The End of Violence

The inclusion of the latest film by Wim Wenders in this programme could be regarded as a paradox. In his film, Wenders explicitly opposes the kind of films that are all about violence. His resistance to the present generation of film violence is not primarily a moral issue, according to Wenders, but a case of aesthetics. Wenders is of the opinion that many violent action scenes mask problems in the storyline of a film. During the explosion of violence, the director doesn’t have to worry about the progress of the story and the audience can stop thinking too.The End of Violence has two protagonists whose paths happen to cross, but only late in the film. Mike Max is a Hollywood producer who has grown big, rich and powerful by making extremely violent and bloody action films and one day he is threatened with the kind of violence that his films are all about. Parallel is the story of Ray Bering, a scientist who is commissioned by the FBI, that wants to put an end to violence and crime for good, to develop a perfect observatory, a kind of Big Brother. When he becomes aware of its repressive power, he tries to sabotage his invention, but his clients won’t tolerate that. Bering and Max are both threatened with death by an invisible opponent. That brings them together. (GjZ)