and behind that moon shaped cloud was a film that would have enough force to destroy film for the remainder of the 1990's but before the massacre of Pulp Fiction, film was doing pretty good.
It is 1991. Krzysztof Kieślowski has just made The Double Life of Veronique. Barton Fink has just won the Palm d'Or and upon hearing the news, Lars Von Trier walks out of the auditorium and flips off everyone on the way out. What a beautiful last breathe before the end.
The Film
Before the nitty gritty comes the plot; Leopold Kessler is an American with German roots. It is 1945 and he feels as though he must do something to help out war torn Germany. A personal moral calling he has placed unto himself as no one is asking for his services.
He travels to Germany and meets up with his Uncle who works at Zentropa trains. What seems to be the only train service still running during these terrible post war times. He gets a job as a sleeping car conductor, in the first class area, and begins to 'help' out, though what he is doing and calling it help can be considered two different things, as he goes about in navigating through the world of post World War 2 Germany.
As he continues on his idealist work, he gets himself involved and pulled in various directions; one is a group of Nazi loving saboteur's calling themselves Werwolf's. Another is the US Army wanting to know if he could possibly get any information that would help them in figuring out who is part of this underground sympathetic Nazi group. Then there is his Uncle who holds nothing but contempt for his nephew and wants him to do nothing more but succeed as a sleeping car conductor but as German love goes, its tough.
Getting pulled in all these directions and then falling in love leads to a climax culminating into the ultimate moment of self assertion and the absolute failure of self assertion when Leopold acts upon his own decision for the first time throughout the entire film which turns out to be the worst one that he could make.
The Nitty Gritty Prelude
First off let us talk style. This movie has a lot of style. So much fucking style that I gotta break the stylistic decisions that were made in this film. Will it be in order? Of course not. This is free flowing and if you don't like it then free flow yourself the fuck outta here.
The Nitty Gritty Act 1
Lets talk about the visuals. The overall mood and feeling of this is in between that of a 1940's or 1950's World War 2 picture like those Humphrey Bogart joints and an art film tipping the line of something commercial and something inaccessible to the layman schlub. It's an interesting take for the material being that those kind of films don't really exist especially during these turbulent 1980's. Then again, this is a film outside of the United States so maybe the world is thriving while the US is lagging and getting fatter while world cinema is getting stronger.
Though the real cool choice is not only shooting it in black and white film stock which really makes it just look so slick as there is a clear understanding of putting shadows to work and it gives off such cohesive solid look overall but there is a twist to this. There are several moments in the film where the black and white film is being projected into the background and the actors are in the foreground being filmed in color stock. The sort of fading hue that looks to be reminiscent of the technicolor prints of the past.
Taking it even more step to the extreme, the film has these moments occur with actors in the foreground interacting with people are objects in the background or vice versa. Having to spend more time timing it so that when they leave the frame, the will appear on time in the background/foreground. Beyond just scenes, this effect is also used to express emotional distress without having to involve interior monologue or anything but strictly visual expressions of these moments.
Real solid stylistic choice that feels far more integral to the telling of this film more so than being some pandering to make the film seem more exciting for mass appeal or something cheap and derivative to capture the attention of those with art crowd sensibilities.
The Nitty Gritty Act 2
Visually the film achieves so much and now, let us dive into this nitty gritty. There is a theme here regarding the idealistic individual. The kind of the guy that goes about his way, without any sense of wanting acknowledgment for their selfless act, or so they say?, in trying to make the world a better place but never truly considering the limitations of what their goals are.
War torn Germany is a desolate place. In the history books and in the fictional world but then again, is this the true state of the world after such a war? There is a narrator that follows the character all throughout the film, It cannot be God for this is a godless world. It must be some other force propelling the story forward but we are introduced to this world under the calming voice of Max Von Sydow who tells us to fall under hypnosis and instructs us at the count of 10; we will arrive in Europa.
And so, we must come to the point that this Germany is one in which one must be under hypnosis to enter and what a fucking hellscape that any idealist would have to deal with in order to make a difference in this world but what is the ultimate goal of the idealist? As the film goes on, Kessler fucks up again and again and yet, still believes that he is making a difference by working as a sleeping car conductor. The world throws shit his way and he still believes in making a difference. Up to a point.
There was a mention in the previous film about idealists and Von Trier commits to showcasing the failure of idealism at the climax of this film. Spoilers ahead and if you haven't seen it yet then that's a you problem.
In the climax, Kessler is instructed to plant a bomb on the train as it crosses a bridge. The passengers on the train range from poor civilians, first class passengers, army brass and everyone else that can fit onto a train and thus gives the reason why these Werwolf's want it bombed. Though none of this interests Kessler as his only reason for action is to try and save his wife. This frantic situation being even more so since on this specific trip he is taking a test to be a certified sleeping car conductor. The US army also want to meet him on the trip and have a conversation about what the hell is going on with his relationship with these saboteurs. It all boiling down to him regretfully rigging the bomb to blow and jumping off the train.
He lies in a field and feels at ease knowing that he succeeded and that his wife will be safe. Believing ultimately that he had no choice in setting the bomb off as he wants to save his wife but then, his good morals get the better of him and he gets back up to chase down the train. Time going against him but with only a second to spare, defuses the bomb and saves everyone on the train. The true action of man believing he can make a difference.
Turns out his wife was using him, the US Army couldn't give 2 shits about him, and there is little to no chance of him having a chance to pass the test. Rage flies within him and he steals a soldiers Thompson machine gun and fires it into the ceiling. Demanding that the train stay exactly where it is but even with a gun, the world doesn't care and the train continues on its way. It's at this moment that Kessler makes a true decision strictly out of his own need to since he has nothing left. He reconnects the bomb and train explodes over the bridge with everyone inside of it.The train tumbles into the water below and Kessler is stuck in the bathroom to die but before dying, he sees a father holding his now dead son. He had met them earlier when the father was asking for some information and now the last thing he hears is the screams of a father no more. This scream reminding him what his selfless acts amount to. Nothing good.
I have seen this film quite a few times before and it always there this realization but without the conversation of talking with other film fanatics and such, it was never one that I was able to gauge and realize. To be an idealist in trying times is to suffer and if you are unwilling to suffer then you must not truly be an idealist. Maybe that's just the positive spin to it all but I can't just be a permissive no matter how hard I try.
The Nitty Gritty Act 3: The Wrap Up
I feel as though I made a point or stumbled into believing I have a point to make. There is so much here and it is a shame that in its wake, it did not leave much of an impression. Nonetheless, Europa remains one of the most fundamental films in my building blocks of cinema. Certainly now a piece of foundation I don't have to worry about and replace with something else.
Truly one of my favorite films, most definitely in the top 15 but possible that it can crack the top 10, of all time and so far my favorite Lars Von Trier film.