The Niklashausen Journey

The Niklashausen Journey
by Michael Fengler

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Movie Reviews of The Niklashausen Journey

Movie Review: Ambitious but uneven early Fassbinder film
Summary: 3 Stars

Fassbinder wanted to use anachronism, like his early idol Brecht, to create an aesthetic/political distance in which the audience could analyze current society. But instead of regularly achieving that lofty aim, too often a scene will make its political - and ironic - point, then continue on, and on, in the same vein. This also occurs visually. Fassbinder and his frequent cinematographer Dietrich Lohmann create some striking images, including a running motif of having characters blend into ominous shadows, even as they spout slogans from Socialism 101 - expressing ideology while simultaneously undercutting it. But again, he uses the same strategy repeatedly. The first few times it is compelling; subsequently I felt more "alienation" than "effect."

Fortunately, there are some scenes in which Fassbinder successfully embodies his theme, namely that there are deep flaws in human nature, both past and present, which engender revolution but which ultimately lead to disenchantment and defeat. Especially effective are those moments which explore a character in isolation. Look at how Fassbinder presents the Black Monk, his own character (although he is not listed in the film's credits). Sometimes the monk - decked out in jeans and a hip leather jacket - eggs on Boehm and his followers with incendiary screeds about The Revolution. But when we see him alone, or talking with just one or two other characters, he is deflated, like a puppet whose strings can only be jerked into life by rhetoric and an audience. And who can forget the Countess Magarethe (Margit Carstensen, soon to play the lead in Fassbinder's extraordinary Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant), writhing and falling all over her bedroom, screaming with desire for Boehm.

Despite my reservations, this ambitious but uneven film is worth seeing for people interested in Fassbinder and political cinema. And it should spark many lively debates about the too many topics it tries to encompass, from religion to revolution, socialism to cinema, and gender roles to the limits of art and society.

Summary of The Niklashausen Journey