Brinkmanns Zorn

The German avant-garde poet Rolf Dieter Brinkmann died on 23 April 1975 after he was hit by a car in London. This Cologne representative of the Beat Generation was already a legend. Brinkmann did not fit in with the literary establishment in any way and, unlike the rest of the cultural elite, was not interested in the theme of collective guilt that still weighed heavily in Germany. Brinkmann’s world was one of the naked here and now. He stripped immediate reality of false sentiment and nostalgia and his critical deconstruction of German culture at the time still forms a milestone in German literature.
Brinkmann did not only leave poetry for his readers, but also short stories, a novel and several radio plays. In addition, he documented his life on Super8 films, collages, photographs and especially on sound tape. His material, made available by his widow, forms the basis for this biographical feature. Eckhard Rhode, who plays Brinkmann, had the difficult yet well performed task of miming the texts seamlessly. Brinkmann’s Wrath shows the last part of the life of the experimental poet who accepted voluntary exile because encounters with colleagues only led to fierce confrontations. At the same time, the film portrays his difficult marriage and the care of their handicapped son, Robert. (PvH)