L'Allemagne en automne

Tout au long du document fictif (ce qui n'est pas contradictoire), une atmosphère étrangement déprimante règne. Le film parle de l'indignation et du désarroi de ses auteurs, qui sont clairement impliqués politiquement à gauche. Le désarroi et la tristesse face au dilemme dans lequel ils se trouvent : d'une part, le désir de changer et de démocratiser davantage l'État et la société, et d'autre part, le meurtre de civils incarnant (par hasard) le mal de la société capitaliste, perpétré par les héritiers du mouvement prometteur de 1968. C'est pourquoi la devise du film "lorsque l'horreur atteint un certain point, peu importe qui la commet. Qu'elle se termine simplement", représente un douloureux réveil face à l'idée qu'il existe un moyen facile d'améliorer la société sans craindre de devenir aussi mauvais que le mal lors de la lutte contre le mal. Les créateurs considèrent leur lutte contre l'État et le capitalisme, indissociables, à la fois comme une ironie sur la forme "démocratique" de l'État, qui suit toujours les lois librement acceptées, sauf dans les situations où il est menacé (ce que l'État lui-même détermine, peut-être avec les industriels de Mercedes...). Et aussi spécifiquement, à l'allemande : la vénération traditionnelle de l'État imputée à l'histoire allemande, de la Prusse au nazisme, considérant l'État comme une sphère morale et rationnelle de l'existence nationale, est identifiée par les auteurs également dans la société d'après-guerre. Cependant, même un spectateur ignorant des circonstances de l'époque peut se poser une question inspirante, formulée de manière ironique par Marx en 1875 : "L'État libre - qu'est-ce que c'est ?". (10/01/2015)

The work of German director Rainer Werner Fassbinder can be somewhat compared to the works of contemporary American enfant terrible of cinema, Michael Moore. Both are activist and provocative, biased in many ways, but certainly interesting and stimulating. However, there are significant differences in their approach. Whereas Moore is ironic and deliberately uses cutting exaggeration, Fassbinder is deadly serious and combative. This is perhaps why I forgive Moore more, whereas Fassbinder really annoys me in certain moments. Germany in Autumn is a quasi-documentary film where the director confronts the phenomenon of RAF terrorism. For the viewer to understand and even enjoy the film, it is essential to know the history of the RAF, the political climate of Germany in the 1970s, and indeed the whole of modern German history. Last but not least, knowledge of Fassbinder's political views, which of course significantly influenced the final form of the film, is important as well. Ideologically, Fassbinder belonged to the radical critics of the existing German establishment, distrusted the state structures and his characters never shied away from using the term fascism when evaluating contemporary German society and its bourgeois values. Although Fassbinder does not openly support the terrorists, for him they are just another victim of the bourgeois society that pushed them to rebellion. The director criticizes the "police state" much more, considers the action of the German commando that liberated hostages at an African airport to be outrageous, and sees the whole topic as a starting point for further critical attacks against the current German politicians and state institutions. He is also crudely demagogic in some respects, as can be seen, for example, in his comparison between the case of Field Marshal Rommel, whom the Nazis forced to commit suicide in the autumn of 1944 and then held a grand state funeral for, and the case of kidnapped businessman Schleyer, whom the terrorists executed after the German government refused to release the convicted leaders of the RAF and then also held a state funeral for the executed Schleyer. Overall impression: 50%. (17/06/2009)

Sixteen years after Oberhausen, the post-war generation of West German filmmakers composed another manifesto, this time in the form of a film. They expressed their opinions on the events of the so-called “German Autumn” (the name was derived ex post from their film), which began with the abduction of industrialist and former SS high official Hanns Martin-Schleyer and ended with the unexplained deaths of founding members of the Red Army Faction. The filmmakers take a collective approach to voicing their political position, as their individual statements converge into a single flow of information, and only thorough familiarity with the work of those involved will help you to distinguish who had a significant share in which segment. Immediate reflections on the ongoing political events are supplemented with philosophical consideration, with the theme of violence and its legitimacy serving as a frame of reference. With respect to the historical context, the state’s arrogation of the patent on violent activity raises concerns about the abuse of the apparatus of repression against citizens. Therefore, footage from Nazi weekly newsreels is “contextualised” and thus linked to contemporary events. The quote “When horror reaches a certain point, it doesn’t matter who commits it. Just so long as it comes to an end” crops up twice in the film. You will probably perceive it in a different light at the end than you did at the beginning. 75% (05/02/2021)