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In Gefahr und gröter Not bringt der Mittelweg den Tod

Alexander Kluge | Edgar Reitz | Germany | 1974 | 90' | | IFFR 1994

This cooperation between two pioneers of the New German Cinema was once described as ‘too right-wing for the left and too left-wing for the right’. The film comprises rough cuts and random fragments with as minimal storyline an East-German agent whose mission is to start a file on the secrets of West Germany. Her male companion has convinced her that the real secrets are in everyday events, of which the viewer sees a consciously unordered collage, in the framework of the fights that break out between demonstrators and police when several old houses are demolished.The ‘secret’ of the state is the life of its citizens; a crane knocking down a house is an ‘ideological thesis’, a politicalcliché is an important weapon in the hands of a politician. However her employers reject her report because they don’t want a lyrical impression but a factual report.

Film details

Country of production
Germany
Year
1974
Festival edition
IFFR 1994
Length
90"
Medium/Format
35mm

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