The Atrocity Exhibition

An ambitious and very American variation on the cruel art film in which the styles of classic science-fiction, the more tranquil experimental film, the better feature and the political film essay are linked. The film is based on an innovative and provocative book by the famous British writer J.G. Ballard (one of his books also formed the basis for Cronenberg's Crash). The film version is no less innovative than the book. To do justice to the essayist experimental elements in the book, the film used very unusual found-footage material. Victims of radio-activity, traffic deaths and the mythical murder of a president augment the dramatic story. It is about a doctor in an unnamed institute. Just as Kafka's characters in The Office, this scientist works in The Institute. He is researching how the brain works when in extreme conditions such as war and torture. The scientist goes crazy when he sees the horrors that people have done to each other and especially the way in which these horrors are portrayed in the media.This unusual film does not just try to evoke a science-fiction-like picture of an unpleasant near future, but also attempts in its form to be a kind of future art. (GjZ)